CONNECTICUT (USA): POLAND'S PRESIDENT CHALLENGES STATE'S DEATH PENALTY

In what could spark an international incident, the president of Poland is demanding the state not execute Richard Roszkowski. "We strongly believe the death penalty should not be imposed," Agniestka Torres, vice consul and head of the legal section for the Polish consulate general in New York, told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers. "It doesn't matter what crimes he committed." The government of the Republic of Poland this week notified Gov. Malloy and the Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane that it objects to Richard Roszkowski -- whose parents were Polish -- getting the death penalty. Torres said the appeal comes directly from their president, Bronislaw Komorowski, who recently signed a law banning the death penalty in all circumstances. Roszkowski was born in the U.S., but both his parents, who are now dead, emigrated from Poland and Roszkowski visited Poland when he was a child. "As far as we are concerned Mr. Roszkowski is a Polish national and is covered by our laws," Torres said. Kane confirmed he received a letter from the Polish consul general regarding the Roszkowski case but said he couldn't comment on a pending case. This latest development adds to an already controversial status for the state's death penalty.
In the last 60 years only one person, convicted serial killer Michael Ross, has been executed in this state and that was in February 2005. Last year Malloy, an opponent of the death penalty, signed a law abolishing it for any new crimes. However, the law left in place the 10 men currently on death row. That portion of the law is currently under appeal.
Last week jury selection was completed for the death penalty hearing against the 48-year-old Roszkowski. His hearing is set to begin Jan. 7.
In May 2009 a Bridgeport jury found Roszkowski guilty of 2 counts of capital felony, 3 counts of murder and 1 count of criminal possession of a firearm for the Sept. 7, 2006, shooting deaths of 39-year-old Holly Flannery, her daughter, Kylie, and 38-year-old Thomas Gaudet. Although the same jury that convicted Roszkowski of the crime subsequently found he should get the death penalty, the verdict was overturned on a technicality and a new penalty hearing was ordered.
Roszkowski's lawyers did not deny he killed the victims but presented nationally recognized medical experts and death penalty opponents who testified Roszkowski has brain damage caused by earlier car crashes, hepatitis and long-term drug use. The letter from Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka requests a meeting with Kane stating the Polish law outlawing the death penalty. Kane said he has not decided whether to meet with the consul.