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Steven Hayes, the notorious killer who sits on death row for the 2007 slayings of a Cheshire woman and her two daughters, wants to waive his appeals and proceed to his execution, a path that serial killer Michael Ross took before being put to death in 2005. In a letter to the Courant, Hayes, 49, said he is the subject of "cruel and unusual punishment" by prison staff at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, treatment he claims has "been escalating" since March 2012. "I was willing to live with the intense grief from my past actions, and I still am...

On an 86-62 vote, the House of Representatives gave final legislative approval Wednesday night to a bill repealing the death penalty for future crimes, leaving Connecticut one step away from becoming the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. The bill, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has pledged to sign, advanced after a 9 1/2-hour debate focused largely on a provision that still mandates capital punishment for Connecticut's 11 death row inmates. The bill passed with votes from 78 of 99 Democrats and eight of 52 Republicans. Senate Democrats passed the bill 20-16 last week, with two Democrats joining all 14...

Shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday, state senators voted to pass the high-profiled death penalty repeal bill 20-16. The proposal now goes to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass easily. Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he would sign the legislation into law. The legislation would not directly affect sentences of the 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row. But relatives of some crime victims are opposing the measure, saying it could be used by lawyers for those inmates as grounds for appeal. ... Support for the death penalty remains high in Connecticut, where a Quinnipiac University...

As Connecticut state senators gear up to vote on the high-profile death penalty repeal bill, Dr. William Petit said he believes that those who commit the most heinous crimes should be given the ultimate punishment. "We believe in the death penalty. It's the only just punishment. What about the forgotten people, people tortured? They have no voice," said Petit whose wife and two daughters were murdered in their Cheshire home in 2007. ... In the hours before the afternoon Senate session, Democrats proposed an amendment establishing harsh prison conditions for inmates who would have been candidates for the death penalty...

The man who killed three women in a 2007 Cheshire home invasion was sentenced to death on Friday and addressed the court before that sentence was handed down. Joshua Komisarjevsky will be joining Steven Hayes on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in their Cheshire home in 2007. He is scheduled to be executed in July, pending appeals. "I will never find peace within. My life will be a continuation of the hurt I caused," Komisarjevsky said in court. "The clock is now ticking and I owe a debt I cannot repay."...

Joshua Komisarjevsky has been found guilty of murder. Hopefully he'll be rewarded with death at the 10/24 sentencing

Two men condemned to die for killing a mother and her two daughters during a home invasion will be in the same prison for the first time since the 2007 crime, but their attorneys say they are likely to have little, if any, interaction. A jury decided Friday Joshua Komisarjevsky should face death by lethal injection. His accomplice, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year. Hayes and Komisarjevsky blamed each other for escalating the crime, but prosecutors say it took both men to carry out the killings. Komisarjevsky's attorney says he's in a medical unit, a standard procedure for...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – DEVELOPING: A jury has condemned a Connecticut man to death for killing a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 attack in their suburban home. The jury deliberated over the span of five days before returning the verdict against Joshua Komisarjevsky. His accomplice, Steven Hayes, is already on death row. The two men were convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, ages 17 and 11

A 17-year-old girl who died in a gruesome home invasion that also killed her sister and mother likely took up to several minutes to die of smoke inhalation after her house was doused in gasoline and set on fire, a medical examiner testified Monday. Dr. Malka Shah could not say if burns found on Hayley Petit's body occurred before or after she died. Shah testified in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, who faces a possible death sentence if he's convicted. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted last year and is on death row. Hayley had been tied in her bed...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ A Connecticut legislative leader says there are not enough votes to repeal the state’s death penalty this session. Senate President Donald Williams said Friday the bill lacks enough support after two lawmakers said they would not support repeal this session after meeting with Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of a 2007 Cheshire home invasion in which his wife and two daughters were killed.

