May 2, 2008 Conn. Governor pulls 2 parole board nominations Play video

(Brian Burnell, NECN: Conn.) - Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell has suddenly pulled the nominations of two men originally slated to serve on the state's parole board.

Script:

The murders last year of 3 members of the Petite family in their Cheshire home shocked and outraged people in Connecticut. The 2 suspects had been paroled shortly before the crime and the question was asked loudly, "How could they, of all people, have gotten parole?" In the wake of the Cheshire murders, the state legislature reformed the Board of Pardons and Parole. Of the 12 members, 5 will now serve fulltime. It is up to the governor to nominate the 5. Governor Rell gave the judiciary committee 4 names but, the day before hearings on those 4, she pulled two of them. It turns out those two were on the board when it paroled the Cheshire suspects. The governor's actions have confused lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Arthur O’Neal, R, Judiciary committee: “My initial impression was that they weren't going to really consider anybody who had been part of the old parole board and then my understanding was that when these two names came forward that it dropped off the radar screen as an issue and somehow, apparently, it must have come back on.”

Sen. Andrew McDonald, D, Judiciary Committee Chair: “Frankly, there seems to be something more to this story. It doesn't quite make sense why the governor nominated these individuals last week apparently with the full knowledge

of their participation in the parole hearings relating to Cheshire and, yet, one week later, saw fit to pull the rug out from underneath them. Something doesn't fit together and the governor hasn't explained exactly why she has withdrawn the nominations.”

Governor Rell was not available to talk about this, but she did issue a statement. In it, she says her office was aware that the two nominees, now withdrawn, were members of the parole board that paroled the two Cheshire suspects. But she goes on to say, "the two nominees support the ongoing reform process and did not wish to see the focus of that process shift away from the much needed systematic improvements. The decision to withdraw the nominations was mutual. However, sources in this building tell us that it was not mutual. That the two withdrawn nominees are upset that this happened.