Kenneth Ireland, left, and his attorney, Bill Bloss. Ireland was wrongly convicted of the murder of Barbara Pelkey and spent 21 years in prison. He is suing the state of Connecticut. Melanie Stengel/Register

By Randall Beach

Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Kenneth Ireland Jr. still shakes his head when he ponders the murder of Barbara Pelkey 26 years ago and the lasting ripple effects of her death.

“It’s a terrible situation all the way around,” he said. “There are no winners. A family was destroyed, a woman lost her life.”And Ireland lost half of his life. After being wrongfully convicted in 1989 of murdering Pelkey, he served 21 years of a 50-year sentence until new DNA advances finally cleared his name. He walked out of prison in 2009.
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An Occupy New Haven protester fills a generator at the encampment on the Green recently./Melanie Stengel/Register

By Mary E. O’Leary

Topics Editor

NEW HAVEN — It is certainly a unique situation.

The New Haven Green, 16 acres of park land in the heart of downtown, is owned and run by a self-perpetuating group of five private citizens who hold it in trust for the public good.

Whose idea was that? Apparently, it goes back to the original settlers and investors in New Haven in the 1640s, under the auspices of Charles I, according to historical accounts.

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Abby Hardy, 12, and her father Jeff Hardy Saturday 3/17/12. Kathy Hardy,Hardy's wife and Abby mother, was murdered in a horrific fire at their Branford home. Abby who was only 6 when her mother was murdered now knows many all the details. She wants to know why no one has been arrested in the case. Photo by Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register

By Mark Zaretsky

Register Staff

BRANFORD — Three men allegedly plotted the 2006 arson murder of Kathy Hardy in a meeting days before the fire that killed the 39-year-old mother of three, someone who allegedly was there has told police, according to Hardy’s family.

Two of the men at the alleged meeting, which family members say took place at DePalma’s Apizza in East Haven, also allegedly showed up at the home of an East Haven woman the day of the fire, March 7, 2006, said Hardy’s mother.

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