Killer of mom, 2 daughters gets death sentence

[Seedersandleechers]

Source: MSNBC

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.

Killer of mom, 2 daughters gets death sentence
A Connecticut man will be sentenced to death 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. The judge will impose the sentence.
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.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40071693/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

[derby378]

1. It seems like the general rule...

...is not to give a convict the sentence that he actually asks for.

[Fool Count]

62. If that is what he really wanted, I am sure he won't be filing any appeals now

and will ask for speedy fulfillment of his wishes.

[Warpy]

2. Living a normal lifetime with the screams of those children in his ears

would be a much more severe punishment, IMO.

[Seedersandleechers]

3. Somehow I doubt

the killer even has a conscience.

[The empressof all]

4. You know I really thought I would agree with you on this

I have always been an adamant opponent of the death penalty. Intellectually my mind tells me that you are still correct on this however this particular case really tests the limits. It made my heart wish for blood vengeance here.

I don't think this criminal would suffer pain from years in jail. I doubt he will suffer from remorse. He is evil. However even in the face of such evil we need to rely on our best selves and spare his pathetic life and stick him in the solitary cell for the rest of it. We do this for our own sakes...not his....

[pettypace]

5. Please clarify your opinion

Why are you opposed to the death penalty?

a) The death penalty will cause suffering to the condemned.
b) The death penalty involves less suffering than life in prison.
c) The death penalty makes those who institute it less virtuous.


Seems to me if you can eliminate answer 'c' from above, carrying out the sentence on this particular perpetrator will be beneficial to all parties.

(By the way just a personal opinion of mine: if you're against the death penalty in every case except the most extreme, then you're not really against the death penalty at all.)

[activa8tr]

7. I would have to agree with your personal opinion. Just like ...One cannot be half

pregnant.

Either one is or one is NOT! Quite true!

[The empressof all]

11. I oppose the death penalty even in this case

Where I didn't agree with Warpy is in her opinion that he will suffer from remorse. With the information I have about this criminal I believe he will not suffer with regret for his actions...just that he was caught.

I believe that feelings are not necessarily facts and that although this particular case did raise a desire for blood vengeance that I normally don't personally feel, society would be better served with having this person condemned to life in prison. I can't rule out C...As a culture we need to try to rise to being our better selves.

[christx30]

37. What would you think

of the death penealty with no execution? The guy is given a bench in a cell and he just sits there until he dies? Gets a meal every day, but he gets no phone calls (except for his lawyer), no time in the yard. No medical care? Just placed there and pretty much forgotten? That way, it's different from regular life in prison, he knows he is being punished for killing someone, but there si a chance to get him out of there if a mistake has been made (like being wrongfully accused/convicted). But he just sits in that box until he dies.

[pettypace]

47. In cases where there is no doubt to the guilt of the perp:

Would it not be more humane to put him out of his misery instead of caging him up like an animal for decades?

Now if you're argument is that he DESERVES the harsher sentence - life in a cage - than that's certainly different than being anti-DP simply because it's a moral stain on our society. In other words, more power to you, the family of the deceased, and the jury if the former is the case.

I just never understood the sentence life in prison without the chance of parole. I myself would pick death 1000 times over perpetual captivity!

[REP]

70. That's why I'm for it theory but against it in practice - legal system too corrupt

But yes, the death penalty is more humane than locking someone in a cage, and having others spend their lives guarding them.

Again, our legal system is currently too corrupt to implement the death penalty. When evidence of actual innocence is not allowed for appeals (among other abuses), there can be no faith it is used only for the guilty.

[Hawkowl]

61. Death by insanity

It has been well documented that a sentence as you describe will yield irrevocable insanity in a fairly short time period. So the prisoner will go insane long before he dies. I don't know if I could advocate a sentence like that. It is merely torturing to death on a long time scale. It would produce less trauma on society to humanely euthanize the individual in short order.

[Warpy]

13. All murder is brutal

I wanted my family member's murderer to have a long time in prison away from booze and drugs to think about it. I especially just wanted him off the street so he couldn't do it again (he was suspected in several other similar murders). Killing him in my name would have made it worse.

