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Conn. man receives death sentence

Dr. William Petit Jr., right, leaves Superior Court with his friend and chairman of the Petit Family Foundation Ronald A. Bucchi Thursday in New Haven, Conn., after the sentencing of Steven Hayes.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut man sentenced to death Thursday in the killings of a woman and her two daughters said his execution will be “a welcome relief,” while the only survivor of the gruesome home invasion told a judge he had struggled with suicidal thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks.

Steven Hayes sexually assaulted and strangled Jennifer Hawke-Petit, a former resident of Slippery Rock. Her parents still have a home there.

Authorities say Hayes and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky tied Hawke-Petit’s daughters to their beds, poured gasoline on or around them and set fire to their Cheshire home in 2007. Komisarjevsky goes on trial next year.

Steven Hayes made his first public comments about the case before being formally sentenced by New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue. A jury last month determined Hayes should die.

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