A Connecticut jury Tuesday completed a second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict on whether a man convicted of killing a woman and her two daughters in a brutal home invasion should get the death penalty or life in prison.
The jury deliberated about five hours Tuesday and less than two hours Monday in the sentencing phase of Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial in New Haven Superior Court. They will continue their discussions Wednesday, and Judge Jon Blue suggested they could go later in the day.
Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and daughters, Hayley and Michaela, at their Cheshire home in 2007. Hayes is on death row.
"It's just a long wait. It's a hard wait," said William Petit Sr., whose granddaughters and daughter-in-law were killed. "By the same token, we know it's very close to being over."
Defense attorneys say Komisarjevsky should not be condemned to death because he was sexually abused as a child and never got proper psychological help. Prosecutors cite the heinous and cruel nature of the crime.
Hayes was convicted of raping and strangling Hawke-Petit. The girls died of smoke inhalation after they were tied to their beds, doused in gasoline and left to die in a fire.