This guy needs a long time off the street in enforced sobriety. That's how justice will be best served.

[The empressof all]

14. Yes....We agree

:hug:

I was confusing in my response. :rofl:

It's impossible to quantify horror. I paid a bit more attention to this case than I usually do and it sickened me beyond belief.

[mudderfudder77]

33. If you think

If you think prison is a place free of booze and drugs - you don't know prison.

[Warpy]

36. It's a place of only intermittent booze and drugs if you've got the kind

of pull or money it takes to get them.

A no-hoper who burned 2 kids to death is going to have neither.

[24601]

35. Fine - we won't bring up your name. Execute him after telling him

24601 agrees - and tell him twice. We can even tell him you non-concurred and your conscience will be clear. With a 15-year old daughter, mine already is.

Neither one of us, however, were on the jury and they heard/saw the actual evidence. No one would reasonably describe Connecticut as blood-thirsty. This wasn't Texas.

[Atypical Liberal]

15. It's hard

I used to be pro-death-penalty, but after so many people have been found innocent by virtue of DNA testing I can no longer support it.

Cases like this make it hard to stand by that conviction, but I still have that conviction.

[yodermon]

26. specimen to be studied to determine what caused his brain to break

"he's just evil", full stop, is just magical thinking; these things have causes.

none of which is any consolation to the victims' families of course :(

[provis99]

6. who knows? He might like prison.

Many murderers enjoy their time in prison.

[activa8tr]

9. Well, with appeals and everything, he is likely to spend 10 or more

years in jail before they feed him the chemicals.

[emilyg]

39. What makes you think

it would bother him?

[Crunchy Frog]

48. That's assuming he has some sort of concience.

Otherwise he might just spend a lifetime reliving the screams and getting a thrill out of it. :puke:

[Beacool]

8. It's CT, he'll never be executed.

I only hope that a fellow inmate does to this bastard what he did to that poor woman and her daughters. He and his accomplice are scum and deserve a similar fate as the one they meted out to their victims.

x(

[Throckmorton]

22. No chance of that in Connecticut

There is no contact between death row inmates and any other prisoners, on or off death row, in the Connecticut prison system. Just DOC personnel, Attorney General's Personnel, and his lawyers. Micheal Ross was only executed because he through in the towel on further appeals, without that, he would still be in prison, still waiting.

What we have just done, is to condemn him to a life of virtual solitude, and protection from other prisoners. As the legislature voted to repeal the death penalty last term, but the repeal was vetoed by the outgoing Republican Governor Rell, it will not be long before we no longer have a death penalty in Connecticut.

[Beacool]

30. Pity..........

I'm not a supporter of the death penalty, but boy do some of these people deserve an eye for an eye!!!

:-(

[Jennicut]

50. Hey Bea! I don't think it will ever happen either. But I think he will remain

well protected and away from other prisoners. Would I have voted for the death penalty in this case? Probably but then I doubt I would have been on the jury as I live in Cheshire. I spent my middle school and high school years hanging out in the same neighborhood and street the murders happened. I would be biased, I suppose. I am very liberal but I guess this is a normal reaction to this. It made a lot of us feel helpless, angry, sad, horrified. I saw the house before they tore it down. It just hit a lot of us hard that live and used to live in Cheshire.

[Beacool]

54. Hi, Jenni!!!

It was such a horrible crime that it goes against the grain to know that this piece of filth will be allowed to live the extent of his natural life. Meantime, taxpayers have to keep him clothed, fed and give him medical care.

:mad:





:hi:

[Jennicut]

56. It was horrible. My hometown was just rocked to its core.

CT and Cheshire in particular is not a blood thirsty populance but this crime was just so so bad.

[Beacool]

57. Yeah, there are some horrendous crimes that bring that out in all of us.

I was hoping that some inmate would do us all a favor, but I guess that he'll be in isolation for the rest of his life. Oh, well........

:-(


I hope that all is well with you.

