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

After posting on CNN.com’s interview of Texas Death Row’s Hank Skinner earlier this week, readers wrote to let us know about more television coverage of Death Row and Death Penalty issues this fall.  Which is great news.  The more public awareness is brought to these issues the better,right?

After all, that’s the main purpose of this blog: to…

Connecticut is seeking the death penalty of two men who allegedly broke into the Cheshire home of a prominent doctor, Dr. William Petit, severely beating the doctor and killing his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and two daughters, Hayley,17, and Michaela, 11.  You’ve probably read about this case, or heard about it on television. 

And…

California re-instituted the death penalty in 1978; however, California has not executed anyone since February 2006, when Federal District Judge Jeremy Fogel stayed the execution of Michael Morales based upon Mr. Morales’ arguments against lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. 

Federal Judge Fogel Has a Big Decision to Make

Now, after four years have…

Once again, we welcome James Clark, Death Penalty Field Organizer for the ACLU of Southern California as we repost his recent article dealing with the financial realties of capital punishment upon a state’s budget. 

In the past, we’ve pointed to the obvious money motive for California – and other states – to end the death penalty on merely a bottom line, dollars and cents, approach.  (See, e.g., California Could Save $1 Billion By Abolishing Death Penalty.  How Bad Will It Get B4 They Do?)

However, today Mr. Clark provides us with the perspective of a Californian, speaking to his neighbors and friends who are living in the beautiful state we all know is facing financial ruin. 

Here is James Clark’s article (with his approval, of course).  It’s worth your time to read it:

How Would You Spend $64 Million?
by: ACLU
Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 11:32:01 AM PDT

By James Clark, Death Penalty Field Organizer, ACLU of Southern California

Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer is so broke he breaks into his daughter’s piggy bank, only to find it full of IOUs from himself?

On Wednesday, that scene was reenacted in Sacramento, with Gov. Schwarzenegger playing the role of Homer. The governor announced that he would be "borrowing" $64 million from the General Fund in order to move forward with one of his pet projects, the construction of a new death row facility at San Quentin. And $64 million is just the tip of the iceberg. Altogether, the new facility is expected to total upwards of $400 million. That’s half a million dollars per prison cell — roughly the cost of a nice house in California.

Of course, the General Fund is virtually broke already, so our governor is borrowing against nonexistent budget. And didn’t Gov. Schwarzenegger threaten that he wouldn’t sign a budget at all? Every government agency in the state is in fiscal emergency, our social safety net is in tatters, and the state is weeks away from paying state employees with IOUs.

Which is why building a new death row is exactly what we don’t need need right now.

California has by far the largest and most costly death row in the country, with over 700 inmates, nearly double the closest runner-up. All of these inmates live in a prison that predates the CivilContinue Reading California Death Penalty: Guest Blogger Asks How Would You Spend $64 Million?

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear Cullen v. Pinholster (09-1088), reviewing California’s federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on whether or not the death penalty should be reinstated for convicted murderer Scott Pinholster. 

Importance of mitigating factor was the key to Ninth Circuit’s decision.

The Ninth Circuit nixed capital…

Last night, Ronnie Lee Gardner died by firing squad.  He was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, but the sound of those four rifle shots are being heard worldwide. (The firing squad was made up of four expert police officers who each shot bullets from a 30 caliber rifle; three of the bullets were metal…

Today, the Board of Pardons and Parole for the State of Utah denied Ronnie Lee Gardner’s Commutation Petition (opinion here). 

Which means that one more door has closed on Mr. Gardner’s attempts to avoid the execution currently scheduled to take place this Friday, June 18, 2010, at midnight. 

Appeal Still Pending Before the …