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Thread: Steven Hayes - Connecticut

  1. #21
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    July 28, 2010

    Death penalty for Winsted suspect at issue in multiple murder case

    An attorney for Steven J. Hayes argued today in Superior Court that the death penalty should no longer be applied in the Cheshire triple homicide because of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s language last year when she vetoed a capital punishment prohibition bill.

    Attorney Patrick Culligan told Judge Jon C. Blue that Rell’s veto message, which named the home invasion’s survivor, Dr. William Petit Jr., was “a violation of due process.”

    “Because of what the governor did,” Culligan said, “the death penalty can no longer be pursued by the state in this particular case.”

    Culligan also cited Rell’s statement accompanying the veto that certain crimes are “so vile and inhuman” that the perpetrators should receive the death penalty.

    “The line here is very clear,” Culligan added. “And she (Rell) stepped very far over it.”

    Blue, who did not rule on the motion today, asked Culligan a series of questions about his position that indicated he was at least not immediately convinced by Culligan’s argument.

    Citing the vote by the legislators, Culligan said, “The death penalty is now cruel and unusual punishment because it’s no longer approved or authorized by the legislature...It no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency in Connecticut.”

    But State’s Attorney Michael Dearington reminded Blue that when the legislature passed the death penalty ban and sent it to Rell, “It was a close vote. Looking at the vote, it doesn’t reflect an overwhelming desire to do away with the death penalty in Connecticut.”

    Hayes, 47, of Winsted, is due to go on trial Sept. 13. Co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, is scheduled for trial next year.

    After court adjourned, Petit said he considered Culligan’s arguments “frivolous” and “a waste of time and resources.” He noted Rell’s veto represents support for the death penalty by a majority of Connecticut’s residents.

    Read Gov. M. Jodi Rell's 2009 letter on the death penalty veto here


    Death Penalty Veto

    http://registercitizen.com/articles/2010/07/28/news/doc4c4f2fca08f1c383916374.txt

  2. #22
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    July 28, 2010

    Petit urges vote for death penalty backers

    A Cheshire man whose wife and two daughters were killed in a home invasion three years ago is urging voters to support elected officials who favor the death penalty.

    Dr. William Petit said Tuesday that lawmakers who voted last year to abolish the death penalty do not represent the will of the majority. He cited a Quinnipiac University poll showing strong support for capital punishment in the state.

    “I hope the people of Connecticut get out and vote,” Petit said. “I don’t want the people of Connecticut to be the silent majority.”

    Petit spoke after a hearing in New Haven Superior Court Tuesday that focused on one of two men charged with killing Petit’s family.

    Lawyers for 47-year-old Steven Hayes argued that executions should no longer be permitted. They cited the legislature’s decision to abolish the death penalty, even though Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill.

    “The legislature spoke clearly as to the reasons why the death penalty in Connecticut no longer comports with the legislature’s understanding of contemporary moral values,” public defender Patrick Culligan said.

    Hayes’ attorneys also argued that capital punishment should be rejected in his case because Rell violated Hayes’ due process rights when she referred to the case and Dr. Petit in her veto message.

    Judge Jon Blue did not immediately issue a ruling, but said past governors have made statements about notorious crimes. As long as the atmosphere is not completely poisoned, the appropriate response is to choose a fair, unbiased jury that will only consider the evidence, he said. He also called Rell’s comments “fairly restrained.”

    Blue questioned whether any prior court rulings back up the defense attorneys’ arguments and said the state constitution gives the governor veto power.

    “There doesn’t seem to be any subject matter limitation,” Blue said.

    Prosecutor Michael Dearington said there was no legal basis to grant the defense motions.

    Petit, who was beaten during the home invasion, called the arguments frivolous.

    “I’m just annoyed when the defense gets up and talks about decency when they’re defending two people who strangled a woman with multiple sclerosis and tied a 17-year-old and 11-year-old to their beds and set the house on fire,” said Petit, who was a longtime staff member at the Hospital of Central Connecticut New Britain General campus and comes from a well-known Plainville family.

    Hayes, 47, and Joshua Komisarjevsky, 29, are charged in a 2007 home invasion that killed Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

    Police documents say the two men tied up the victims and poured gasoline on and around them before setting the house on fire and fleeing in the family’s car.

    Both were arrested a short distance from the house in Cheshire, about 15 miles north of New Haven.

