Steven Hayes – White, age 44
Sentenced in New Haven County, Connecticut
By: a jury
Date of crime: July 23, 2007
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Hayes was convicted of sexual assault and other crimes that occurred during a home invasion that resulted in the death of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley (age 17) and Michaela (age 11). Petit was strangled and her and her two daughters were tied to beds while Hayes set the house on fire. The father was badly beaten with a baseball bat but survived. Joshua Komisarjevsky (age 29) was charged as Hayes’ accomplice. Defense attorneys argued Hayes was suicidal and remorseful, while portraying Komisarjevsky as the mastermind who escalated the violence of the attacks. Hayes said they commit the home invasion in an attempt to get money for drugs.
Sources: 7/16/10 AP Alert – CT 21:14:25, 7/16/10 AP Alert – CT 18:27:10, 10/25/10 AP Alert – CT 15:52:12, 11/7/10 AP Alert – CT 21:32:39, Los Angeles Times (CA) 12/3/10 (2010 WLNR 23998149).
By: a jury
Date of crime: July 23, 2007
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Hayes was convicted of sexual assault and other crimes that occurred during a home invasion that resulted in the death of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley (age 17) and Michaela (age 11). Petit was strangled and her and her two daughters were tied to beds while Hayes set the house on fire. The father was badly beaten with a baseball bat but survived. Joshua Komisarjevsky (age 29) was charged as Hayes’ accomplice. Defense attorneys argued Hayes was suicidal and remorseful, while portraying Komisarjevsky as the mastermind who escalated the violence of the attacks. Hayes said they commit the home invasion in an attempt to get money for drugs.
Sources: 7/16/10 AP Alert – CT 21:14:25, 7/16/10 AP Alert – CT 18:27:10, 10/25/10 AP Alert – CT 15:52:12, 11/7/10 AP Alert – CT 21:32:39, Los Angeles Times (CA) 12/3/10 (2010 WLNR 23998149).