Press Releases
08/29/2023
Judge Sentences Lazale Ashby to 46 1/2 Years in Prison for the 2002 Murder of Elizabeth Garcia in Hartford
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Hartford, CT) - Sharmese L. Walcott, Hartford State’s Attorney, announced today that the Honorable David P. Gold on August 28, 2023 sentenced Lazale Ashby, age 38, to 46 ½ years in prison for the December 2002 murder of 21-year-old Elizabeth Garcia in Hartford.
Ashby was sentenced to death after he was convicted in January 2008 of two counts of Capital Felony, Murder, Felony Murder, First-Degree Sexual Assault, three counts of First-Degree Kidnapping and First-Degree Burglary. Following the 2015 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court to abolish the death penalty, Ashby was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release, plus 125 years.
In August 2020, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Ashby’s conviction. While awaiting trial, Ashby pleaded guilty to a charge of Murder in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-54a.
According to trial testimony, the victim’s body was found in her Hartford apartment on Dec. 2, 2002. An investigation showed she had been badly beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted, strangled and left to die on the floor of her apartment. DNA evidence linked Ashby to the crime and he was arrested in 2003. When interviewed, Ashby confessed to the killing.
The case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney John F. Fahey.