NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Attorneys trying to persuade a jury to spare a Connecticut man the death penalty for a deadly home invasion rested their case Monday as a judge refused to dismiss the only remaining alternate juror over an embarrassing romantic note.
The sentencing defense for Steven Hayes ended after nine days of testimony and about a dozen witnesses. Prosecutors plan to call a few witnesses today before closing arguments Thursday and then jury instructions and deliberations to determine whether Hayes should get the death penalty or life in prison.
Monday morning, the judge refused to dismiss an alternate juror who showed romantic interest in a court marshal, in case the alternate might be called upon. Judge Jon Blue said a “middle-school note” the juror attempted to pass to the security officer Friday was “spectacularly poor judgment” but did not affect her impartiality.
A clerk intercepted the note. The juror is the last alternate, and Blue acknowledged she might be needed. The judge had dismissed a juror Friday who was overheard making a derogatory comment about the defense to another juror.
Hayes was convicted last month of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. Authorities said Hayes and another ex-convict, Joshua Komisarjevsky, broke into the Petit house in 2007, beat Hawke-Petit’s husband, William, with a baseball bat and forced her to withdraw money from a bank before Hayes strangled and sexually assaulted her. The daughters, Michaela and Hayley, died of smoke inhalation after the house was set afire.
