Tuesday's request for a special session by Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, comes as an online petition started by a Cheshire woman regarding the law has garnered about 4,600 signatures in less than a week.

Interest in toughening criminal penalties for repeat offenders rose in the wake of last week's home invasion in Cheshire that ended in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, and the beating of Dr. William A. Petit Jr.

Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, with extensive criminal records, have been charged with six capital felonies each, which could bring the death penalty.

"The Petit home invasion and murders exposed Connecticut's poor record when it comes to keeping career criminals locked up," McKinney said. "In fact, we're learning that under existing Connecticut law, dangerous criminals are routinely granted early parole, even after committing the same unconscionable crimes over and over again. We need to fix the system now."

Whether a special session will be called will be determined by the leaders of the legislature's Democratic majority: Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr. of Brooklyn and House Speaker James A. Amann of Milford.

Amann said that while he appreciates the concerns that McKinney and other Republican leaders have, "We can't just jump and be reactionary; we have to be deliberate."

To that end, Amann said he is meeting today with officials from the state Department of Correction, the parole board and others to determine why the suspects were paroled.

"We certainly want to find out what went wrong, what factors there were," Amann said.

Robert Farr, chairman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said last week parole officials did not have all the police reports and judicial sentencing statements on the two suspects before paroling Komisarjevsky and Hayes earlier this year.

State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, will join today's meeting in his role as House chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Lawlor said the idea that creating additional or tougher laws will make Connecticut residents safer is misguided.

"It's a little fraudulent to say if we have more laws it won't happen again," Lawlor said. "Under the laws that we already have on the books, these guys could have been sentenced to 100 years (before the home-invasion incident).

"Prosecutors could have put these guys away for a very long time and they didn't; putting another option out there doesn't mean they're going to use it."

Among the reforms Senate Republicans want to consider is a new three strikes law that would impose a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life on the most serious repeat criminals.

Hayes' record dates to 1980, according to information presented in court. He has nearly three dozen convictions on charges including larceny, burglary, passing bad checks, possession of marijuana and theft of a handgun.

Komisarjevsky has 18 burglary and larceny convictions dating from to 2002.

The proposal is being advocated by state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, R-Waterbury, whose district includes Cheshire. He said Connecticut's three strikes law is permissive because it allows for longer sentences when a court finds that "extended incarceration will best serve the public interest."

"When it is obvious, as it is today, that the laws we have do not work, then we have a moral obligation to act quickly to correct that situation," he said.

Lawlor contends that creating a new three strikes law would overwhelm the courts and prison system.

But state Sen. Leonard Fasano, R-North Haven, said nothing "should stand in the way of keeping Connecticut residents safe," even if it means adding to or building prisons.

"We're not going to let criminals out just because we don't have bed space," Fasano said. "Clearly, there was a breakdown in communications in this case, but I don't want to sit here and figure out where the holes are in the system. The easiest way to dam the dike is to put a brick wall up."

Republican lawmakers cited overwhelming public interest in changing the law as their reason for seeking a special session.

And the online petition launched July 25, gopetition.com, is an example of the groundswell of support for changes in the laws. The petition was started two days after the Petits were killed, and by Tuesday afternoon about 100 people an hour were adding their names to it.

The Web site lists Jessica Ryan of Cheshire as the author of the petition.

Source: Luther Turmelle can be reached at lturmelle@nhregister.com or 789-5706.

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2. GoPetition in the Media
3. Changes in '3 strikes law' urged in General Assembly