House Republican Press Release

January 23, 2008

Press Office: 860-240-8700

LEGISLATURE AMENDS LAWS IN WAKE OF CHESHIRE TRAGEDY

Legislation Will Also Establish Facilities for Sex Offenders Released From Prisons

HARTFORD –On Tuesday, January 22, State Rep. Arthur J. O’Neill, R-Southbury, voted in favor of legislation that will enact reforms to the state’s judicial process in the wake of the July 2007 Cheshire home invasion that left three people murdered. The legislation moves to Governor M. Jodi Rell for final approval.

As Ranking Member (House Republican leader) of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, Rep. O’Neill led House Republicans in the floor debate on the legislation.

“This is a victory for everyone who advocated a special legislative session to address these issues because if we had waited any longer, any reform measures could have been lost amid the hundreds of bills moving through the process of the session that begins next month,” said Rep. O’Neill. “We are enacting a stringent home invasion statute for the first time and making a number of technical reforms to the parole system.”

The legislation includes measures that:

• Creates a new crime of home invasion

• Makes someone convicted of second degree burglary or home invasion ineligible for parole until he or she has served 85 percent of their sentence

• Makes major changes to the parole process, including reconfiguration of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and placing new limits on eligibility of parole and furloughs

• Establishes global positioning system (GPS) monitoring of additional parolees and requires additional staffing for monitoring

• Appropriates money for sex offender reentry services in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven

However, the Democratic majority rejected Republican efforts to enact a “three strikes” law that would send repeat violent felony offenders to jail for life.

“A three strikes law would enable courts to prosecute people who are career criminals and incarcerate those for life who are convicted of three violent felonies,” added Rep. O’Neill. “I have long supported this concept, and in the future will continue to work to see such legislation approved to better protect citizens in our state”