    Hawke-Petit was strangled and the two girls died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner’s office.

    http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2010/07/28/news/doc4c4f81be5f349642892188.txt

  3. #23
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    July 28, 2010

    Judge Will Not Bar Death Penalty in Cheshire Killings

    The death penalty is still a possibility in the fatal Cheshire home invasion cases.

    Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue denied the motions Steven Hayes’ lawyers filed in an attempt to stop the death penalty from being used in the case, the New Haven Register reports.

    Lawyers argued for more than an hour in New Haven Superior Court that executions should no longer be permitted, citing the state legislature's decision last year to abolish the death penalty, even though Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill.

    Attorney Patrick Culligan said the legislators passing a bill to abolish the death penalty showed that capital punishment no longer “comports with contemporary standards of decency in Connecticut,” the Register reports.

    But Blue said the legislative action “is insufficient to justify a judicial finding that societal endorsement of the death penalty no longer exists in Connecticut.”

    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Judge-Will-Not--99485739.html

  4. #24
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    August 18, 2010

    Hayes Wants Cheshire Murder Statements Kept From Jury

    Attorneys for one of the men charged in the home invasion killings of a Cheshire woman and her two daughters wants statements their client allegedly made to police thrown out of court.

    A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in New Haven Superior court to discuss the motion by Steven Hayes.

    Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are accused of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela in July 2007.

    According to detectives, Hayes spoke with them shortly after the murders and made self-incriminating statements about the crime. They said Hayes refused to give a written statement, and refused to have his conversation recorded. He eventually asked for an attorney, according to police.

    Hayes' attorneys say the fact that police didn't electronically record statements Hayes made, violates his due process rights in a death penalty case. They want to keep the jury from hearing those statements when Hayes' trial begins Sept. 13.

    Prosecutors say there is no legal basis to support the defense attorneys' claims.

    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Hayes-Wants-Statements-Surpressed-100970814.html

  5. #25
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    September 1, 2010

    Defense criticizes Petit for speaking to media

    An attorney for one of two men charged in a deadly 2007 home invasion criticized the sole survivor of the attack that killed his wife and two children, saying he was trying to sway the jury with frequent comments to the news media.

    Thomas Ullmann, public defender for Steven Hayes, said Monday that Dr. William Petit was making comments to the media, while he himself was not allowed to talk about the case outside of court because of a gag order in the case.

    Hayes and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky are accused of breaking into the Petit family home in Cheshire and holding the family hostage for hours before strangling Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and setting the house on fire.

    The couple’s daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, had been tied to their beds and died of smoke inhalation.

    Ullmann said Petit and other relatives were giving daily press conferences and trying to sway jurors outside of court. He said he should have the right to respond.

    “It’s disturbing,” Ullmann said. “I don’t think we can sit here taking a daily battering.”

    Ullmann also said if the victims of the crime were black or Latino, the hearing would not even have been held and the defendants would already be serving life sentences.

    Petit, who is white, said he is not bound by the gag order and noted that the other defendant in the case, Joshua Komisarjevsky, gave interviews that led to a book.

    “I don’t really think I should dignify Mr. Ullmann’s remarks, which were extraneous to the matter being discussed,” Petit said.

    Petit said he has not called any press conferences and has responded to occasional requests from reporters for comments after pretrial hearings.

    Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano heard arguments by The Hartford Courant seeking to end the gag order and said he would make a ruling by the end of the week.

    Hayes and Komisarjevsky have offered to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison without parole, their attorneys say. Defense attorneys have said prosecutors rejected the offer and want the death penalty, but prosecutors have refused to comment.

    Prosecutor Michael Dearington declined to respond to Ullmann’s remarks, except to say, “I’m not even going to dignify it.”

    Hayes’ trial starts Sept. 13.

    http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/09/01/news/doc4c7db1836c222072861818.txt

  6. #26
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    September 1, 2010

    Judge Denies Defense Motion For More Details On Killings In Cheshire Case

    NEW HAVEN — When the suspects in the Cheshire triple homicide torched the victims' house, the fire not only doomed the lives of family members inside, but threatened the police officers and firefighters who had converged on the scene, prosecutors said Wednesday.

    The arson put multiple lives at grave risk, the prosecution asserts, and is one of several "aggravating factors'' that the state plans to introduce at trial as it pursues the death penalty against co-defendant Steven Hayes. The trial starts Sept. 13. Co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky's case will be heard at a later date.

