Death Penalty Asked In Cheshire Triple-Murder Case
The trial of Steven J. Hayes, the man found guilty of killing a woman and her two daughters in their own home three years ago, reached its final stage. The jury has now to decide wheather the criminal should be sentenced to death penalty or life in prison would be an enough punishment for him. If sentenced to death, Hayes would be the second man executed in Connecticut in the last forty years, after a serial killer who gave up his appeals was executed in 1960.
Steven J. Hayes, aged 47, was convicted on sixteen counts of kidnap, rape and murder. According to the prosecutor, Hayes and his accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, spotted Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and Michaela, her 11-years-old daughter, at their local supermarket in Cheshire, Connecticut. They followed them home and waited for the night before breaking into their residence through a cellar door. The two criminals first encountered doctor William Petit sleeping on a couch and beat him almost to death with a baseball bat and tied his ankles and wrists. Then they went upstairs and took Jennifer and her two daughters, Michaela and Hayley, hostage untill the next morning. But the two monsters did not stop there: they tied the girls to the bed and then raped both Jennifer as well as her youngerst daughter, Michaela.
The next day, Hayes and Komisarjevsky forced Jennifer to go to a local bank and withdraw $15,000, promising her to set the family free in return for the money. The woman somehow managed to alert a bank clark, who eventually called the police. But it was to late. The criminals took her back home, where they strangled the woman to death. Then they put pillow cases over the girls heads, spread gasoline all over the place and set the house on fire. When the police finally arrived, they could do nothing but watch the house burning to the ground. The only one who managed to escape was William Petit, who crawled to a neighbourʼs house, while Michaela and Hayley were burned alive and died of smoke inhalation. The two criminals were captured a few hours later, while trying to run a roadblock.
Steven J. Hayes was the first man to stand trail for the horrible murder of the Petit family. His trial began two months ago and included testimonies from both William Petit and Hayes himself. The doctor told the court as he woke up in a fog and recalled sitting up on a couch, with warm blood dripping down his face. He also heard one of the man saying to the other to kill him if he moved. He was later taken in the basement, where he managed to crawl up the stairs to a door, before rolling through the yard to a next-door neighbour.
As for Hayes, he tried to blame his accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for the crimes. He told the court that he was shocked when he saw Komisarjevsky beating William Petit with the baseball bat, as that was not the plan. He also said that it was Komisarjevsky who made him tie up the girls and their mother. When returning from the bank, his accomplice allegedly told Hayes that he had killed Petit and his daughters and that he now had to kill Jennifer, so he strangled her in a moment of rage. When he expresed his concern about the DNA evidence that could be left at the crime scene, Hayes said that the other man came up with the idea to burn down the house. So Hayes went out and bought gasoline and helped Komisarjevsky spread it around the house. The accused also looked for the goodwill of the court and testified that he had been lived with the guilt ever since and even tried to kill himself in remorse. But all this did not help Hayes very much, as the jury found him guilty on sixteen counts, including murder, first-degree kidnapping or first-degree felony arson.
After the jury pronounced its sentence, the prosecutor asked for the death penalty for Steven J. Hayes. He argued that the defendant played a major role in the killings and that his crimes were shocking, vicious, brutal and evil. He also said that in a civilized society one can not punish the killer by doing him the same thing, that is tying him to bed, spreading gasoline and letting him to burn alive, but he can sentence the killer to death. Moreover, the prosecutor reffered to Hayesʼ long criminal record and reminded the jury that the defendant commited more crimes each time he was set free on parole.
As for the defense, the attorneys named Hayes a simple follower who merely listened to his accompliceʼs orders. They also underlined the fact that Hayes accepted the responsibility for his crimes and offered to plead guilty before the trial in exchange for a life sentence. Besides that, the attorneys said that life in prison would be a greater punishment than taking Hayesʼ life. Death would only put an end to his torment and remorse, the defense explained, while a life sentence would leave him to think at his crimes “every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year.”
Now Steven J. Hayesʼ fate is in the hand of the jurors, who have to unanimously decide wheather the defendant should be sentenced to death or no. Joshua Komisarjevsky, his accomplice, will face trial next year and he could also be sentenced to death if found guilty.
