OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS

Legislative Office Building, Room 5200

Hartford, CT 06106 ¯ (860) 240-0200

http: //www.cga.ct.gov/ofa

HB-6012

AN ACT CONCERNING MURDER WITH SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

AMENDMENT

LCO No.: 5185

File Copy No.: 40

House Calendar No.: 79

OFA Fiscal Note

UNCERTAIN: POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT COST

The amendment permits a representative of each deceased victim a reasonable opportunity to make a victim impact statement prior to the closing arguments at a hearing conducted to determine the sentence to be imposed. This could increase the likelihood that offenders are sentenced to death and, consequently, raise the cost to litigate the case on appeal. On average, it costs about $100, 000 more for the Division of Public Defender Services to appeal a case when the sentence is death as opposed to life imprisonment without release.

The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either House thereof for any purpose.