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 explosed to images of depravity and horror that no human being should have to see," Blue said in thanking the jurors for their service.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
A jury in New Haven, Conn., condemned Steven Hayes to death for the 2007 home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. Hayes, 47, was convicted Oct. 5 of 16 charges in the case, including capital murder.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
The Petit family of Cheshire, Conn., is shown in June 2007 -- a month before a brutal home invasion. Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, were all killed. Dr. William Petit is the sole survivor.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Dr. William Petit Jr., center, is flanked by his father and sisters as he speaks to reporters following Hayes' conviction. Petit said "there is some relief" at the guilty verdict, "but my family is still gone." He added: "It doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring back the home that we had."
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
The horrific crime began in the early hours of July 23, 2007, when authorities say Hayes and another man broke into the Petit home in Cheshire, Conn. The attackers severely beat William Petit and left him tied up in a basement. They forced Jennifer Hawke-Petit to withdraw thousands of dollars from a bank, then strangled the woman and set the home on fire, authorities said. The Petit girls died of smoke inhalation. Here, firefighters are outside the charred home after the attack.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Joshua Komisarjevky, left and Hayes were arrested as they fled the Petit home, authorities said. Komisarjevsky faces trial next year. Hayes' attorneys have sought to portray him as as more violent of the two men and have said Komisarjevsky is the one who escalated the attack on the Petit family.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Chilling security tape video from a bank shows Jennifer Hawke-Petit withdrawing $15,000. Hawke-Petit explained to the bank teller that her family was being held hostage. She took the money and returned to Hayes, who was waiting outside. The bank manager called police, but before they took action, Hawke-Petit and her daughters had been killed. Prosecutors said Hayes raped Hawke-Petit before strangling her with his bare hands.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Hawke-Petit, 48, was co-director of the health center at Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school. Her daughter Hayley, 17, was bound for Dartmouth College, her father's alma mater. Michaela, not shown, was 11. Authorities said pillowcases were put over the girls' heads and they were doused with gasoline before the attackers set the fire. Komisarjevsky is accused of sexually assaulting Michaela before her death.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
The attackers beat William Petit with a baseball bat and then tied him to a post in the basement, authorities said. Petit was able to untie his hands -- but not his feet -- and escape the home. He hopped and crawled to a neighbor's home. The neighbor called police, as did the bank manager. Cheshire police, who set up a perimeter around the house instead of going in, have been criticized for their response.
Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Petit, a prominent endocrinologist, has had to cope with being the only member of his family to survive. Since the attack, he has taken part in fundraisers in memory of his family that benefit the causes they championed. He has also lobbied Connecticut lawmakers not to repeal the death penalty.
"It's a hole with jagged edges," he said. "Over time the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart, the hole in your soul is always there."
Hayes' attorneys had tried to persuade jurors to spare him the death penalty by portraying him as a clumsy, drug-addicted thief who never committed violence until the 2007 home invasion with a fellow paroled burglar. They called the co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, the mastermind and said he escalated the violence. They also said Hayes was remorseful and actually wanted a death sentence.
But prosecutors said both men were equally responsible and that the crime cried out for the death penalty, saying the family was tormented for seven hours before they were killed.
Hayes looked straight ahead and had no obvious reaction as the jury's sentence was announced. He will join nine other men on Connecticut's death row. The state has only executed one man since 1960, so Hayes will likely spend years, if not decades, in prison.
Komisarjevsky will be tried next year.
Authorities said Hayes and Komisarjevsky broke into the house, beat Dr. William Petit, and forced his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to withdraw money from a bank while the rest of her family remained under hostage at home. Hayes then sexually assaulted and strangled her, authorities said. Komisarjevsky, who will be tried next year, is charged with sexually assaulting their 11-year-old daughter, Michaela.
Michaela and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, were tied to their beds and doused in gasoline before the men set the house on fire, according to testimony. The girls died of smoke inhalation.
The crime was so unsettling that it became a key issue in the death penalty debate in the governor's race and led to tougher Connecticut laws for repeat offenders and home invasions. Gov. M. Jodi Rell cited the case when she vetoed a bill that would have abolished the death penalty.
To determine Hayes' punishment, the jury weighed so-called aggravating factors cited by prosecutors, including the heinous and cruel nature of the deaths, against mitigating factors argued by Hayes' attorneys.
The jurors were individually polled after the verdict Monday. One woman was crying and confirmed her verdict in a hoarse voice while a male juror said "yes" loudly and with conviction when asked to confirm his. Hayes was alternately looking straight ahead and to the opposite side of the courtroom from jury. His attorney, Tom Ullmann, sat somewhat slumped in his chair.
Ullmann had suggested prison would be more harsh than death for Hayes.
Hayes did not testify during the trial or penalty phase, but told a psychiatrist he wanted to "look like a monster" by taking the stand and expressing no remorse so that the jury would sentence him to die. Hayes also said he had repeatedly tried to kill himself after the crime because he felt guilty and remorseful and feared isolation in prison the rest of his life.
Hayes' attorneys focused heavily on Komisarjevsky, even calling a witness who said his "completely dead eyes" made him look like the devil. They cited his writings in which he described how his "dark shadow was let loose" as he beat the doctor and the pleasure he got from terrorizing the man's wife and two daughters.
Prosecutors said it was Hayes who initiated the crime, citing his confession to police in which he said he called Komisarjevsky shortly before the crime because he was financially desperate. They also noted that Hayes took Hawke-Petit to the bank to withdraw money, raped and strangled her, bought the gasoline and poured it in the house.
Hayes' attorneys tried to humanize him, portraying him as a proud father and a hard worker who was trying to pick up the pieces of his life as he got out of prison shortly before the crime.
Hayes "could be a likable person," his attorney, Patrick Culligan, told the jury. One of his employers said Hayes tried to intervene to protect her after she got into a verbal argument with another worker.
Hayes' defense called a psychiatrist who said Hayes was in an extreme emotional state triggered after Komisarjevsky falsely told him he had killed the girls while Hayes was with their mother at the bank. Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying Hayes own confession showed he knew the girls were still alive when he returned from the bank.
During the trial, jurors heard eight days of gruesome testimony, saw photos of the victims, charred beds, rope, ripped clothing and ransacked rooms.
Hayes was convicted of 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 sentenced to death for all six.