HARTFORD, Conn. -- The final report on December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown will not be completed until sometime in the fall, the state's top prosecutor said Tuesday.
"There's no timetable," Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane said in a phone interview. "It's important for the families that it's done accurately and right."
Earlier Tuesday, Kane met in a closed-door informational session with Mark Ojakian, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's chief of staff, and State's Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III of Danbury, who is heading the investigation. Kane said later that he told those in attendance the investigation was progressing, but not finished.
Kane called the half-hour with Ojakian "a very good meeting," but declined to provide details.
"The governor wants it done right and correct," he said.
But House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, wanted to know more than that. Cafero called for a similar briefing for House and Senate leaders, who in April hammered out the controversial new gun-control regulations.
Law enforcement authorities have maintained that the shootings were carried out by Adam Lanza -- a troubled, 20-year-old Newtown resident who first murdered his mother in their home, then drove to the school, where he committed suicide after killing 20 children and six adults. But the investigation has extended beyond an initial June target date.
On Feb. 28, an interim report confirmed that Lanza was the sole shooter. In recent months, occasional reports have surfaced about Connecticut State Police officials releasing previously secret details of the crime scene at gatherings of law enforcement professionals.
Andrew Doba, Malloy's spokesman, said Tuesday's meeting was merely a general status briefing.
"We have said from the beginning that while we want the report done as quickly as possible, we also want it done right," Doba said. "Making sure the State's Attorney's Office has the independence it needs to do the job is critical, and we are trying to strike the right balance. We believe the update today from the State's Attorney's Office does that."
Doba declined to provide further details.
"The Sandy Hook investigation is progressing and involves both state and federal law enforcement agencies," said a statement from Kane's office, the Division of Criminal Justice, after the meeting.
"The State's Attorney expects to issue his report in the fall. The scale of the investigation is such that even a fall release of the State's Attorney's report is well within what would be expected from this type of investigation," the statement said. "The victims' families have been a priority throughout the investigation and are spoken with regularly by the state police and the State's Attorney and will continue to be."
Cafero, who received criticism from gun-rights advocates for helping draft an expansion in early April of the state's historic 20-year ban on military-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, said in an interview that he wishes that state House and Senate leaders are offered a similar briefing.
"The public has a right to know and I think they want to know," Cafero said. "We have the background on the shooter, but if there's something else going on, we need to know. At the very least we're entitled to know why the investigation is going longer than originally expected. I respectfully request they brief us as well."
He said the occasional reports quoting state police officials releasing crime-scene details at various law enforcement conventions "is somewhat insulting," while back home the state awaits closure on the details.
Legislative leaders, including Cafero, were critical of prosecutors' lack of help as they drafted the gun-control bill earlier this year.
"We had to pull teeth," Cafero recalled. "Now, state police are still going around talking about this, and we're sitting here like idiots asking what's going on?"
Copyright 2013 - Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
