A bill in the Connecticut General Assembly would prohibit companies in the state from manufacturing and providing drugs and medical devices for use in executions.
It comes after reports surfaced last year that a Hamden-based company had allegedly provided the drug pentobarbital to the federal government for use in executions at the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana. Advocates say a Windsor-based company also manufactured masks used to kill death row inmates in Alabama by nitrogen gas.
“The people of Connecticut decided long ago that we would not stand for the death penalty. It is unacceptable that a company in our state would violate the wishes of its neighbors and help carry out executions for other jurisdictions,” said state Rep. Josh Elliott, a Hamden Democrat who co-introduced the bill. “This bill follows in the spirit of our previous work by ensuring that our state’s values are upheld consistently.”
Anti-death penalty advocates testified in support of the bill before the General Assembly’s General Law Committee on Monday.
“Connecticut knows better,” said Scott Langley, co-founder of the anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Action. “When Connecticut allows businesses to participate in that, indirectly or directly, you’re being complicit in the death penalty. And that’s already been legislated on and decided here, that Connecticut will not be complicit with the death penalty.”
Lisa Brown flew from Texas to testify before the committee. Her son, Christopher Vialva, was executed by the federal government in 2020, reportedly using drugs manufactured in Connecticut.
“During the execution, I realized that I was witnessing the state-sanctioned, premeditated murder of my son,” Brown said. “I am grateful to Connecticut for banning the death penalty, but it is deeply troubling to me that Connecticut companies are still profiting from it.”
The bill is making its way through the legislature after President Donald Trump last month called on states and his Department of Justice to more vigorously pursue the death penalty against defendants.
“Capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens,” the order said.
The Trump administration also directed the U.S. Attorney General to “take all necessary and lawful action to ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection.”
