Fifty-four year old Tomas Torres was cooking and watching television last Wednesday afternoon when the police stormed in unexpectedly. Torres says he was punched and stomped while police laughed about his blood spatters staining the pants of one of the officers. The cops say they were looking for...
After a two-year investigation into the East Haven Police Department, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is saying the department is “broken” and will take years to fix. They are accused of violating the civil rights of Latinos within the community and as many as 15 officers could ...
Two state penal institutions have been closed in recent months; 21 correction supervisors have lost their jobs; and another institution will be shutting its doors soon. While all of these facts signal a smaller prison population statewide, the number of unsentenced inmates is climbing. According ...
The Connecticut state forensics crime lab is under serious scrutiny after two federal audits and subsequent feedback. In 2004 there was no backlog in the lab. Today, there are 3,900 cases waiting processing, some nearing their statute of limitations deadline. As a matter of fact, the state is so ...
The Connecticut legislature has passed a bill decriminalizing possession of marijuana. Governor Malloy has indicated his support, and will sign the bill into law. The Wilton Bulletin reports that under the new law, possession of marijuana under half an ounce will only be a civil infraction, and n...
Just a few months ago I blogged about the possibility of our state becoming the next to decriminalize a small amount of marijuana. Well, the legislature has passed the measure and the governor is planning to sign it into law in coming days. Despite critics' worry that the decriminalization sends ...
Two men are seeking monetary compensation from the state of Connecticut for the years they spent behind bars for crimes they didn't commit. The claims filed with the claims commissioner will, in a sense, test the new Connecticut compensation for wrongful incarceration law that was passed just a f...
A few weeks ago the Judiciary Committee voted to repeal the death penalty. It wasn't the first time the committed passed such a bill along, but last time it was vetoed by the governor. Now, reports are stating there's a chance Connecticut could be the next to end application of the most severe fo...
If the Governor gets his way, Connecticut will become the next state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, leading them to be punishable by a fine rather than criminal charges. Though it seems like a no-brainer, particularly since nearly all surrounding states have already ta...
A law banning the use of traditional cell phones while driving was enacted in 2005. Legislators are now considering increasing the penalties for a violation of this law—a law they say currently lacks “teeth” or any significant reason for people to adhere to it. The state Judiciary Committee will ...
Connecticut may be on their way to becoming the next state to require DNA collection in all felony arrests. Under current laws, DNA isn't collected until someone has been convicted. But supporters of the new legislation state earlier collection is needed to protect the public. According to the AC...
It's been an issue that's made the news across the country in recent years as more and more people walk around with video-recording equipped telephones. The issue is the people's right to record police officers when acting in their official capacity. Many people have been arrested and some have b...
A local New Haven police officer has walked away from yet another brutality investigation. In what seems to either be a pattern of excessive force or a very strange coincidence, the local officer has faced numerous accusations of abuse in the past and all but one have resulted in him being comple...
In a move that would mark the first of its kind, Connecticut lawmakers are weighing the creation of a gun-offender registry. The statewide registry would be similar to a sex offender registry but its data would only be available to law enforcement. Law abiding gun owners, however, are up in arms ...
Last April, two men walked out of court free, after serving seventeen years for a murder they said all along they didn't commit. The judge ruled they hadn't either, releasing them that very day. But, both men will be back in court this week as the state has appealed Superior Court Judge Stanley F...
The father and police Sergeant of an officer facing charges for an accident that killed a local teen is now facing charges himself. Following the Windsor Locks case over the past several months, we've seen some developments, but the Sergeant's role in the case had always been in question. The 53 ...
Hispanic and residents of the largely Italian-American town of east Haven are leaving, fleeing what they say is incessant police harassment. The United States Department of Justice has subsequently opened a civil rights investigation into some of the officers, though complainants state the entire...
A police officer facing charges for manslaughter in the DUI death of a young bicyclist was fired by the Windsor Locks police department last week. A commission voted on Dec. 9 to fire the officer at the center of a State Police investigation according to the Associated Press. The twenty four year...
A Connecticut judge was awarded a National President's Award from MADD for her use of victims impact panels and educating other judges about drunk driving sentencing options. But is it a good thing for justice if a judge is receiving awards from victim's rights lobbying groups? Does this indicate...
If you haven't heard about this case, you haven't been paying attention. It involves the death of a child, a suspected drunk driving cop, and a cover up—a definitely recipe for publicity. A Windsor Locks police officers is now facing charges for the results of an accident that happened on the nig...
With so many crime dramas on the airwaves these days, many people are under the mistaken assumption that catching criminals is a simple, though high tech, process. Simply comb a carpet for hair fibers or check the mud for shoe tread and you're golden! It isn't always this simple, though, and a $1...
Donald S. Connery, an author and adviser to the Northwestern Law School Center on Wrongful Convictions aired his frustrations at the state supreme court and legislators this week in the Hartford Courant. The Court, he said, missed another opportunity to move towards mandating the recording of pol...
A Lieutenant for the Milford Police Department has been suspended and the city's evidence handling procedures are being called into question after he erased several days worth of video from a server. The video was all taken from police dashboard cameras and was subject of a Freedom of Information...
Having worked in several doctor's offices over the past four years allegedly allowed one woman to collect prescription pads and the ability to supply friends and family members with pills for their drug habits. A 37 year old Bridgeport woman is now facing charges for doing exactly that—filling ma...
Sweeping legislation and procedures are changing Connecticut domestic violence cases and could potentially lead to the disruption of would-be assaults and possibly even murders. These new laws range from batterer's intervention programs to GPS monitoring and all have one thing in common—the prote...
