Convicted Cheshire Killer Steven Hayes Tells Judge ‘I’m Guilty’; Drops Appeal

CHESHIRE, CT — Convicted Cheshire killer Steven Hayes officially dropped his appeal for a new trial Tuesday, telling a Superior Court judge that “I’m guilty,” according to the New Haven Register.

Randall Beach of the Register reports Hayes told Judge Jon C. Blue that he “played a part” in the 2007 triple homicide home invasion and all that would be accomplished in a second trial would be arguments over who did what between him and Joshua Komisarjevsky, which would be “petty” on his part.

Hayes became the first death row inmate in the state to be resentenced when he received six consecutive life sentences without the chance for parole last month.

Komisarjevsky was recently resentenced, also receiving six consecutive life sentences and 140 years without the chance for parole, but is continuing his pursuit of a new trial.

Beach reports that issue will be taken up by the state Supreme Court.

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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 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.

Read more, including reactions from Tuesday’s court hearing, at the New Haven Register here.