:pals:

[YankeeLeft7x]

10. Tears in My Eyes

I had tears in my eyes as I heard Dr. Petit's press conference talking about his eleven year old girl Michaela, who was raped and burned alive in her own bed next to her stuffed animals....

Yes, I had wet eyes at that moment. It was an awful crime and I believe in the death penalty for these types of capital-felony murders/rapes/kidnapping/taking family hostage/tying girls and mother to their beds at gunpoint, robbing them of their life's savings and buying gasoline to torch their home.....

I am not a God person but I do believe in a Higher Power and may all these three women rest in peace.

*** The three women who were killed: Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley-17 years old and Michaela-11 years old.

The Defense Attorney's whom need to put on a strong case have stooped to low levels in this case. I know they tried to save their client but attacking the Petit family for who they are is cracked. Dr. Petit grew up in a humble town in CT and not born with a silver spoon as portrayed. Yes, he is a doctor but he worked to beoome one because he was obviously a smart student. I grew up in a humble town where some kids became doctors too. Yes, Dr. Petit is "white" but this does not make it okay or jutifiable to kill either as the Defense Attorney suggests that this is the reason the case received so much attention.

The case received so much attention because of the children involved, how they were killed and the length of time they were terrorized by these two guys.

I cannot remember when I was not sad and outraged over similar and senseless crimes across the country. But living in CT made it much different.

I do not care about skin color when it comes to crime either. It's not Dr. Petit's fault the media gave this case so much attention and he said as much at his own press conference.

[Atypical Liberal]

16. Me too

I did not see the interview (was not in the original link) but being the father of a little girl myself I can't imagine this happening to my family. What a horror.

[RedSpartan]

12. Make no mistake...

in answer to the inevitable Bernard Shaw question, if this was my family (and I have a wife and two daughters), you'd have to keep me miles away from this monster for the rest of my life, or I would tear out what little heart he has with my bare hands. And I would enjoy it.

But I think that is a primal thirst for vengeance on an individual level, justified or not, that should not serve a purpose in civilized society. In my opinion, living together as a community and holding ourselves to a higher standard than any particular individual might is what sets us apart from, and makes us better than, murderers like this.

[JerseygirlCT]

18. +1 nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. Fry the bastard nt

[RedSpartan]

27. I'd not lose one wink of sleep pulling the switch myself.

With apologies to Samuel L. Jackson, as far as I'm concerned, yes he deserves to die and I hope he burns in hell.

But my point is that, in my opinion, as a society we have to be more than the collective sum of our parts and rise above the base instincts for revenge that we may feel individually. I don't think a society has a right to call itself civilized at the same time it claims to be able to determine when someone deserves to have their life snuffed out. (Although this scumbag tests the limits, to be sure.) That's playing God, and that's what murderers like this guy do. "We" are not God, nor should act like it. We're better than murderers and show it by not responding to them in kind.

[emilyg]

40. +2

[spotbird]

42. It's just more madness.

Society can be protected from these people without us becoming them.

It's these people who claim Christianity who despise the sinner.

[snooper2]

60. Nah...kill him and forget about him, bury his ass in an umarked grave

no need to waste any more of the planet's resources on scum like this....

Kids are dying from starvation around the world and this guy is still going to get some special dinner on every thanksgiving...Fuck that..


Billions of people in this World, some of them were born monsters and have some bad DNA. Best thing to do is just cull them from the herd, forever. I swear some DU'ers need to work on a farm for a while. I remember when I was around 10-11 we had this one chicken that would try to peck the eyes out of all the other birds. We caught which one was doing it and that was the end of it.

Some homo sapiens just need to be offed with in the same manner...like a rabid dog.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Sad day for CT

But I shouldn't be surprised at the sentence.

[Throckmorton]

23. It will never be carried out.

The death penalty will be repealed before the end of the next secession of the legislature.

[JerseygirlCT]

25. I hope you're right

But I'm not optimistic.

At least if the legislature once again gathers the gumption to do the right thing, the gov. won't veto it.

[spotbird]

43. Why are there only pockets of sanity?

Has the relative comfort of modern people caused them to lose their connections?

