One more US state abolishes death penalty

Washington, April 26 (IANS) The US state of Connecticut Wednesday became the 17th state in the country to abolish the capital punishment.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy Wednesday signed the state's death penalty repeal bill into law, Xinhua reported.

"This afternoon I signed legislation that will, effective today, replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release as the highest form of legal punishment in Connecticut," Malloy said in a statement.

The new law replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. It abolished the death penalty for future cases.

Malloy said he signed the bill because working as a prosecutor, he "learned firsthand that our system of justice is very imperfect" and that it was "subject to the fallibility of those who participate in it".

The second factor that led to his decision was the "unworkability" of Connecticut's death penalty law.