NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Jurors were in their fourth day of deliberations in the punishment phase of the trial of Steven Hayes in the Connecticut home-invasion murders of three people.
The jury was deciding if Hayes should receive the death penalty or life in prison for the July 23, 2007, murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in Cheshire. His alleged accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is scheduled to be tried next year.
On Saturday, jurors asked to rehear testimony of defense expert witness Dr. Eric Goldsmith, who said during the trial that Hayes told him he killed Hawke-Petit because he felt betrayed by Komisarjevsky, the Hartford Courant reported Monday.
Hayes was convicted of three counts of murder on Oct. 5.
Goldsmith said he interviewed Hayes for several hours and that Hayes told him he felt betrayed by Komisarjevsky because he allegedly said he had killed the family while Hayes and Hawke-Petit were at a bank withdrawing money.
Hayes allegedly told Goldsmith the news enraged him and that he killed Hawke-Petit as a result.
That's the kind of information a jury might consider a mitigating factor in deciding if Hayes is executed or gets life in prison for the crimes, the newspaper said.
UPI
