Steven Hayes Wants Death Sentence Vacated

Lawyers for Steven Hayes, who was convicted with an accomplice of killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, have asked a judge to vacate his death sentences and impose a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The Hartford Courant reports that legal papers filed Thursday in New Haven Superior Court say Hayes' six death sentences are "unconstitutional and must be corrected" following the state Supreme Court's decision in August barring executions.

Connecticut lawmakers abolished capital punishment in April 2012 but applied the law to new cases. Death sentences imposed before the bill was passed were kept in place.

The 52-year-old Hayes and 33-year-old Joshua Komisarjevsky are on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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