Superior Court Judge John Blawie. Courtesy photo.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday he has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt a proposed addendum to the federal execution protocol, which would clear the way for the federal government to resume capital punishment after a nearly two-decade lapse.

The news from Washington, D.C., might have a familiar ring to Superior Court Judge John Blawie, who five years ago handled the last death penalty case in the state before the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional.

The Connecticut Law Tribune spoke to Blawie, currently a judge in the Norwalk-Stamford Judicial District, about his resume, years on the bench and his relationship with his father, who was a longtime Connecticut attorney.

Blawie's had a successful career as a lawyer and Superior Court judge. He handled complex cases as an attorney for the Division of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, was in-house counsel for two companies, worked as a senior assistant state attorney for Connecticut's Economic Crime Unit, and then rose to become a Superior Court judge 15 years ago.

Here are five things to know about the judge:

He resentenced Richard Roszkowski

Blawie's resume is one of note. It includes the case of Richard Roszkowski, who Blawie had sentenced to death before the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional.

Roszkowski was convicted of killing three people, including a mother and daughter, in Bridgeport. Blawie later had to resentence him to life without the possibility of release.

He presided over a Bernie Madoff case

Blawie was also the judge who handled several matters related to the town of Fairfield and the money-bilking scheme of Bernard Madoff. The town lost about $35 million in pension funds to the landmark Ponzi scheme, and Blawie handed down several rulings on whether it had a direct cause of action against feeder funds that invested with Madoff.

His pivotal role after Sandy Hook school shooting

Blawie also was the judge in Danbury Superior Court at the time of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. He signed all the search warrants for authorities to go into the home of the shooter, Adam Lanza, and confiscate his computers, car and internet records.

He adjudicated high-profile chimpanzee case

Blawie also handled a case that made national news when a chimpanzee mauled Stamford woman Charla Nash. Blawie ruled it was a strict liability case because the animal was considered wild.

His father was an attorney

Blawie said his biggest influence, cheerleader and mentor was his father Paul, a well-known and respected attorney who was in private practice for about 45 years and founded Cohen and Wolf, which was originally named Blawie & Wolf.

Today, Blawie has fostered a reputation as a prepared and fair jurist. But the 61-year-old judge said his attributes can be traced to what his father taught him about life and the law.

“He had such a tremendous influence on me,” said Blawie, who grew up one of 12 siblings in Fairfield and Bridgeport. “I saw him as a force for good in the world. He was so larger than life, and he thought law was a noble profession.”

As the seventh of 12 children, Blawie said half-seriously, “I was schooled in conflict resolution.”

Blawie clerked for his father for two years while attending the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he graduated in 1983.

“I learned about law and the philosophy of law from him,” he said.

Blawie has two sons and a daughter and lives in Greenwich.

Blawie said he's most proud in his time on the bench of “helping a few people along the way.” That, Blawie said, means that not every person who pleads guilty, or is found guilty, needs to necessarily go to jail.

“First[-time] offenders come before the court and I have the discretion of giving diversionary programs for that first offender. Incarceration is not always the answer,” Blawie said. “We try to instill accountability.”

So, Blawie said, he might give a person whose crime was assault another chance in ordering attendance in a family violence education program, or someone convicted of an alcohol-related crime a chance to get his life back on track in participating in accelerated rehabilitation or an alcoholic education program.

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