Cheshire Police Took Steps to Intercept Car Before 2007 Killings: Report

Cheshire police took steps to intercept the vehicle driven by Steven Hayes after he took Jennifer Hawke-Petit to a bank before the 2007 home invasion killings, according to the Hartford Courant.

The Courant reports that filings made by lawyers for convicted killer Joshua Komisarjevsky reveal for the first time publically that Cheshire police tried to prevent Hayes from returning to the Petit home, where Komisarjevsky was holding Hawke-Petit’s daughters, Hayley and Mikaela Petit, captive.

The call, which indicates an officer was within blocks of the bank, is one of several that Komisarjevsky’s lawyers say were never released by Cheshire police, according to the Courant.

Komisarjevsky is seeking to have his conviction overturned and is requesting a new trial, claiming that evidence was withheld during his initial trial, according to Courant.

The Courant reports a status conference was held between the parties with Judge Jon Blue earlier this week but a date hasn’t been set for a hearing on the evidence.

Hayes and Komisarjevsky were both convicted, in separate trials, with felony murder and sentenced to death for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her children, 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.

However, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ruled in August that the death penalty violates the state’s constitution and barred all executions.

Hayes recently asked a judge to vacate his death sentence and to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read more about Komisarjevsky’s motion for a new trial at the Hartford Courant here.