Kenneth Wynne
Kenneth Wynne (May 6, 1888- August 19, 1971) was a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1953 to 1958.
Early life, education, and career[edit]
Born in Unionville (later Farmington), Connecticut, to attorney John F. Wynne and Henrietta Barnes Kinney Wynne, the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where the Wynne's father opened a law office. Wynne attended the public schools of New Haven, graduating from New Haven High School, and working for a time as a newspaper reporter.[1]
Wynne graduated from Yale University and went on to Yale Law School, where he was a member of the school's debate team and on the board of the Yale Law Journal, before receiving an LL.B. in 1910.[1][2] He gained admission to the bar the same year, and thereafter held a variety of positions in public service first as clerk of the State Senate in 1913, then was executive secretary to Governor Simeon E. Baldwin in 1914 and 1915.[1] Wynne and his father practiced law in New Haven as the firm of Wynne and Wynne until 1921, when Wynne's father died.[1] Wynne then practiced with various other attorneys, and was appointed assistant city attorney for New Haven beginning in 1923.[1] During this period, Wynne "also served as acting coroner for New Haven County".[1] Wynne served as executive secretary to Governor Wilbur Lucius Cross from 1931 to 1935.[1][2]
Judicial service[edit]
In 1936, Wynne was appointed to the Connecticut Superior Court,[1] and in 1939, he presided over a case in which defendants were prosecuted under a statute that made the use of birth control illegal in Connecticut. Wynne wrote a brief decision finding the wording of the law unconstitutional.[3] In 1953, Wynne was elevated to the Connecticut Supreme Court, serving as chief justice from 1957 until his mandatory retirement in 1958.[1]
Wynne died in retirement in Woodbridge, Connecticut.[1]