    The jury in a death penalty case weighs aggravating and mitigating factors as it decides during the penalty phase whether a defendant will be executed, or live out his life in a prison cell.

    The specter of the fire came up at a hearing Wednesday on a defense request for more details on how the state believes each of the three killings occurred. Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue denied the motion.

    The prosecution alleges that Hayes murdered Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in an "especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner" and that his actions in each killing put the lives of others at grave risk. The defense lawyers said they wanted to know the evidence that justifies these aggravating factors.

    But Blue said that specific information wouldn't be relevant until the penalty phase of the trial, which would follow a guilty verdict in the evidence portion of the case.

    Blue said that lawyers Patrick Culligan and Thomas Ullmann have seen enough of the state's evidence to craft a thorough defense for Hayes. As a result of the ruling, prosecutors Michael Dearington and Gary Nicholson did not have to spell out the graphic details in the July 23, 2007, robbery, home invasion, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson.

    Dr. William Petit Jr., who was badly beaten in the attack, was the sole survivor.

    Blue did ask Nicholson if the state asserts that the fire in the house posed a grave risk to people outside as well as inside, and Nicholson said that was the prosecution's position.

    Blue also said he would rule on the sufficiency of the state's evidence as the issues arose. He said whether the killings were especially cruel or depraved would be a common-sense judgment for the jury to make.

    http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-hayes-ruling-evidence-20100901,0,6073143.story

  7. #27
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    September 10, 2010

    Trial in slayings of doctor's wife, daughters, set to begin Monday

    After months of jury selection and delays caused by the defendant's alleged suicide attempt, the triple murder case against Steven Hayes, one of two accused in the killing of a Connecticut physician's family, is set to begin Monday.

    Hayes, 47, and his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, 30, are charged with capital murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, burglary, and arson in an alleged crime spree that resulted in the deaths of a doctor's wife and two daughters.

    The two paroled felons are accused of breaking into the doctor's home in the early morning hours of July 23, 2007, and terrorizing the family for hours before setting fire to the house.

    "The case against Hayes appears strong. The real battle should be in the penalty phase," said Christopher Morano, who was part of the team that prosecuted Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, and is now a Connecticut-based defense attorney.

    "I expect the prosecution will present their evidence methodically, they'll work to protect their case from any appellate errors and ignore the media and the behind-the-scenes political battle over the death penalty."

    Lawyers involved in the case are barred from talking to the media by a court-imposed gag order, so trial strategy and details of the crime have been kept under tight wraps. However those details could be made public during opening statements, as lawyers on both sides have moved to make them. While openings are routine in most states and typically serve as a road map to the evidence, they are not the norm in Connecticut, Morano said.

    "Opening statements are usually up to the discretion of the judge," he said.

    Connecticut prosecutors usually start their cases with a witness who will set the scene. In this case that could be Dr. William Petit, the only survivor of the home invasion. Petit was beaten and bound during the attack.

    According to local newspaper accounts, he has been a vocal advocate for the death penalty in his quest for justice. His comments at one point drew protests from Hayes' attorney, Thomas Ullmann, who complained to the court that Petit was trying to influence potential jurors.

    For legal reasons, Komisarjevsky will be tried separately.

    He and Hayes could face lethal injection if they are convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. Hayes also is accused of raping and strangling Hawke-Petit and prosecutors have charged Komisarjevsky with sexually assaulting Petit's 11-year-old daughter.

    Momentum to repeal Connecticut's death penalty hit a snag last year when the state's Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, vetoed an abolition bill passed by the State's House and Senate.

    Twelve jurors and seven alternates have been selected to hear the case against Hayes, which is expected to take up to three months.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/10/connecticut.murder.trial/index.html?section=cnn_latest

  8. #28
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    September 13, 2010

    Gruesome Conn. Murders to Be Relived

    They were a model family living in an affluent suburb. William Petit was a prominent doctor. His daughter was on her way to Dartmouth, hoping to follow in his footsteps. His wife had multiple sclerosis and the family was active in efforts to raise money to fight the disease.

    But a chance encounter with a career criminal at a supermarket in July 2007 destroyed the family, authorities say. Joshua Komisarjevsky spotted Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters at the store and followed them home, then returned later with his friend Steven Hayes and together they broke into the house and severely beat Petit and killed his wife and daughters, investigators allege.

