Steven Hayes Found Guilty in 16 of 17 Counts: Poss. Death Penalty

by Amy Judd | October 5, 2010 at 09:07 am

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Steven Hayes Has Been Found Guilty in 16 of 17 Counts in the Connecticut Home Invasion Case

Steven Hayes has been found guilty of murder for the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Hayley Petit and Michaela Petit in the Connecticut home invasion case that left three female members of a family tortured and raped before being burned to death.

The jury just started deliberations one day ago and after only four hours and 16 minutes of discussion, they came back with a unanimous decision. Those same jurors will now decide if Hayes will receive the death penalty, but at a minimum he will never be a free man again.

The Courant has a run-down of the exact charges and verdicts. Hayes was found not guilty of first-degree arson.

COUNT 1 Murder (Jennifer Hawke-Petit): Guilty

COUNT 2 Murder (Hayley Petit): Guilty

COUNT 3 Murder (Michaela Petit): Guilty

COUNT 4 Capital Felony (murders of two or more victims): Guilty

COUNT 5 Capital Felony (Michaela Petit's death, murder of child under 16): Guilty

COUNT 6 First-Degree Kidnapping (Dr. Petit): Guilty

COUNT 7 First-Degree Kidnapping (Jennifer Hawke-Petit): Guilty

COUNT 8 First-Degree Kidnapping (Hayley Petit): Guilty

COUNT 9 First-Degree Kidnapping (Michaela Petit): Guilty

COUNT 10 Capital Felony (the murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit during the course of a kidnapping): Guilty

COUNT 11 Capital Felony (the murder of Hayley Petit in the course of a kidnapping): Guilty

COUNT 12 Capital Felony (the murder of Michaela Petit in the course of a kidnapping): Guilty

COUNT 13 First-degree sexual assault (Jennifer Hawke-Petit): Guilty

COUNT 14 Capital Felony (murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit during the course of a first-degree sexual assault): Guilty

COUNT 15 Third-degree burglary: Guilty

COUNT 16 First-degree arson: NOT Guilty

COUNT 17 Second-degree assault (Dr. Petit): Guilty

Now that Hayes' trial is over, his accomplice in the crime, Joshua Komisarjevsky, will go on trial.

The trial has been affected by Judge Jon Blue's illness and Hayes' reportedly suffered 'seizure-like symptoms' during the trial and the judge ruled the condition was serious enough to warrant a trial delay. His lawyer also said Hayes urinated on himself then asked for a delay.

The police response during the Connecticut home invasion, as the case has become to be known by, has also been questioned, with some saying the police could have saved three lives from the Petit family if they had acted earlier.

Captain Robert Vignola defended the police response in court and while he did admit that half an hour passed before the 911 call and them seeing the two men running from the Petit house, they were following standard procedure. Vignola said that police have to establish a perimeter first and said they could not see any activity inside the house when they arrived.

The police were alerted to the situation by a 911 call made by the bank manager of a Bank of America branch where Jennifer Hawke-Petit was forced to take $15,000 out of the family account about 40 minutes before she was killed.