When I asked about proffers post conviction, I wasn't aware of this CT law from 2021 where convicted inmates who qualify may seek to modify their sentences every 5 years!
July 1, 2021
Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill this week that will make it easier for anyone sentenced after a trial or to more than seven years to get time shaved off their sentence for transforming themselves behind bars.
“This is the biggest change to sentence modifications since the law went into effect in 1982,” Alex Tsarkov, executive director of the state’s Sentencing Commission, said.
The change in the law doesn’t get rid of sentences, but rather allows more people to have access to a hearing on whether their sentence should be modified, Tsarkov said. “It opens the door to more people who may be eligible,” he said.
Under the new law those who qualify for a hearing can seek one every five years if their first attempt at a sentence modification is turned down by a judge.
During the hearings, evidence of the inmate’s transformation into a person who should be freed into society can be presented. Victims and prosecutors can also speak in favor or against the early release.
New Sentencing Law Signed
Yes, this highly controversial law was signed by Gov. Lamont and seems to be part of a multi year long range plan in CT to have convicted individuals spend less time in prison. The law follows on the heels of a multi year program by legislators in CT and also NY to both facilitate early release and reduce or eliminate jail time entirely for various crimes. These trends have particularly impacted the so called 'quality of life crimes' segment in particular in both CT and NY with the situation in NYC right now dire imo for its unfortunate residents.
I'd have to go back and look at the latest avg. sentences served stats in CT, but my recollection is that convicted individuals serve roughly 44% of their sentence in CT. The guidelines established in the bill signed by Gov Lamont I believe were the same ones that allowed the infamous "Woodchipper Murderer" Richard Craft who murdered, froze and put his wife through a woodchipper with her remains then put into a local river. Here is an article from a local paper about his early release following his sentence of 50 years received in 1989 and had been in prison in CT since 1987 (he was released in 2020 at age 82 back into the local community via a half way house!).
Richard Crafts Moved To Homeless Shelter For Veterans.
Richard Crafts Transferred To Garner
My very sad guess is that it will be a 'good result' if MT serves 20 years in CT prison and my even sadder guess is that she just might serve less than that. I can only imagine the impact of seeing these prisoners released early has on LE, State Prosecutors and Judges as it just seems like a revolving door of criminals. CT also is not an easy state for any victim of crime to achieve justice as even with the COVID impact on trial timing, it took nearly 4 years for MT to be brought to trial and KM oddly enough still has no trial date for his role as a co-conspirator.
Its quite sobering (and not in a good way imo) to listen to hearings related to federal and state judicial appointments in NY and CT to see much of the current thinking on prisoner release or even bail or bond pending trial etc. These programs so far as I can tell have imo been very much a social experiment actively taking place in CT and NY. The crime statistics in NY (NYC is particular) have become alarming imo with repeat crimes by violent reoffenders seeming to grow exponentially. CT crime stats, particularly in the areas adjacent to neighboring NY are on the rise too and Gov. Lamont has come under considerable fire recently for some heinous crimes perpetrated by repeat offenders that were released early or never placed in jail to being with pending trial. Gov. Lamont continues to publicly say that 'crime is down' in CT but has yet to provide statistics to counter the information released by local police departments and experienced by citizens.
All of these trends imo have hard hit DV criminals in particular in CT and I was particularly struck by a recent bulletin from the NCPD that said, "DV is NC's VIOLENT CRIME". In CT and I'm sure elsewhere its not just DV in NC but its everywhere and its routinely reported in MSM when its highly violent but little ever seems to change to improve the lot of DV victims in CT. CT has an Office of Victims Advocate but its frankly unclear what they have done to improve the situation and they certainly had zero impact advocating for JFD in the MT pre trial and trial period as confidential and sealed information from Family Court was leaked and publicly disclosed to the Press repeatedly by FD, Norm Pattis, Jon Schoenhorn, Audrey Felson and Michael Rose and Michael Meehan - all attorney by the way with zero consequences and the Victims Advocates in Stamford and Hartford asleep at their desks and not answering the phones imo. Its a sad state of affairs in CT as imo the reported DV crimes become increasingly violent and DV continues to be very much an underreported crime (discussed in the podcast link below by a local DV advocacy and support group).
In looking at the DV statistics I do wonder if any of the calls made by JFD to NCPD or Farmington PD were escalated due to perception by the NCPD or Farmington PD that violence was existing or probable in the future? LE is first line of defense on DV and oftentimes I wonder at the training level of LE? I feel for LE as their safety is at risk every time they attend a DV call and in CT tragically numerous police officers have lost their lives responding to DV calls.
Links:
New Canaan Police | Domestic Violence
newcanaanpolice.org
Here are some excerpts from the NCPD bulletin and imo they are staggering for a small town particularly given the estimate percentage of DV crime that is not reported:
"Although our Town has a very low crime rate, crimes such as domestic violence have remained constant over many years. Domestic violence is New Canaan’s violent crime. If you live in New Canaan, and you are the victim of violence, it is highly probable that the perpetrator is someone that you love".
"In 2021, our department investigated 64 family dispute incidents. This is a 36% increase compared to the same time period in 2020 when our Department investigated 47 family dispute incidents. To be clear, not all of these incidents are classified as domestic violence. Yet, it is likely that despite this increase, the prevalence of domestic violence in our Town is much greater than what is reported due to chronic under reporting by victims".
"Domestic violence can happen to anyone in any community regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, gender, nationality or educational background. We all need to work together on both preventing domestic violence and getting help for those in our community that are victims of domestic violence".
MOO