The Connecticut Supreme Court issued a ruling on Thursday deciding that the state's death penalty is unconstitutional. The decision also stated that exemptions to the state's death penalty ban violated Connecticut's constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Back in April 2012, the state overturned its death penalty law for all future capital offenses, leaving 11 inmates to remain on death row, reports The Wall Street Journal.

However, attorneys representing death row inmate Eduardo Santiago argued that any execution carried out after the 2012 repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment since the law has changed.

According to Santiago's Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, it would be wrong for some prisoners to face capitol punishment, while others get sentences of life in prison for similar murders. The attorney also argued that it no longer makes sense to execute people now that Connecticut had declared its opposition to the death penalty.

The state Supreme Court agreed with Santiago, handing down a 4-3 ruling in favor of his appeal on Thursday. The ruling will also affect the 10 other inmates currently on death row by converting their death sentences to life without parole.

"Upon careful consideration of the defendant's claims in light of the governing constitutional principles and Connecticut's unique historical and legal landscape, we are persuaded that, following its prospective abolition, this state's death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose," wrote Justice Richard Palmer for the majority in the decision issued on Thursday.

"For these reasons, execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment," reads the decision.

Norm Pattis, a prominent criminal defense attorney based in New Haven, applauded the state's Supreme Court decision. He argues that the death penalty costs a lot in tax dollars, but it does not deter crime.

"What you buy with the death penalty or bought with the death penalty prosecution in Connecticut was decades of costly and expensive litigation," he told FoxCT.

"This is the final ruling. It's not a decision that can be reviewed by any other court. This effectively ends the death penalty in Connecticut," added the a death penalty opponent.

Others, however, like State Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano condemned the ruling.

"Today Connecticut's Supreme Court stepped way out of line and wrongfully took on the role of policymakers. Their ruling deliberately circumvented the will of the people and the legislators who represent each and every Connecticut resident," he said in a statement.