    The crime drew comparisons to "In Cold Blood," Truman Capote's chilling book about the 1959 murders of a Kansas farm family. It prompted a special session of the legislature and spurred more residents to buy guns and led to a continuing debate over the death penalty in the state.

    Hayes heads to trial Monday.

    Both defendants have offered to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences, but prosecutors, seeking the death penalty for both, pushed for trials, defense attorneys said, forcing the state to revisit the unsettling crime and its lone survivor to relive it in the courtroom.

    Each has tried to blame the other for escalating the crime.

    "It left the state shocked and people feeling vulnerable in the sense that it happened in a town where violence rarely occurs and it happened in a way that shook civilization, people's idea of civilization," said Rich Hanley, journalism director at Quinnipiac University.

    Dr. Petit is scheduled to testify early in the trial, which is expected to last about a month.

    Over the last three years, he has launched a crusade to have both men convicted and executed for their crimes, fighting proposals to ban the death penalty in Connecticut, observes CBS News Correspondent Betty Nguyen.

    After a recent court hearing, Petit said he welcomed hearing the names of his wife and daughters in court.

    "Most of the process tends to be one of depersonalization," Petit said. "I was actually pleased to hear their names to show it was personal, they were people, living people. They can't be there to give their side of the events."

    Hayes and Komisarjevsky, two paroled burglars, are accused of beating and tying up Dr. Petit, taking his family hostage and forcing his wife to withdraw money from a bank.

    Hayes, 47, is accused of sexually assaulting and strangling Hawke-Petit. Komisarjevsky, 30, is charged with sexually assaulting 11-year-old Michaela. The two allegedly tied Michaela and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, to their beds, poured gasoline on and around them and set the house on fire, killing the girls, authorities say.

    Dr. Petit managed to escape.

    Hayes and Komisarjevsky fled the burning home in the family's car and were caught after ramming several police cruisers, authorities say. Hayes was wearing Hayley's school cap, police say.

    The pair, each with more than 20 burglaries on their records, had spent time in the same Hartford halfway house. At the time of the killings, both were free on parole after serving time for 2003 burglary convictions.

    Hayes' murder trial will be held in New Haven Superior Court. If the jury convicts Hayes, the same panel will weigh his fate in the penalty phase. Once the Hayes case is finished, Komisarjevsky's will be scheduled.
    Hayes is charged with capital murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, burglary and arson.

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys have declined to comment on the case, citing a court-imposed gag order.

    "The evidence seems to be overwhelming," says CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford. "The doctor will identify them, they're caught, basically, running from the house. So, the defense looked at this, probably saying, 'Here's our chance to try to save the lives of these guys.' So, they offered up themselves. They said, 'We'll plead guilty, end this thing right now, put us in prison without any possibility for parole, and everybody go home.' But, this has generated such emotional response. … I've tried five death penalty cases, and they're very different and very hard on everybody involved.

    "This is a case that's so atrocious that I think even some people who are opponents of the death penalty would have second thoughts about this," Ford remarked to "Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill.

    "You could have a bizarre scenario here where they could go through the trial of these two men, the juries could find them guilty, probably will find them guilty, (based on) the evidence (we've seen), and -- (with) death penalties, there are two separate trials within one trial. A jury says 'guilty of murder' or 'not guilty' or guilty of something less. If they say 'guilty of murder,' they move to the penalty phase, another small trial within the trial, and say whether they live or die. You could get a scenario where a jury might say death penalty for these two guys, and then, down the road, with a new governor in Connecticut, you might have the death penalty repealed again. So, they might be taken off death row. So, it's a strange procedure but, at this point in time, prosecutors have said, 'This is such a horrendous case, we're going forward with this. We don't care if you want to plead guilty, you're still going to be looking at the possibility of the death penalty."

    In a state full of well-to-do towns, Cheshire stands out. With a population of about 29,000, it has a median household income of about $100,000, according to the U.S. Census, and a median home value of about $320,000 this year, according to the Warren Group.

    The town was designated the Bedding Plant Capital of Connecticut by the General Assembly because of its abundance of bedding plant growers, and Connecticut Magazine last year ranked it the fourth best town to live in.

    The Petit home invasion and deaths have had an effect. Gun permit applications in Cheshire rose from 33 in 2006 to 81 the year of the crime to 125 last year, police say. More residents bought security systems and dogs.

    "It's like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping," said Bruce Koffsky, a defense attorney who has tried death penalty cases, recalling the abduction and death of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's toddler in 1932. "It has been burned into the consciousness of the community."

