Tell CT lawmakers that domestic violence murder is murder and criminal law must add the definition of intimate partner, domestic violence murder to state statute. 

Add Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Murder to General Statute Section 53a-54a through 53a-54e Murder.

Domestic violence and intimate partner homicide is a national epidemic. Nearly three women are killed by an intimate partner every day in the United States. And Connecticut has not been immune. Just last year, Connecticut saw 12 intimate partner homicides, including three incidents last month which resulted in the deaths of two adult females and an infant child. 333 (mostly) women have been murdered by intimate partners in the state since the year 2000.

Each night that the people of Connecticut see on the evening news that another woman has been killed by her abusive husband, boyfriend, or intimate partner, they also see a prosecutor assuring the victim’s family that the perpetrator will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But as domestic violence murders continue to occur regularly, those paying attention have begun to realize that “the fullest extent of law” in Connecticut can often mean that these abusive killers are permitted to go free just a few short years after they have taken the life of that family’s daughter, sister, or mother. This is because the current criminal law in Connecticut (and in many states) makes it incredibly difficult for prosecutors to charge the perpetrators of intimate partner killings with Murder.

The Connecticut Penal Code provides for several “special circumstances” which, if present during a killing, make that crime qualify as Murder. Those special circumstances include killings committed by a defendant who was hired to kill for pecuniary gain, by a defendant during the course of a sexual assault, or by a kidnapper of a kidnapped person during the kidnapping, among others. However, absent from this set of special circumstances is any reference to a pattern of perpetrating domestic violence against the eventual victim over the course of time. Until recently, this was the case in every state. However, as reports of domestic and intimate partner violence has become more common, and as more women end up tragically dead at the hands of their abusers, state legislatures across the country have begun to address this problem by passing legislation specifying that evidence of such abuse is more akin to first-degree Murder than it is to any lesser offense. At least ten states now include reference to domestic violence or restraining orders among the enumerated aggravating factors in their capital or first-degree murder punishment structures.

As a result, perpetrators of sustained domestic violence who kill their partners in those states are less likely succeed on a claim that they caused their partner’s death in the “heat of passion” —a common defense used by defendants to avoid convictions for murder in favor of lesser, manslaughter charges. In Connecticut, a conviction for murder carries a minimum sentence of 25 years, while a conviction for manslaughter in the first degree carries a minimum sentence of only five years. It is all too common that the perpetrators of these heinous acts end up serving sentences shorter than the length of time they had been abusing their victims. This goes against the principles of both justice and public policy.

Support An Act Concerning the Addition of Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Murder to General Statute Section 53a-54a through 53a-54e.

This bill is life saving!

The impact of introducing this sub-section to the penal code will be three-fold: (i) it will have a clear deterrent effect on this type of crime; (ii) it will add weight to reports of domestic abuse; and (iii) it will give closure to the families of victims of domestic violence murder when they hear that their child’s, sibling’s, or parent’s killer will be prosecuted to the full extent of the Connecticut law.

In Connecticut, violent intimate partner killers do not automatically receive Life in prison. In fact, the criminal justice system makes it almost impossible. Most killers of intimate partners and family members (domestic violence murder) receive plea bargains. Plea bargains have become the primary means of sentencing intimate partner killers. In 2014 plea deals were accepted in seventy-seven percent ( 77%) of intimate partner murders. In 2015 there was one jury trial, and by 2016, one-hundred percent (100%) of intimate partner sentences were plea deals.

Plea bargains result in lower sentences. In 2012 pleaded sentences were seventy-five percent (75%) lower than sentences resulting from a jury conviction. The majority of plea deals were for 1st Degree Manslaughter not Murder.

Plea bargain sentences for these murderers average 18 years less than post jury convictions. For survivors of Intimate Partner Murder, plead down sentences have other ramifications, including sentence computation and parole.

CT must join other states, recognize a pattern of domestic violence as premeditation. It must give State's Attorneys the means to charge intimate partner murder for what it is Murder and not manslaughter. This will reduce the power of the court to reduce murder charges to various degrees of manslaughter sought through the premeditation loopholes of substance abuse, mental health, and passion.