• The Chief State's Attorney, who is appointed by the other members of the Commission. The Chief State's Attorney does not participate in the appointment process for the Chief State's Attorney or for the Deputy Chief State's Attorneys.

The current members of the Commission are:

• The Honorable Richard N. Palmer, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
• The Honorable Thomas A. Bishop, Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court.
• Maura Hughes Horan, Esq.
• Garrett M. Moore, Esq.
• Ann G. Taylor, Esq.
• Alfred A. Turco, Esq.
• Kevin T. Kane, who is the Chief State's Attorney.

THE HONORABLE RICHARD N. PALMER, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, was appointed a Member and Chair of the Criminal Justice Commission in April 2006 by Governor M. Jodi Rell. {The Honorable Richard N. Palmer, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, is Chair of the Criminal Justice Commissio}

Justice Palmer was born on May 27, 1950 in Hartford. He graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1968. He went on to Trinity College in Hartford where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1972. He received his J.D., with high honors, from the University of Connecticut School of Law, in 1977 and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar that same year.

Upon graduation from law school, Justice Palmer served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jon O. Newman. Justice Palmer was an associate with the Hartford Law firm of Shipman & Goodwin from 1978-80. He thereafter served as an Assistant United States Attorney for Connecticut from 1980-83 and from 1987-90.

From 1984-86, he practiced privately with the firm of Chatigny and Palmer. In 1991, he was appointed to the position of United States Attorney for Connecticut. From 1991-93, he was the Chief State's Attorney for Connecticut.

On March 17, 1993, he was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Justice Palmer currently serves as a member of the Judicial Branch's Executive Committee and is President of the Hartford Courant Foundation. He also teaches law and ethics at Quinnipiac University School of Law and Yale University School of Law.

THE HONORABLE THOMAS A. BISHOP was sworn in as a Judge of the Appellate Court on December 13, 2001. A judge of the Superior Court since September of 1994, Judge Bishop was assigned to the Complex Litigation Docket at the Tolland Judicial District at Rockville from April of 1999 until his elevation to the Appellate Court.

While a Judge of the Superior Court, Judge Bishop also served as Presiding Judge Family, Support and Dissolution and Assistant Administrative Judge for the Judicial District of Tolland and as Presiding Judge in the Family Division in the Judicial District of Hartford.

Judge Bishop was born in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History in 1963. Following his undergraduate studies, Judge Bishop was on active duty as an Army Intelligence Officer from 1964 to 1966.

He earned his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown Law School in 1969 and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar the same year. He was admitted to the United States District Court, Connecticut, in 1970.

Prior to his appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Bishop was Managing Director of the New London firm of Suisman, Shapiro, Wool, Brennan & Gray, P.C., and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he taught dispute resolution and negotiations. Judge Bishop continues to teach at UConn as an Adjunct Professor.

Judge Bishop also served as an Attorney Trial Referee and Special Master in the Judicial Districts of New London, Middlesex and New Haven from 1989 until his appointment to the Superior Court.

MAURA HUGHES HORAN, ESQ., was appointed to the Criminal Justice Commission in 2007 by Governor M. Jodi Rell. Attorney Horan practices in the area of commercial leasing, general commercial litigation and real estate transactions. Her experience includes loan transaction documentation, leasing, complex commercial litigation, pre-judgment remedy proceedings, mortgage foreclosures, contract disputes, landlord-tenant disputes, summary process actions and property tax appeals.

Attorney Horan is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego (B.A., cum laude, 1984) and the University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D., 1988). She was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1988 and was admitted to practice before the District Court of Connecticut in 1990.

In 1999, Ms. Horan was appointed by the Governor to the Connecticut Twenty-First Century Action Plan Commission. In 2002, she was appointed to the State Advisory Council on Children and Families and served as chair of the Council during 2004-2005.

GARRETT M. MOORE, Esq., is the Senior Partner of Moore, O'Brien, Jacques & Yelenak in Cheshire, Connecticut, a firm which specializes in personal injury, medical malpractice law, aviation accidents and products liability claims. He has served as a Member of the Criminal Justice Commission for more than seven years.

A native of Waterbury, Connecticut, Attorney Moore was admitted to the Bar in 1981 and is a Member of the Connecticut District Court, United States District Court, District of Connecticut; and the Supreme Court of the United States. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut in 1978, and his Juris Doctorate with Honors from Georgetown University in 1981.

He is Past President (1993) and a current Member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association and its Board of Governors, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the National Board of Trial Advocates and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

ANN G. TAYLOR, Esq., is General Counsel for the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut. She has served as a Member of the Criminal Justice Commission since 1999.

Attorney Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Catholic University of America, and her Juris Doctorate from the Western New England School of Law, and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1980.

She is a former Commissioner of the Connecticut State Ethics Commission and also has served as an Alternate Member of the State of Connecticut Judicial Review Council.

She previously served as Vice President and Government Affairs Counsel for Fleet Bank, NA, Hartford; Assistant Counsel, State of Connecticut Department of Banking; Federal Administrative Counsel, American Bankers Association, Washington, D.C.; Associate Director of Government Affairs, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Washington, D.C.; and Assistant to the Corporation Counsel, City of Danbury, Connecticut.

Attorney Taylor served as Chair of the 2000 Greater Hartford Walk Against Hunger and is past Chair of the Foodshare Board of Directors.

ALFRED A. TURCO, Esq., of West Hartford, was appointed to the Criminal Justice Commission in December of 2003. He is an ERISA and Financial Services partner with the Hartford law firm of Pepe & Hazard.

He counsels employers, fiduciaries and financial services organizations in connection with their development, acquisition, management and disposition of ERISA investment products. An author on annuity and stable value products, Mr. Turco serves on The Board of Directors of The Stable Value Investment Association, located in Washington D.C.

Attorney Turco earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Fordham University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut (1969).

KEVIN T. KANE is the seventh person to hold the title of Chief State’s Attorney since the position was established in 1973. His appointment by the Criminal Justice Commission was effective September 5, 2006.

As Chief State’s Attorney, Mr. Kane is the administrative head of the Division of Criminal Justice, the independent agency of the executive branch of state government that is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of all criminal matters in the State of Connecticut. The Division includes the offices of the State’s Attorney for each of the thirteen Judicial Districts in the State of Connecticut and the Office of the Chief State's Attorney in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.

Attorney Kane joined the Division of Criminal Justice as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the former 9th Circuit in Middletown in August 1972 and was promoted to Prosecuting Attorney in the fall of 1973. He transferred to the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in November 1978 where he served as the Unit Chief of the former Special Investigations Unit.

In 1986 he transferred to the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New London. He was promoted to Senior Assistant State’s Attorney in 1988 and Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney in 1990. He was appointed by the Criminal Justice Commission as State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New London effective January 4, 1995, and served as State’s Attorney until he assumed the position of Chief State’s Attorney.