NEW HAVEN, Conn. A Connecticut man was condemned to death toay for killing a woman and her two daughters in their house.

Jurors in New Haven Superior Court voted to send Steven Hayes to death row after deliberating for four days. Judge Jon Blue will impose the sentence on Dec. 2.

The woman, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, had lived in Slippery Rock as a youth, and her parents, the Rev. Richard and Marybelle Hawke, still live there.

Dr. William Petit, the husband and father of the victims, said the verdict was not about revenge.

“Vengeance belongs to the Lord,” Petit said. “This is about justice. We need to have some rules in a civilized society.”

Hayes’ attorneys had tried to persuade jurors to spare him the death penalty by portraying him as a clumsy, drug-addicted thief who never committed violence until the 2007 home invasion with a fellow paroled burglar. They called the co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, the mastermind and said he escalated the violence.

But prosecutors said both men were equally responsible and that the crime cried out for the death penalty, saying the family was tormented for seven hours before they were killed.