Coming as no surprise to anyone following this case, Steven J. Hayes has been found guilty of capital murder in the Cheshire Connecticut home invasion case where Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Michaela and Hayley, died leaving only surviving spouse and father Dr. William Petit to testify. 

(For details on this particular case, check out our post on the trial itself as well as the early media coverage which began long before jury selection.)

Whether or Not Steven Hayes Will Be Given the Death Penalty is Now the Issue

The job of the criminal defense team setting at Mr. Hayes’ table at this point is to fight against the death penatly.  To do that, they must present admissible evidence in support of one or more of the mitigating factors as they are defined by the Connecticut Legislature.  The New York Times reports that defense counsel are expected to take around 10 days to present their arguments during this second phase of the capital murder trial.

In the penalty phase, the state is allowed to present its case for capital punishment first.  In this well-known case of a Cheshire suburbian home invasion gone very wrong, the prosecutors put on only one witness – relying on the evidence already presented during the guilt phase for the majority of their arguments that they had met their burden (see the list of the aggravating factors under Connecticut law, below). 

The New York Times and the Hartford Courant are both following the trial, presumably each bit of the second phase of the trial will also be tweeted, and each day there are media reports summarizing the defense team’s work – witnesses presented, arguments made. 

Defense Strategy Slowly Being Revealed as Penalty Phase Progresses

It has already become apparent that part of the fight will be to explain Hayes as the bumbling follower of his co-defendant, who defense witnesses – including law enforcement officials – describe as controlling and indeed, the evil mastermind of the tragedy.  For instance, just this morning Judge Jon C. Blue granted the defense request to admit into evidence (over the state’s objection) both (1) diary excerpts and (2) certain statements made by Joshua Komisarjevsky which will support the defense’s contention, as they build their case for life and not death in the sentencing of Steven Hayes. 

Connecticut Law Controls Evidence Presented by State and by the Defense

The defense attorneys are controlled not only by evidence law – what will, and what won’t, be presented to the jury, but also by the specific, defined arguments allowed by state law to be urged in a fight against the imposition of the death penalty.  In Connecticut, the mitigation factors control the defense’s presentation just as the defined aggravating circumstances (below) controlled the state’s case. After the evidence is presented by both sides, the case will then go to the jury for consideration.Here are the mitigating and aggravating factors that control the case under Connecticut law:Continue Reading Cheshire Connecticut Home Invasion Trial Penalty Phase – Demonstration of How Mitigation Factors Play Out Under Connecticut Law