Just one day after the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut filed a class action on behalf of the 11.500 prisoners in state custody, students from the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus, demanding the release of an 80-year-old convict.

In a prison with COVID-19 infections, the law school students say client David Terwilliger faces an extrajudicial death sentence because of the virus. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus states Terwilliger's history of heart attacks, strokes, chronic hypertension, hearing loss, fainting that required hospitalization, labored breathing and degenerative joint disease.

"There is nothing he can do to protect himself," Yale Law school intern Cara Newlon said. "He is a sitting duck right now."

Terwilliger is a disabled veteran serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in the death of his son-in-law following a dispute in a driveway. He is slated to be released in September 2021.

His legal team welcomes the ACLU lawsuit.

"Any effort to reduce the prison population in the face of this unprecedented crisis is good news," Newlon said.

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Halfway house

Newlon is one of 11 people, including eight students and three supervisors, from Yale Law School who took the Terwilliger case, pro bono. She said the longer Terwilliger stays in prison, the greater his chance of contracting the virus.

"It's impossible for our client to socially isolate himself, as he has a cellmate," Newlon said. "He also has serious health conditions. It's not a matter of whether he gets the coronavirus, but when he gets the virus. Everyday that he is in prison, he is at a higher risk for illness and death. This could become a death sentence for him."

Newlon said her client was approved for early community release on April 7, but officials specified no date. She said it's her hope officials release Terwilliger to his daughter in Georgia, but state officials said a plan is already in place.

"Although he was denied parole, the Department of Correction has approved a halfway house placement," State Department of Correction spokesperson Andrius Banevicius said in an email Wednesday. "The agency is currently evaluating program options for the most appropriate setting. In line with Commissioner [Rollin] Cook's direction, his release has been prioritized, based on age and medical score."

The department did not give a time frame for Terwilliger's release.

Cook and warden Nick Rodriguez of Osborn Correctional Institute are defendants in the case.

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