[jmowreader]

45. Connecticut is planning to secede?

[spartan61]

19. I wonder how long he will be sitting on death row

while all the appeals are going on. Look how long Michael Ross was on death row. He was sentenced to death in 1987 and was executed in 2005. It was Connecticut's first execution in 45 years! I followed this case through the years because we lived in the same town as Ross and one of his victim's was in my son's class in school.

Steven Hayes' crime was heinous and he deserves to die for his crime. Unfortunately, his execution, when it comes, will be much more humane than how his victims died.

[TicketyBoo]

20. I guess I'm not

as big a liberal as I thought I was because my heart does not bleed for this criminal. It bleeds for the victims and their survivor.

[digitaln3rd]

24. Scumbag deserves more.

I usually would be against the DP but, sorry, I'm not wasting any sleep over this case.

The death penalty is way too humane for what they deserve.

[spotbird]

44. Will hatred prevent this from

happening again. These perpetrators won't do it again. Do you have any science to support your faith that revenge prevents like crimes.

[prolesunited]

58. My heart doesn't bleed for him a bit.

but how does his death help the victims who are already dead? As for the survivors, you should read some studies about that issue. Some survivors are opposed to the dp and for others, it really does not provide the relief or closure that they had expected. For some, it delays the healing because of the appeals and length of time it takes to carry out the dp.

Opposition to the death penalty is not about specific criminals or crimes. It is about how we as a society deal with the worst among us. I don't agree that we serve justice by becoming murderers ourselves.

[AndrewP]

59. Same here

[durkermaker]

28. my only problem with the DP is the chance of getting the wrong person nt

[TicketyBoo]

32. Yep.

That's my main objection to it, too.

Some crimes are so beyond the pale that it just seems nothing else suffices. This is one of those cases.

[slackmaster]

34. Same here. I think it's morally justified in some cases, but there is always a possibility...

...of executing the wrong person.

[LisaL]

73. Not in this case.

[LisaL]

72. He was caught fleeing the scene of the crime, so really

there is no chance of getting the wrong person in this case.

[Infomaniac]

29. Probably never happen.

The only way I see this sentence getting carried out is if Hayes does what the last person executed in CT did: give up on his appeals. Otherwise, it will take decades before it even comes close to being done. It's more likely CT will ban the death penalty and render the whole thing moot.

I have no sympathy either killer. The last time I felt like this was when Tim McVeigh was sentenced. I won't be losing any sleep over it.

[Vidar]

31. Good.

[Old Troop]

38. Personally I couldn't care less about what happens to this POS.

I actually kinda hope he gets a excruciating, totally debilitating long-term medical problem. That said, I still don't support the death penalty for him or anyone else.

[spotbird]

41. Is homicide wrong?

Certainly not when it is self defense. When it is defense of others, less clear. How about when a whole city is nuked? How about when it is passive, like preexisting condition limitations on Type 1 diabetes?

Let the maniac live out his days in a way that society is protected.

[Crunchy Frog]

46. Despite my general opposition to the death penalty

I'm really not able to work up much indignation over this particular application.

[Jennicut]

49. I cannot really get angry about this. I grew up down the street from these murders.

For whatever reason, I cannot seem to say no to this. Hayes admitted it, it was premeditated, it was cruel. A child was raped and tortured as was her older sister and mother. Does it solve anything? No. Does it prevent a crime like this? No. But it hits so incredibly close to home, literally. Perhaps it is anger and fear on my part. I am usually a pretty liberal person and oppose the death penalty in a lot of cases, especially where you cannot prove someone is guilty. But this is just hitting me differently. My parents still live 5 minutes away from where this happened. I saw the house after it was burned and before it was torn down. Mr. Petit lives near my mother in law and everyone feels so incredibly bad for him. However, I don't know if it will ever happen. And a part of me knows it really is more about our reactions to the killer then about him. Hayes seems not capable of much understanding of his crimes. Sigh. This is very, very hard for me.

[Rage for Order]

51. ........

