Ctpost.com has this interesting editorial about the necessity of the death penalty in the most horrendous of cases.  The discussion appears to have been sparked by three such cases in Connecticut's recent history: Christopher DiMeo, who shot to death a husband and wife while robbing their jewelry store in 2005; Richard Roszkowski, who shot a man and woman, as well as the woman's nine-year-old daughter as she ran away, in 2006; and Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, who murdered, raped, and torched to death the family of Dr. William Petit in 2007.  The author of the editorial writes,

"The people who voluntarily committed these acts of savagery have declared themselves as aberrations, as living, breathing menaces to anyone who crosses their paths.  The just disposal of these cases, these revolting assaults on innocents, calls for the ultimate punishment."

Connecticut is a death penalty state and there are currently 10 men on its death row.  However, since Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, the state has only executed one person - Micheal Ross, aka "The Roadside Strangler" - who murdered and raped eight young women during a three-year period in the 1980's.