Connecticut § 54-101 - Disposition of person becoming insane after death sentence.

§ 54-101. Disposition of person becoming insane after death sentence.

Sec. 54-101. Disposition of person becoming insane after death sentence. When any person detained at the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, awaiting execution of a sentence of death appears to the warden thereof to be insane, the warden may make application to the superior court for the judicial district of Tolland having either civil or criminal jurisdiction or, if said court is not in session, to any judge of the Superior Court, and, after hearing upon such application, notice thereof having been given to the state's attorney for the judicial district wherein such person was convicted, said court or such judge may, if it appears advisable, appoint three reputable physicians to examine as to the mental condition of the person so committed. Upon return to said court or such judge of a certificate by such physicians, or a majority of them, stating that such person is insane, said court or such judge shall order the sentence of execution to be stayed and such person to be transferred to any state hospital for mental illness for confinement, support and treatment until such person recovers sanity, and shall cause a mittimus to be issued to the Department of Correction for such commitment. If, at any time thereafter, the superintendent of the state hospital to which such person has been committed is of the opinion that such person has recovered sanity, the superintendent shall so report to the state's attorney for the judicial district wherein the conviction was had and such attorney shall thereupon make application to the superior court for such judicial district having criminal jurisdiction, for the issuance of a warrant of execution for such sentence, and, if said court finds that such person has recovered sanity, it shall cause a mittimus to be issued for such person's return to the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, there to be received and kept until a day designated in the mittimus for the infliction of the death penalty, and thereupon said penalty shall be inflicted, in accordance with the provisions of the statutes.

(1949 Rev., S. 8817; 1963, P.A. 28, S. 7; P.A. 73-116, S. 28; 73-667, S. 1, 2; P.A. 78-280, S. 120, 127; P.A. 82-472, S. 146, 183; P.A. 00-99, S. 122, 154; P.A. 01-195, S. 72, 181.)

History: 1963 act substituted Tolland county for Hartford county; P.A. 73-116 added references to judicial districts and substituted “Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers” for “State Prison”; P.A. 73-667 changed effective date of P.A. 73-116 from October 1, 1973, to April 25, 1973; P.A. 78-280 deleted references to counties; P.A. 82-472 deleted obsolete reference to counties; P.A. 00-99 replaced reference to sheriff of Tolland County or either deputy with the Department of Correction re to whom mittimus shall be issued, effective December 1, 2000; P.A. 01-195 made technical changes for purposes of gender neutrality, effective July 11, 2001.

Statute requires a determination of “sanity” only as a condition precedent to the carrying out of the death penalty, and mandates execution once such a determination is made. 169 C. 13.