:thumbsup:

[ProudDad]

52. 10 Reasons to Abolish the Death Penalty

By 2004, 118 countries had abolished the death penalty, in law or practice. An average of three countries abolish the death penalty every year. The worldwide trend towards abolition of the death penalty is reflected in the Africa region, where 24 members of the African Union had abolished the death penalty, in law or practice, by 1 October 2004.(1) Here are ten reasons for the total abolition of this degrading and inhuman punishment:

1 - the death penalty violates the right to life.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognises each person’s right to life. Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples´ Rights (ACHPR) states that "human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the physical and moral integrity of his person." This view is reinforced by the existence of international and regional treaties providing for the abolition of the death penalty, notably the second optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989.

2 - the death penalty is a cruel and inhuman death.

The UDHR categorically states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."All forms of execution are inhuman. No government can guarantee a dignified and painless death to condemned prisoners, who also suffer psychological pain in the period between their sentence and execution.

3 - the death penalty has no dissuasive effect.

No scientific study has proved that the death penalty has a more dissuasive effect on crime than other punishments. The most recent investigation into the links of cause and effect between capital punishment and the murder rate, was conducted by the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 2002. It came to the following conclusion: "...it is not prudent to accept the hypothesis that capital punishment deters murder to a marginally greater extent than does the threat and application of the supposedly lesser punishment of life imprisonment."

4 - the death penalty is premeditated murder, demeans the state and makes society more violent.

By executing a person, the state commits a murder and shows the same readiness to use physical violence against its victim as the criminal. Moreover, studies have shown that the murder rate increases immediately after executions. Researchers have suggested that this increase is similar to that caused by other violent public events, such as massacres and assassinations.

5 - the death penalty is discriminatory in its application.

Throughout the world, the death penalty is disproportionately used against disadvantaged people. Some condemned prisoners from the most impoverished social classes would not have been sentenced to death if they were from wealthier sectors of society. In these cases, either the accused are less able to find their way through the maze of the judicial system (because of a lack of knowledge, confidence or financial means), or the system reflects the generally negative attitude of society and the powerful towards them. It has also been proved that certain criminals run a greater risk of being condemned to death if their victims come from higher social classes.

6 - the death penalty denies the capacity of people to mend their ways and become a better person.

Defenders of the death penalty consider that anyone sentenced to death is unable to mend their ways and could re-offend at any time if they are released. However, there are many examples of offenders who have been reintegrated and who have not re-offended. Amnesty International believes that the way to prevent re-offending is to review procedures for conditional release and the psychological monitoring of prisoners during detention, and under no circumstances to increase the number of executions. In addition, the death penalty removes any possibility for the condemned person to repent.

7 - the death penalty cannot provide social stability nor bring peace to the victims.

An execution cannot give the victim his or her life back nor ease the suffering felt by their family. Far from reducing the pain, the length of the trial and the appeal procedure often prolong the family’s suffering.

8 - the death penalty denies the fallibility of human institutions.

The risk of executing innocent people remains indissolubly linked to the use of the death penalty. Since 1973, 116 people condemned to death in the United States have been released after proof of their innocence has been established. Some of them have only just escaped execution, after having passed years on death row. These repeated judicial errors have been especially due to irregularities committed by prosecution or police officers, recourse to doubtful evidence, material information or confessions, or the incompetence of defence lawyers. Other prisoners have been sent to their deaths when serious doubts existed about their guilt.

9 - the death penalty is a collective punishment.

This punishment affects all the family, friends and those sympathising with the condemned person. The close relatives of an executed prisoner, who generally do not have anything to do with the crime, could feel, as a result of the death penalty, the same dreadful sense of loss as the victim’s parents felt at the death of their loved one.

10 - the death penalty goes against the religious and humanist values that are common to all humanity.

Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. They are based on many traditions that can be found in all civilisations. All religions advocate clemency, compassion and forgiveness and it is on these values that Amnesty International bases its opposition to the death penalty.

[TicketyBoo]

55. Well, "ProudDad"

this leaves me wondering if you'd feel the same way if it was your child who was tortured, raped, and killed. How about if it was two of your children, along with your wife?

I shudder at the thought.

1 - Pro-life people argue that abortion does, too.

