HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – With New England’s first execution in 45 years looming, state lawmakers rejected efforts to abolish Connecticut’s death penalty on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives, after more than five hours of debate, voted 89-60 against a bill that would have replaced the death sentence with life in prison without the possibility of release – a move that leaves serial killer Michael Ross’ fate up to the courts.

Legislators who want to end capital punishment had acknowledged for weeks that the abolition bill had no chance of passing. However, they said the House vote allowed them to debate the public policy before Ross’ scheduled May 11 execution.

Rep. Steven Mikutel, D-Griswold, whose district includes the families of some of Ross’ victims, said he wants his legacy in the General Assembly to be that of standing up for justice for victims.

“It’s about standing up to evil,” Mikutel said. “We should treat the people on death row as enemies of the state. They should die.”

Robert Nave, executive director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, said regardless of the House vote and Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s support of capital punishment, the debate over the death penalty in Connecticut is just beginning.

“It is clear to see that the death penalty will be a thing of the past before long and we are excited that today we had the first of many real debates on the death penalty,” he said.

State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers should scrap the capital punishment law. He said the law is unworkable and makes it difficult to execute anyone – even Ross, who has given up his remaining appeals.

“Is this just a theoretical public policy, or is this a real penalty in our state,” Lawlor said.

Ross, 45, was sentenced to die for strangling four young women and girls in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s. He raped most of his victims.

An Ivy League graduate who has confessed to eight murders, Ross came within hours on Jan. 29 of being put to death by lethal injection. But the execution was postponed so his mental competency could be examined.

Connecticut reinstated its death penalty 32 years ago. Opponents of capital punishment argued that the Nutmeg State, known for being politically liberal at times, stands out for being one of two states in New England with a death penalty.

“We are a blue state and should be proud of it,” said Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, D-Hartford. “Our democratic principals should never allow government to commit murder.”

New Hampshire, the other state with a capital punishment law on the books, has nobody on death row and has not executed anyone since 1939. Rhode Island has not put anyone to death since 1845, Maine since 1885, Massachusetts since 1947 and Vermont since 1954.

Rep. William Dyson, D-New Haven, who has regularly worn a placard protesting the death penalty at the state Legislative Office Building for months, said he can empathize with the victims’ families who want to see their loved ones’ murderers executed. However, he said the state sends the wrong message when it kills the killers.

“If it’s symbolic, so be it,” Dyson said of Wednesday’s debate. “Give it your vote. Give it your vote. It says something about who we are and who we want to be.”

Some lawmakers who voted against the legislation said it’s unfair to paint Connecticut like Texas or other states that regularly execute prisoners. They argued there are no questions about the guilt of the condemned inmates on Connecticut’s death row or the constitutionality of the death penalty law.

They said history has shown, as in the Ross case, that great pains are taken to make sure the judicial process is just and accurate.

“I’m in favor of the Connecticut death penalty,” said Rep. Lawrence Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, “because I feel there is a difference.”