    The Petit case led to tougher laws for repeat offenders and home invasion.

    Last year, the legislature voted to repeal the state's death penalty, but Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill, saying the state cannot tolerate people who commit particularly heinous murders. Dr. Petit actively lobbied in favor of keeping capital punishment and thanked Rell for her veto, saying it was "what is required to maintain the fabric of our society."

    Connecticut executed its first inmate in decades on May 13, 2005, when serial killer Michael Ross was put to death by lethal injection after he willingly halted his appeals. It was the state's and New England's first execution since 1960.

    Petit has kept busy attending court hearings, lobbying and carrying on the charity work of his family. He has said he's coping by trying to recall good memories with his family.

    "It's very emotional," Petit said after a recent pretrial hearing. "It conjures up lots of sadness, puts a lot of stress and strain on the family."

    The family's house was torn down, but a remembrance garden was created in its place, filled with flowers in the shape of a heart and a brick sign that reads "Three angels."

    "My heart breaks for Mr. Petit," said Mim Ramadei, 60, who was walking recently in the woodsy neighborhood filled with large colonials.

    "He's a remarkable man," said her friend, Maddy Tannenbaum, a 57-year-old audiologist who lives nearby.

    Hayes and Komisarjevsky were caught fleeing the scene and gave incriminating statements to police, authorities say. Hayes told police "things just got out of control," a detective testified last month.

    Hayes' attorneys will focus on trying to spare him the death penalty, such as by pointing out his troubled mental state at the time of the crime, said Hugh Keefe, a defense attorney in New Haven who has no connection to the case.

    "This case is all about the death penalty," Keefe said. "The evidence is overwhelming."

    Hayes, who tried to kill himself in prison, told the judge in April that he wanted to plead guilty. He changed his mind under pressure from his attorneys.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/13/earlyshow/main6861220_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBod y

  9. #29
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    Conn. Man Whose Family Was Murdered Testifies at Trial

    Dr. William Petit, the Connecticut man whose wife and two daughters were brutally murdered in their home in 2007, took the stand today in the trial of one of two men accused of the rape and murder of his family.

    Petit, the only one to survive the attack, recalled waking up on a couch about 3 a.m. in pain, with something warm dripping down his face. He saw two people standing in front of him. One of them told the other to "put two bullets in him" if he moved. The men then tied his wrists and ankles with rope and plastic ties, covered his head and took him to the basement where they tied him to a pole, according to ABC News.

    From that point, he was in and out of consciousness. At one point, the attackers demanded money.

    "The person doing the talking asked me where the safe was I said we had no safe," Petit testified. "The same person said if you give us what we want we won't hurt you." He heard his wife saying she needed to get dressed and get her checkbook to go to the bank.

    The triple murder trial of Steven Hayes, 47, began Monday in New Haven with the chilling testimony of a bank manager, a neighbor and a police officer who each recounted their entrees into the horrific scenes that shocked the quiet New England town of Cheshire three summers ago.

    Prosecutors say Hayes' accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, picked out Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, at a grocery store parking lot the day before and followed them home, returning to the house later with Hayes. Prosecutors say the suspects broke into the home and forced the mother to drive to the local Bank of America on the morning of July 23.

    Mary Lyons, the bank manager, told jurors Monday that Hawke-Petit was calm when she explained to the teller that her family was being held hostage, that she needed to withdraw $15,000, and that nobody should call the police, The New York Times reported.

    Lyons testified that when she asked Hawke-Petit for ID to complete the transaction, Hawke-Petit explained that her captors had taken her credit cards and ID. She then offered a picture of her daughters instead, the New Haven Register reported.

    "Her hands were a little shaky, but she wasn't overly anxious, or looking over her shoulder," Kristin Makhzangi, the bank teller, explained, according to the New York Post. "She was just focusing on her conversation."

    In court, prosecutors played the surveillance video from the bank that day, showing Hawke-Petit walking into the bank "as if she were just another slightly harried New England mom running an errand," the New York Post reported, before walking back out to what would be her rape and murder half an hour later.

    Prosecutors also played Lyons' 911 phone call in which she says Hawke-Petit had said that "if the police are called they will kill the children and her husband."

