Middlefield Lawmaker One of Four 'No' Votes Against Early Release for Violent Juvenile Offenders

Only four state representatives voted against a proposal that could see convicted murderers’ sentences reduced by two decades, and Middlefield state Rep. Emil "Buddy" Altobello was one of those dissenting votes.

Altobello, a Democrat who's district covers both Meriden and Middlefield, voted “no” on a piece of legislation that would see dozens of violent criminals come up much earlier for parole than intended under their original sentences.  

The proposal, House Bill 6581, has been wending its way through the legislative process, and was passed overwhelmingly in a 137-4 vote last week with bipartisan support. The move follows two U.S. Supreme Court decisions in recent years that rejected long prison terms for violent criminals convicted as teenagers.  

But Meriden lawmakers have not been quick to embrace the idea as both Altobello and one other dissenting vote, Rep. Catherine Abercrombie, showed.

Local lawmakers, including former Republican state Sen. Len Suzio and current Democratic state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, have been opposed in the past two years to early release programs for inmates.

Last year, New Britain resident Frankie Resto was arrested in connection with the murder of a Meriden convenience store owner, Ibrahim Ghazal. It became public shortly after that Resto had been released from prison early because the suspect had earned credit while being behind bars for a robbery conviction.   

Bartolomeo, who represents Middlefield along with Meriden and Middletown, testified against the early release program in March back when it was still in the discussion phase.

If approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor, this proposed bill could see convicted Meriden murderer Alberto Nieves released from prison nearly two decades early. 

Nieves is serving a 45-year prison term for murdering 27-year-old David Laureano following a fight in Meriden in 1996, according to a story in The Hartford Courant.   Nieves was 17 when he committed the crimes and under the bill approved last week by the Connecticut House those sentenced to long prison terms as teenagers would be eligible for parole after they had served 60 percent of their time.

That means Nieves, who was denied an appeal in 2002, could see 18 years shaved off his prison term.

The legislative proposal would mean that some inmates convicted of crimes such as rape, kidnapping and murder could get out of prison while they are still relatively young. People like Robin Ledbetter, who was 14 years old when she was charged with robbing and stabbing to death a Hartford taxi driver. 

Ledbetter, now 31, is serving a 50-year prison term for felony murder. Under her current sentence, she will be released when she is 64. She is one of more than two dozen people in Connecticut serving long prison terms for crimes committed when they were 14 or 15.