Man in Connecticut home invasion to be sentenced

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Steven Hayes' lawyer said Hayes was actually pleased with the jury's recommendation that he should be put to death.

[video]http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/10/05/exp.hayes.home.invasion.verdict.cnn[/video]

Steven Hayes, who was convicted of killing two sisters and their mother during a 2007 home invasion, is scheduled be sentenced Thursday.

A jury found Hayes guilty of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters -- 7-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit -- in their Cheshire, Connecticut, home in 2007.

It recommended that Hayes, 47, should die for his role in the deaths.

Hayes' lawyer, Thomas Ullman, said he was not surprised by the jury's decision -- and that Hayes was actually pleased with the outcome.

"He wants to die," said Ullman last month. "He has categorized this process as suicide by state. He was unable to kill himself in prison and saw this as a way for the state to kill him."

According to court testimony, Hayes tried to kill himself multiple times while behind bars and one attempt postponed the beginning of the trial.

Hayes was convicted on October 5 of capital murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary.

Prosecutors alleged Hayes and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the home of Dr. William Petit on July 23, 2007, beat and tied up Petit, raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, molested one of their daughters and set the house on fire before attempting to flee.

The two daughters, who had been tied to their beds, died of smoke inhalation.

Hayes also forced Hawke-Petit to go to a bank and withdraw $15,000 from an account after finding evidence the account held between $20,000 and $30,000, authorities said.

Komisarjevsky will be tried separately later.
 
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