Jury selection starts for man charged in deaths of mom, 2 teen girls in Conn. home invasion
By APTuesday, January 19, 2010
Jury selection begins in Conn. family slaying
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Jury selection is set to begin in the case of one of two men charged with killing a mother and her two daughters during a home invasion in a Connecticut suburb more than two years ago.
The prosecution and defense will start picking jurors Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court for the trial of Steven Hayes.
Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky (koh-mih-sahr-JEV’-skee) have pleaded not guilty to capital felony murder and other crimes in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley. The men face the possibility of the death penalty.
Hayes and Komisarjevsky are accused of breaking into the Petit home in Cheshire, beating Dr. William Petit, strangling his wife and setting the house on fire. The girls, who had been tied to their beds, died of smoke inhalation.
