Politics & Government
Death Penalty Opponents Rally Today at the State Capitol
Repeal bill would not spare Hayes or Komisarjevsky.
Death penalty opponents will deliver a letter signed by more than 300 Christian and Jewish leaders calling for the repeal of the death penalty to the state capitol this morning.
The demonstration is not directly connected to the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, the second Cheshire home invasion defendant, in New Haven Superior Court, but former Gov. M. Jodi Rell cited the case when she vetoed a repeal bill that passed two years ago.
Jury selection will continue today for Komisarjevsky, 30, who faces execution for the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in 2007.
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His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted in a separate trial in 2010 and is on death row. His sentence is under appeal.
Both men offered to plead guilty in return for sentences of life without possibility of release or parole, but the courts rejected the offers.
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The repeal bill currently before the Legislature would replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of release. However, it would not spare Hayes and Komisarjevsky, or anyone else convicted of a crime that occurred before the bill passes.
This is the fourth week of jury selection for Komisarjevsky, whose trial is scheduled to begin in September and may take three months, including the penalty phase.
Three jurors have been accepted since jury selection started on March 16. Hundreds of others have been rejected. The most common reasons are that serving on the jury for the trial, which might last up to three months, would be a financial hardship, or that prospective jurors have already formed a strong opinion and could not be impartial.
Some jurors were excused when they said they oppose the death penalty and could not impose it regardless of the evidence presented during the penalty phase.
Recent polls say that two-thirds of Connecticut favor the death penalty, but the percentage drops to under half when life without possibility of release is an option.
