In response to the Sunday, July 29 story on pardons and insufficient victim notification, reader Nancie Gray wrote, “The victims of violent crimes, who are supposed to be notified when the violent offender is up for "early" release - there are some major gaps in that portion of the system as well.”

The best way victims can make sure they are notified of ANY situation involving a convicted individual, from a pardon request to an escape from custody, is to fill out the form, “Confidential Request for Notification of Status of Inmate,” and get registered. Find the form HERE.

Join the discussion. Do you think state officials should be doing more to locate victims? Do you think the Board of Pardons is giving out too many pardons, or too few? What do you think about the pardon process – is it open enough? What improvements would you like to see?

PLAINVILLE-LaResse Harvey, looks over documents related to her pardon request for a 1993 manslaughter conviction. MelNIE STENGEL/REGISTER

PLAINVILLE - LaResse Harvey, looks over documents related to her pardon request for a 1993 manslaughter conviction. MELANIE STENGEL/REGISTER


By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
Investigations Editor
The woman who fatally stabbed East Hartford resident Jean Hill’s daughter stood inside a courtroom recently asking for a pardon.
But Hill wasn’t there. No one had told her LaResse Harvey, who was convicted of manslaughter and served prison time for stabbing Tammy Hill in 1993, was seeking a full pardon, which would have erased her criminal record.

Read more here.

The City of New Haven's Re-Entry Initiative staff meets with ex-offenders interested in obtaining pardons. Re-Entry Initiative coordinator Althea Marshall Brooks left and Re-Entry Initiative community grants organizer Eric Rey center, and New Haven Leadership Youth Program intern Chance Jackson address the attendees. Mara Lavitt/New Haven Register 7/25/12

By Pamela McLoughlin
Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — Wayne Washington, 26, has been shot three times, operated on the streets for years and has two felonies on his record, both related to possession of firearms.

But since getting out of prison, where he served less than a year, Washington has turned his life around in a big way.

Read more here.

By Mary E. O'Leary and Jordan Fenster

Staff Reporters

NEW HAVEN — Five more people Thursday pleaded not guilty to federal conspiracy and election law violations in the 5th District campaign scandal involving a Waterbury smoke shop for a total of eight charged in the case that has roiled a congressional election in Western Connecticut.

The individuals face sentences of five years to 57 years with jury selection set for Oct. 10, long after both parties sort out their 5th District candidate choices in primaries on Aug. 14, but front and center in the news before the November election.

A total of $27,500 in illegal “conduit checks,” that is checks that hide the true identity of the donors, were all contributed to Democratic House Speaker Christopher Donovan's campaign for the 5th District seat and were signed by 11 individuals, according to the court documents.

Read more here.

By Mary E. O'Leary and Jordan Fenster
Register Staff
The federal grand jury indictment of Robert Braddock Jr. Wednesday alleges that the scheme to hide the identify of contributors to state House Speaker Christopher Donovan's 5th District congressional campaign began earlier than previously known, and that the participants were worried about being targeted by the FBI.
The total amount of alleged illegal conduit checks, which are donations given in another person’s name, totaled $27,500, according to the document.
It shows one of the alleged conspirators, widely identified as former labor leader Ray Soucy, advising two owners of roll-your-own tobacco shops not to bring up any proposed legislative bills with Donovan that could be seen as a quid pro quo in a meeting scheduled on Nov. 16, 2011, at a restaurant in Meriden because “the men in black” might be following them.

Read the full story here.

By Jordan Fenster and Mary E. O’Leary
Staff Reporters
Connecticut House Speaker Christopher Donovan, happy with a internal report exonerating him of taking campaign contributions in exchange for swaying legislation, told reporters Thursday night he was moving on with his campaign.
With music playing from a nearby bandstand in Hubbard Park in Meriden, Donovan said Stanley Twardy, a Republican former U.S. attorney hired by Donovan’s congressional campaign committee to look into an alleged scheme to hide the identity of donors, “had full rein to ask questions” and he found no quid pro quo arrangement.

Read this story from Friday's paper here.

Follow ongoing coverage of the campaign finance scandal, and the race for the 5th district here.