NEW HAVEN —Lawyers for two killers convicted for the deaths of a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion have asked a judge to vacate their death sentences and impose a sentence of life in prison without parole.
The Hartford Courant reports that lawyers for Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky filed legal papers Thursday and Friday in New Haven Superior Court. They say the death sentences are “unconstitutional and must be corrected” following the state Supreme Court’s August decision barring executions.
Connecticut lawmakers abolished capital punishment in April 2012 but applied the law to new cases. Death sentences imposed before the bill was passed were kept in place.
The 52-year-old Hayes and 33-year-old Komisarjevsky are on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela.
