THE VERDICT IS IN
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A paroled burglar was convicted Tuesday of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in their suburban home during a night of terror that drew comparisons to "In Cold Blood" and bolstered efforts to retain the death penalty in Connecticut.
Hawke-Petit, who spent her early years in Slippery Rock, was sexually assaulted and strangled. Her two girls, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, died of smoke inhalation after the youngest was sexually assaulted. They were tied to their beds with pillowcases over their heads and doused in gasoline. The house then was set on fire.
Steven Hayes, 47, could be sentenced to death. His attorneys have admitted his involvement and will argue for a life sentence.
Prosecutors said Hayes and another ex-con broke into the family's house in Cheshire on July 23, 2007, beat the girls' father with a baseball bat and forced their mother to withdraw money from a bank before she was sexually assaulted and killed.
The crime drew comparisons to "In Cold Blood," Truman Capote's chilling book about the 1959 murders of a Kansas family, and prompted more Cheshire residents to get guns. It also led to tougher laws for repeat offenders and home invasions, and Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell cited the case when she vetoed a bill that would have abolished the death penalty.
The girls' father and the lone survivor, Dr. William Petit, appeared to stifle tears as the verdict was read. His head down, he sucked in his bottom lip.
"There is some relief but my family is still gone," Petit said afterward, his father and other relatives clutching him. "It doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring back the house that we had."
The Rev. Richard Hawke, who lives in Slippery Rock with his wife, Marybelle, also spoke after the verdict.
"For our daughter, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and for Hayley Elizabeth Petit and Michaela Rose Petit, we say for them that we are pleased with the verdict. We feel that as far as the trial has gone, justice is being served, and we appreciate the support of all the people who have been behind us at this particular time."
Hayes showed no emotion as he stood for the verdict, which triggers the trial's second phase, beginning Oct. 18, in which the same jurors will decide if Hayes should be executed.
Petit said he hoped the jurors would use "the same diligence and clarity of thought" as they consider the sentence.Hayes' defense conceded most of the evidence on the trial's first day, but his attorneys blamed his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for escalating the violence at every critical point, starting with William Petit's beating. Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying the two men were equally responsible for the crime.Komisarjevsky faces trial next year and also could be sentenced to death.Hayes' jury heard eight days of gruesome testimony and deliberated for five hours over two days.He was convicted of 16 counts, including six capital felony charges, three murder counts and two charges of sexually assaulting Hawke-Petit. The capital offenses were for killing two or more people, the killing of a person under 16, murder in the course of a sexual assault and three counts of intentionally causing a death during a kidnapping.He was found not guilty of an arson count.During the penalty phase, which is expected to last up to a month, Hayes' attorneys will try to persuade the jurors to spare him the death penalty. They argued during the trial that prosecutors failed to prove Hayes intended to kill the girls.When asked Tuesday how he would find the strength to attend the penalty phase and then another trial filled with the same horrifying testimony, Petit said: "If your family was destroyed by evil, I think you would all try to do the same thing and be there for your family."New Haven Register reporter Randall Beach contributed to this report.
