Saud Anwar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe O’Leary | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov | 508-479-4969

April 24, 2026

ANWAR, ELLIOTT OUTRAGED OVER DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RESTORING DEATH PENALTY

State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) and State Representative Josh Elliott (D-Hamden) today expressed outrage over the Trump administration’s Department of Justice taking several actions to increase use and speed up the process of the death penalty, including reinstating use of execution protocols allowing for use of a lethal chemical they worked to stop the production of in Connecticut.

“About half of the United States have banned the death penalty. While criminals who commit serious crimes must face consequences for those offenses, a long and horrifying history of wrongful executions, unnecessary agony and bias against the underprivileged have all exposed this policy as cruel and demeaning,” said Sen. Anwar and Rep. Elliott. “As we’ve fought to ensure our state upholds its standards recognizing this policy as abhorrent, the federal government’s embrace and attempted acceleration of it under President Trump is an ominous sign amid a culture of violence and cruelty it continues to advertise.”

On April 24, the Department of Justice announced developments following an executive order President Trump signed on his first day in office to prioritize seeking and implementing death sentences.

The developments include readopting lethal injection protocols that reinstate use of a chemical barred by the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, pentobarbital, with its use in executions risking “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

It also expands death penalty protocol to include manners of execution like the firing squad and seeks to streamline expediting death penalty cases, speeding the process in which they’re administered. The DOJ seeks to potentially expand or relocate federal death row or build additional execution facilities and restrict appeals and petitions from individuals.

The issue of pentobarbital is directly relevant for Anwar and Elliott, following reports that Connecticut company Absolute Standards was producing pentobarbital for use in other states’ executions despite Connecticut repealing the death penalty in 2012.

After public outcry and attempted outreach to Absolute Standards leaders, the company announced in 2024 it was no longer producing the substance. In 2025, they introduced legislation to block the manufacturing or supply of any drug for the purpose of executing the death penalty, though the bill did not become law.

The Guardian reported this is the latest adjustment encouraging use of the death penalty as executions rose 88% from 2024 to 2025, the highest figure seen in about 15 years. That came despite public support for executions among the American people fell to 52% in 2025, the lowest figure seen in 50 years.