2:31 PM
A Connecticut jury is torn over whether they should sentence a man convicted of killing a family in their home to death.
Steven Hayes has been convicted of 16 felony counts in the rape and murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and tying her two daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 to their bed and setting them on fire.
Only the father, Dr William Petit, survived the horrifying attack.
The case has captivated the nation - and now it appears the decision over whether Hayes should live or die will not be an easy one.
Court notes released today suggested the jury is already split on the decision after just one day of deliberating.
The jurors sought clarification from the judge on 'mitigating factors' that would allow them to sentence Hayes to life in prison.
The judge told them it was still early in their deliberations and sent them home for the day. They are set to return tomorrow to continue.
On Wednesday the jury was asked to go through the horror that ended the lives of the mother and her two daughters.
State Attorney Gary Nicholson requested that the jurors go through the 'night of hell' that Jennifer Hawke-Petit endured as she desperately tried to save herself and her family from death.
Mr Nicholson posed the question as to what Mrs Hawke-Petit was thinking the night Steven Hayes, who has been convicted of her murder, was thinking the night he raped her and 'choked the life out of her'.
'Were they in psychological pain?', Mr Nicholson asked the jurors as they were shown photographs of the mother and her two murdered daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.
'Were they tortured? Of course they were', he continued.
Friends and members of the Petit family quietly sobbed, holding tissues to their faces as State Attorney Michael Dearington showed the jury one final photograph of the slayed family one last time.
Mr Dearington ended his closing arguments by saying: 'There were two beautiful girls, one loving mother and one family destroyed'.
Hayes was convicted of 16 felony counts relating to the 2007 home invasion and the state is pushing for him to executed.
Hayes' defence team has spent more than two weeks calling witnesses who have painted the 47-year-old as a bumbling burglar who was influenced by co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky.
They claim the robbery which was just meant to earn the two men money turned into a killing spree.
Komisarjevsky is scheduled to stand trial early next year.
Mr Nicholson told the jury: 'The law in Connecticut reserves the death penalty for the ultimate worst crimes - the worst of the worst. If there ever was a case where the facts and the law required the death penalty this is it'.
'Furthermore', he added, 'justice demands it'.
For the state to get a death penalty ruling, the jury must find Hayes guilty of several aggravating factors beyond just committing the crime.
According to the state, those factors include committing the murders during the commission of third-degree burglary as well as committing the offences in a 'heinous manner, extreme physical or psychological pain above and beyond that which was necessary' and with 'grave risk'.
Hayes' defence lawyer Thomas Ullman went on the offensive saying that his client did not deserve the bad press he's been receiving.
He asked the jurors to rise about the 'bloodlust' while they deliberate and slammed the media for their intense coverage of the case saying they were causing a 'thirst for blood in the air'.
Mr Ullman then got Hayes to stand up before the court in a sensational move in the closing day of the sentencing part of the trial.
As the convicted murder stood before the court and the family of the mother and two children he killed, Mr Ullman gestured to Hayes and said: 'This is a human being. You may not like him... but he is not a rabid dog'.
He compared Hayes' existence to that of a 'rat in a cage' and told the jury that if they really wanted to punish Hayes, a life sentence would be much more cruel for Hayes to endure than ending his life through execution.
'If you want to end Steven Hayes' torment you should kill him', Mr Ullman said.
'If you want to end his misery and overwhelming guilt and nightmares about this case, you should kill him... that would be the easy way out for him', Mr Ullman argued and added that giving Hayes life in prison would sentence him to a life of misery.
Mr Ullman then went on to quote Martin Luther King Jr in his final remarks saying: 'The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy'.
The sentencing phase was marred by its own controversy on Monday when Judge Jon Blue had to excuse the jury to address the matter of a napkin scrawled with a message written by a juror that was intended for a court marshall.
Judge Blue had the court clerk read the note aloud: 'Sunday 5 p.m., Side Street Grille. Can we?', it said.
The juror was then ushered in to explain and covered her face in embarrassment saying, 'No, absolutely not', in response to Judge Blue asking her if her interest in the unnamed marshall had impacted her impartiality.
'Obviously this is embarrassing,' Judge Blue said according to the Hartford Courant, calling it a matter of 'spectacular' and 'poor' judgment.
He further added: 'Pardon my French. But this was a goddamn dumb thing to do.'
The judge excused the lovesick juror from the courtroom but not from the case, as the jury was severely depleted during the weeks of gruesome testimony.
The jury, which started with 12 regular jurors, six alternates and two substitutes, is already down to just a 12-member jury and a single alternate.
The marshall has been reassigned and was not being blamed.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327117/Jurors-split-Connecticut-home-invasion-killer-Steven-Hayes-execution.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz14XYheu62
Steven Hayes has been convicted of 16 felony counts in the rape and murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and tying her two daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 to their bed and setting them on fire.
Only the father, Dr William Petit, survived the horrifying attack.
