Cheshire Home Invasion Jury To Reconvene Sunday
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Jurors deciding if a man convicted in a deadly Cheshire home invasion completed a second day of deliberations without agreeing on whether to impose the death penalty.
At 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the judge in the case asked the jury if they wanted to continue or return home for the day and reconvene Sunday. The jury will be back in the courtroom Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
Steven Hayes was convicted last month of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in 2007.
After Saturday's proceedings, Hawke-Petit's sister Cindy Hawke-Renn spoke to reporters including 1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan.
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1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan reports
"I honestly can't imagine if the death penalty is not sought in this when it would ever be used," Hawke-Renn said, "but that has to be the jury's choice and not mine."
Based on the questions the jurors are asking the judge, it appears that they are divided on statutory mitigating factors.
The jury asked to re-hear testimony from psychiatrist Dr. Eric Goldsmith, who said Hayes flew into a rage at the time of the crime.
Goldsmith testified for the defense that Hayes was in an extreme emotional state triggered after another man accused in the crime, Joshua Komisarjevsky, falsely told Hayes he had killed the girls. Hayes was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Hawke-Petit.
Prosecutors said Hayes' own confession showed he knew the girls were still alive.
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