NEW HAVEN — One of two men sentenced to death for the murders of a mother and her two daughters during a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire has been resentenced to life in prison.
Steven Hayes is the first of 11 death-row inmates to be resentenced since the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled last August that their sentences violated the state constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
State lawmakers abolished Connecticut’s death penalty in 2012, except for those already sentenced to death.
A judge on Wednesday imposed six consecutive life sentences on Hayes for the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Haley and 11-year-old Michaela, in Cheshire.
Dr. William Petit was Jennifer Hawke-Petit’s husband and the girls’ father. He was badly beaten but survived the attack.
After hearing the news, Petit called the resentencing “very sad.” He added that the state legislature is ignoring the wishes of the people.