A COLONEL'S CAREER LOST FOR $65 - WHY DID ROBERT PETIT SELF-DESTRUCT? - MARINE COMMANDER OF 24TH EXPEDITIONARY UNIT AT CAMP LEJEUNE FOUND GUILTY OF SHOP- LIFTING AT LOCAL WAL-MART - CAUGHT HIDING PRINTER INK CARTRIDGES AND STP OIL TREATMENT BOTTLE UNDER JACKET - GETS 96 HOURS OF "COMMUNITY SERVICE" FROM SYMPATHETIC JUDGE - RELIEVED OF COMMAND BY MARINE CORPS - ENLISTED AS GRUNT BACK IN 1978 - KLEPTOMANIAC? - TIME TO RETIRE © 2011 MilitaryCorruption.com This is a sad story all around. One of those that cause you to scratch your head and wonder WHY? Why would a respected...

"I have seriously considered suicide many times. I have no wife, no children, no home and no interest in life in general." "I used to have trust and faith in humanity and you have taken that from me." "You destroyed our family." "He does not deserve life." Those are just a few of the statements made by members of the Petit and Hawke families when Steven Hayes, who was convicted of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela during a savage July 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, was formally sentenced to death Thursday by New Haven Superior Court...

NEW HAVEN — It will take $1.3 million more to put Steven Hayes on death row than to keep him in prison for the rest of his life, according to Hayes' lawyers. But a judge ruled Thursday that the cost will not be a factor in deciding whether Hayes is sentenced to death. Judge Jon C. Blue granted a motion by the prosecution to block financial testimony from being presented at a trial to determine whether Hayes will be given a death sentence for his role in a home invasion and triple homicide in Cheshire. Hayes was convicted of 16...

Steven Hayes was sentenced to death by a Connecticut jury today for his role in the deadly 2007 home invasion that killed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. The verdict came halfway through day four of deliberation for the jury that spend the whole weekend holed up in a New Haven courtroom discussing the fate of Hayes, 47. Hayes is convicted of raping and choking Hawke-Petit to death, while accused accomplice Joshua Komisarjevsky is accused of sexually assaulting 11-year-old Michaela Petit. Michaela and her older sister Hayley, 17, died after they were tied to their beds and the house was...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut man was condemned to death Monday for a night of terror inside a suburban home in which a woman was strangled and her two daughters tied to their beds, doused in gasoline and left to die in a fire. Jurors in New Haven Superior Court voted unanimously to send Steven Hayes to death row after deliberating over the span of four days. Judge Jon Blue will impose the sentence on Dec. 2. "You have been exposed to images of depravity and horror that no human being should have to see," Blue said in thanking...

Brutal home invasion murderer Steven Hayes could be "likable," his lawyer told jurors today. "He could be a hard worker, he could express concern for family and friends, and he could be a likable person," his lawyer, Patrick Culligan, told a jury today. The odd assertion -- given the heinousness of the crimes at hand -- came in opening statements to the penalty phase of Hayes' trial for the strangulation murder of nurse Jennifer Hawke-Petit and the murder-by-fire of her daughters Hayley, 17 and Michaela, 11.

DEVELOPING: A jury that heard eight days of gruesome testimony about a Connecticut family's night of horror has convicted a paroled burglar of killing a mother and her two daughters. Steven Hayes was found guilty Tuesday of capital felony murder in the July 2007 deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela. Jurors had begun deliberating Monday afternoon. The same jury must now decide whether Hayes should be executed or be sentenced to life in prison.

NEW HAVEN — A jury has found career criminal Steven Hayes guilty of murder and other crimes, including some punishable by death, in the 2007 Cheshire home invasion that led to the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela.

Here’s a True Crime post and we’ve some old ones and some new ones. Seems the Marines finally remembered that Maria Lauterbach was one of their own. A dog mercilessly thrown from an overpass recovers, an Aunt kills her niece and nephew heartlessly, a fine fellow killed his parents now wants a plea deal, a hypocrite caught having sex with 14-year-old for money, Drew Peterson’s “date” contest, a circumcision case goes to court, a baby’s body sent to the cleaners and this man vowed to die like a man defending his family. We compare him to that great Connecticut hero,...

New Haven (AP) _ A law enforcement official says Cheshire police responding to a fatal home invasion in July delayed entering the home because of assurances from a 911 caller who was told no one would be hurt if police were not notified. But as officers waited outside, the home erupted into flames, killing two girls. Their mother was strangled, and their father was badly beaten, but survived. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because authorities have not discussed details of the case, says the assurance that no one would be hurt was one of the reasons police...