HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. Jodi Rell has vetoed legislation to abolish Connecticut's death penalty, saying the state cannot tolerate people who commit the most violent of murders.

Rell, a Republican, has expressed her opposition to the measure all along and issued her promised veto Friday.

"Gov. Rell today, in her message vetoing the death penalty bill, stated that the current death penalty law in Connecticut is workable and effective," Judiciary Committee Cochairman stat Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, said. "She also said that it should not be changed in order to speed up the appeals process.

"She disagrees with Dr. (William) Petit, who, along with a number of legislators, have suggested that the current law is in fact unworkable," Lawlor said.

Petit's wife and two daughters were killed in a home invasion in Cheshire in 2007. The two men charged in that attack, from which he is the sole survivor, could face the death penalty.

But Petit said in a statement that he was happy with the governor's decision.

"Thankfully, Gov. Rell has a sense of what is required to maintain the fabric of our society," he said. "Finally, the victims have a reasonable voice and some consideration over the deluded thinkers who feel that rights should only be accorded to convicted felons.

"I want to thank Gov. Rell for her moral courage and clarity to stand up for what is right and just with her veto of the bill to abolish the death penalty," he said. "The death penalty is the appropriate just and moral societal response to those who commit capital felonies."

The bill's supporters in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly have said they do not have the necessary two-thirds majority of votes to override her veto. The bill, which would have replaced capital punishment with life in prison, passed 19-17 in the Senate and 90-56 in the House last month.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found three of every five Connecticut residents wanted the state to keep its death penalty.

Connecticut has 10 death row inmates.