2 - It is a far more humane death than his victims suffered.

3 - It will dissuade this particular criminal from doing it again.

4 - The death penalty, applied in this case, serves to make society less violent by one extremely violent individual.

5 - Is this person disadvantaged? If so, does that give him the right to do what he did?

6 - This person has denied three innocent people the capacity to be or do anything.

7 - I believe that some people do find comfort in the fact that the monster who perpetrated such a crime on their loved ones no longer breathes on this earth. (I'm not saying that all do, but some do.)

8 - He has admitted to the crime, so there is no doubt of his guilt. Human fallibility includes guards and institutions. The mere possibility of this animal getting loose is enough to make me (at the very least) not care if they execute him.

9 - A prison term affects all the family, friends, and sympathizers, too. Are you suggesting that because punishment of a criminal affects his/her family, that they should just be turned loose?

10 - An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Execution is as close as possible to adhere to that biblical edict.

Normally, I would not argue in support of the death penalty. This is not a normal case. This was not a normal crime. My heart does not bleed for this criminal.

[ProudDad]

63. I would feel exactly the same way...

To waffle and flip-flop like you would be hypocritical...

I am not a hypocrite...

As the civilized world has already learned the death penalty is not only impotent but it's counter-productive and morally reprehensible...

The death penalty puts the state on the same footing as the "criminal" upon whom it's applied...

Most "criminals" kill in the heat of passion and emotional breakdown...

But the state murders in cold blood...

And my heart does not bleed for what this person has done. My heart DOES bleed for what society does to itself, the corrosive effect on the community of cold-blooded murder of a murderer...

None of your alleged "points" (strawmen) above have any relevance or bearing on the issue...

-----------------------

As Gandhi said, "an eye for an eye leaves the world blind."

(By the by, you can take that political book of patriarchal myths written over 300 years after the death of the alleged son of a god, fold it seven ways and put it where the sun don't shine...

Absolutely the WORST argument you can make is one based on any part of any human's bullshit religion...)

[girl_interrupted]

64. He tortured, raped, murdered, burning 2 of the victims alive

if that isn't "cold blooded" murder I don't know what is it. My only regret is that he can't be taken out the way his victims were, to let him feel and know the horror of what they went through. Instead he will be given the option of a painless death. Like a sick animal being put down. Too bad about his "emotional breakdown". And who cares whether or not it will prevent other criminals from commiting murder. His death isn't about "prevention", it's about justice. He chose to take 3 lives. My sympathies go out to the family of the victims, my heart bleeds for them, not this piece of garbage.

[theHandpuppet]

65. +100!

My sentiments exactly.

[ProudDad]

66. Those are the acts of an insane person

someone whose wiring in the brain is defective...

But people are not toasters -- you should not just toss them on the trash heap when they "malfunction"...

There was very little "choice" involved in such his actions...

You DO understand what a "mental breakdown" IS don't you???

=======================

This is a very ignorant statement, "My only regret is that he can't be taken out the way his victims were, to let him feel and know the horror of what they went through"

You'll get your wish. The bloodthirsty "State" will make sure that he feels the horror of impending death for decades...

That's what the DP is all about -- vengeance and torture...

[LisaL]

71. Oh give me a freaking break.

You seem to know nothing about the case at all. Nothing to suggest that Hayes was insane, his lawyer didn't even try the insanity defense.

[xor]

74. I'd rather see scum like this guy sentenced to a life of 18 hour days of hard labour

for the rest of his life.

[JI7]

53. i'm opposed to the death penalty but i don't feel bad about this guy

or anyone else who actually commited the crime.

my problem is that there have been innocent people who have been released. the guy put to death in texas may not have done what he was convicted of and sentenced to death for.

[Mad_Dem_X]

67. Good riddance.

If there's a Hell, may this monster burn there forever.

[east texas lib]

68. So he now wishes for death...

Then accommodate him. It will be quicker and more merciful than what his victims got.

[Creative]

69. Of course, he is a man.

On the other hand...well, ask Susan Smith about that.

The death penalty is sexist.