    Petit's neighbor, David Simcik, also took the stand and described how he had begun his morning like any other, walking the dog and picking up his newspaper at the end of the driveway. Later, his wife told him she heard someone calling his name. In the driveway lay a man so bloody that Simcik didn't recognize him at first. Komisarjevsky had beaten Petit with a baseball bat, according to Hayes' attorney, Thomas Ullmann, and he was bleeding from the head.

    After Lyons called 911, police began arriving on the scene. As Simcik was placing his 911 call, police officer Thomas R. Wright appeared in the driveway and told him to get inside his house. As he turned, he heard Wright ask Petit if anyone was in the house. Petit responded, "The girls."

    By then, Michaela had been sexually assaulted and tied to a bed. Hayley had been tied to a bed in another room. And Hawke-Petit had been raped and strangled. The suspects had doused the house with gasoline and set it on fire, according to prosecutors.

    During his testimony, Wright said he saw Hayes and Komisarjevsky trying to escape in the family's tan Chrysler, with police chasing after them. He and another officer tried to get into the burning house but were forced back by the heat and smoke. He said he tried to put the fire out with a garden hose while he waited for the fire department to arrive, according to the New Haven Register.

    If Hayes is found guilty, he could face the death penalty. The trial was delayed earlier this year after he tried to commit suicide and was put into a medically induced coma, ABC News reported. Komisarjevsky, 30, will face a capital murder trial at a later date.

    http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/dr-william-petit-testifies-in-trial-of-steven-hayes-accused-of-murdering-petits-family/19633103

  10. #30
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    September 15, 2010

    Hayes was wearing victim's hat as he fled

    A Cheshire police detective today described how he helped apprehend Steven J. Hayes, who is on trial in the Cheshire triple homicide.

    Detective Joseph Vitello who was doing surveillance near the home of Dr. William Petit Jr. the morning of the 2007 home invasion, said he heard officers on his police radio say “They’re fleeing! They’re fleeing!”

    Vitello said he saw an SUV speed away from the home and he pursued it until it crashed shortly afterward into a 2-vehicle police barricade.

    Vitello recalled that the SUV stopped a short distance away and while officers ordered suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky out of the car and onto thte ground, Vitello and other officers did the same for Hayes, who was in the passenger seat.

    Vitello said he took a gun from Hayes, which the suspect had in the small of his back.

    Vitello testified that when he asked Hayes’ name, the response was “Peter Hayes.”

    When Vitello asked if anyone was in the Petit home, Hayes’ response was “I don’t know, things just got out of control,” Vitello testified.

    It also was revealed in testimony today that Hayes was wearing Hayley Petit's hat as he tried to flee. The hat was from Miss Porter's School, from which Hayley Petit had graduated in 2007.

    In testimony earlier Wednesday, the Cheshire police captain who directed the response to the Petit house while the family was being held hostage testified today during the Hayes trial that the 911 call came more than 30 minutes before the house was engulfed in flames.

    Capt. Robert Vignola testified he made the decision not to allow officers the approach the house where Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Dr. Petit and their two daughters were being held hostage.

    Vignola said he first wanted to establish a perimeter around the house using a SWAT team.

    New Haven Chief Public Defender Thomas Ullmann introduced into evidence the log sheets showing the first 911 from a bank where Hawke-Petit was forced to withdraw $15.000 and reported that her family was being held hostage.

    Vignola said it wasn’t until 9:54 (a.m.) when officers heard Petit shout to his neighbor for help that police saw any activity at the house.

    At about the same time officers allegedly saw Hayes, of Winsted, and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky run out of the house, get into the Petit’s vehicle and leave, Vignola testified. The car the pair was in subsequently collided with a police car.

    Vignola said there had been no indication of violence in the house and he was following hostage protocol and procedure.

    When Ullmann asked “if “all of this setting up...happened too late,” prosecutors objected to the question.

    Their objection was sustained by Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue.

    Vignola’s testimony came the morning of the third day of the trial of Hayes, who is charged with 17 counts in the home invasion, including murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, assault and arson, all in the first degree. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

    Police Officer Jeffrey Sutherland was to be next up to testify.

    On Tuesday, Dr. Petit testified, describing the day his idyllic family life was shattered: How he was beaten with his own Louisville Slugger; his wife and two daughters killed despite his frantic efforts to get help; and then their house burning down.

    Komisarjevsky, 30, of Cheshire, is to be tried next year.

    http://nhregister.com/articles/2010/09/15/news/doc4c90f2eca438f167907442.txt

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