A public defender has urged the Connecticut Supreme Court to overturn the death penalty of a man who ordered the 1999 killings of a woman and her 8-year-old son in Bridgeport.
Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher told the high court Thursday that Russell Peeler Jr. deserves a new penalty phase because of problems that occurred during the trial including a prosecutor's misconduct during closing arguments and a judge's refusal to allow some defense witnesses.
Prosecutor Marjorie Allen Dauster denied Rademacher's allegations.
Peeler's brother, Adrian, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of conspiring to kill Karen Clarke and her son, Leroy "B.J." Brown. The boy was a key witness against Peeler in another murder case.
Russell Peeler raised 33 appeal issues, including the racial makeup of the jury, and the state's 2012 decision not to include current death row inmates in the 2012 repeal of the death penalty.
The Supreme Court is expected to take several months to issue a ruling.
