Cheshire Killer Steven Hayes Accepts Life in Prison: Report

Cheshire, CT — Convicted Cheshire killer Steven Hayes has accepted a life in prison and his public defender withdrew the appeal of his conviction, according to the Hartford Courant.

The Courant reports the appeal had been set for a hearing on July 13.

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Earlier this month, Hayes became the first death row inmate in the state to be re-sentenced when he received six consecutive life sentences without the chance for parole.

All 11 death row inmates will eventually be re-sentenced after the state Supreme Court ruled last August that the death penalty violates the state’s constitution and barred all executions.

Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky were both convicted, in separate trials, with felony murder and sentenced to death for the 2007 home invasion killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17.

State lawmakers got rid of the death penalty in 2012, but made it so that inmates already on death row would be executed. The provision was added after the trials of Hayes and Komisarjevsky, but last year’s ruling banned all executions with no exceptions.

The Courant reports the appeal of Komisarjevsky's conviction and death sentence has not been withdrawn and is scheduled for a hearing at the state Supreme Court later this summer.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant here.