The case has captivated the nation - and now it appears the decision over whether Hayes should live or die will not be an easy one.
Court notes released today suggested the jury is already split on the decision after just one day of deliberating.
The jurors sought clarification from the judge on 'mitigating factors' that would allow them to sentence Hayes to life in prison.
The judge told them it was still early in their deliberations and sent them home for the day. They are set to return tomorrow to continue.
On Wednesday the jury was asked to go through the horror that ended the lives of the mother and her two daughters.
State Attorney Gary Nicholson requested that the jurors go through the 'night of hell' that Jennifer Hawke-Petit endured as she desperately tried to save herself and her family from death.
Mr Nicholson posed the question as to what Mrs Hawke-Petit was thinking the night Steven Hayes, who has been convicted of her murder, was thinking the night he raped her and 'choked the life out of her'.
Happier times: A June 2007 photo shows Dr William Petit with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, centre rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit
Brave: Dr Petit thanked the jury after they reached their guilty verdict, saying: 'We hope they will continue to use the same diligence in the penalty phase.'
'Were they tortured? Of course they were', he continued.
Friends and members of the Petit family quietly sobbed, holding tissues to their faces as State Attorney Michael Dearington showed the jury one final photograph of the slayed family one last time.
Mr Dearington ended his closing arguments by saying: 'There were two beautiful girls, one loving mother and one family destroyed'.
Hayes was convicted of 16 felony counts relating to the 2007 home invasion and the state is pushing for him to executed.
Hayes' defence team has spent more than two weeks calling witnesses who have painted the 47-year-old as a bumbling burglar who was influenced by co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky.
They claim the robbery which was just meant to earn the two men money turned into a killing spree.
Brave: Mother-of-two Jennifer Hawke-Petit seen in a bank CCTV image withdrawing $15,000 in the hope that the kidnappers wouldn't hurt her family. Less than an hour later she and her daughters were dead
Mr Nicholson told the jury: 'The law in Connecticut reserves the death penalty for the ultimate worst crimes - the worst of the worst. If there ever was a case where the facts and the law required the death penalty this is it'.
'Furthermore', he added, 'justice demands it'.
For the state to get a death penalty ruling, the jury must find Hayes guilty of several aggravating factors beyond just committing the crime.
According to the state, those factors include committing the murders during the commission of third-degree burglary as well as committing the offences in a 'heinous manner, extreme physical or psychological pain above and beyond that which was necessary' and with 'grave risk'.
Hayes' defence lawyer Thomas Ullman went on the offensive saying that his client did not deserve the bad press he's been receiving.
He asked the jurors to rise about the 'bloodlust' while they deliberate and slammed the media for their intense coverage of the case saying they were causing a 'thirst for blood in the air'.
Mr Ullman then got Hayes to stand up before the court in a sensational move in the closing day of the sentencing part of the trial.
As the convicted murder stood before the court and the family of the mother and two children he killed, Mr Ullman gestured to Hayes and said: 'This is a human being. You may not like him... but he is not a rabid dog'.
He compared Hayes' existence to that of a 'rat in a cage' and told the jury that if they really wanted to punish Hayes, a life sentence would be much more cruel for Hayes to endure than ending his life through execution.
'If you want to end Steven Hayes' torment you should kill him', Mr Ullman said.
'If you want to end his misery and overwhelming guilt and nightmares about this case, you should kill him... that would be the easy way out for him', Mr Ullman argued and added that giving Hayes life in prison would sentence him to a life of misery.
Mr Ullman then went on to quote Martin Luther King Jr in his final remarks saying: 'The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy'.
The sentencing phase was marred by its own controversy on Monday when Judge Jon Blue had to excuse the jury to address the matter of a napkin scrawled with a message written by a juror that was intended for a court marshall.
Judge Blue had the court clerk read the note aloud: 'Sunday 5 p.m., Side Street Grille. Can we?', it said.
Horror: The jury was shown this image of the charred bedroom of Hayley Petit, 17
The juror was then ushered in to explain and covered her face in embarrassment saying, 'No, absolutely not', in response to Judge Blue asking her if her interest in the unnamed marshall had impacted her impartiality.
'Obviously this is embarrassing,' Judge Blue said according to the Hartford Courant, calling it a matter of 'spectacular' and 'poor' judgment.
He further added: 'Pardon my French. But this was a goddamn dumb thing to do.'
The judge excused the lovesick juror from the courtroom but not from the case, as the jury was severely depleted during the weeks of gruesome testimony.
The jury, which started with 12 regular jurors, six alternates and two substitutes, is already down to just a 12-member jury and a single alternate.
The marshall has been reassigned and was not being blamed.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327117/Jurors-split-Connecticut-home-invasion-killer-Steven-Hayes-execution.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz14XYheu62
Courtesty: by Google
Posted in: Execution,Steven Hayes
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1 comments:
The incident was very surprising. I am very distrubed with this accident.
Also, read blogs posted by Andrew
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