Hours after condemning a man to death, half the jury in the Connecticut home invasion trial was whisked to New York in time for the network morning show rounds today, and spent the day in studios describing their two-month struggle with hideous evidence, a complex death penalty law — and their own emotions.
“Life is good,” death juror Diane Keim joked tonight, as she enjoyed another chauffeured ride back to Connecticut, this one from CNN, after an interview in their New York studios.
“This is a part of our healing,” she explained. “We also felt it was a part of our mission, to show that it is a civic responsibility, and that this is what separates us from the rest of the world: our Constitution and our legal system.”
Earlier in the day, Diane sat side-by-side before the morning show cameras with her other jurors.
“The hardest part was keeping my emotions at bay, and making a decision within the law,” death juror Diane Keim told the country, adding that the sight of the 2007 attacks’ sole survivor, Dr. William Petit, in the courtroom audience each day gave her the strength to sally forward.
“Seeing him there and seeing his courage, and seeing his strength after everything he’s been through, that transferred to us that we had to be there and do the right thing.”
The jury had spent since mid-September’s opening statements hearing evidence and rendering verdicts on the guilt and mortal fate of Steven Hayes, who raped and strangled pediatric nurse Jennifer Hawke-Petit and helped burn alive the mom’s two girls, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.
Even as the 47-year-old crackhead and career burglar was being driven north to death row — in a maximum security prison near the Massachusetts border — juror members were being courted by a phalanx of television producers.
Before the day was through, the six jurors were chauffeured to the city to do the Early Show, Today, and Good Morning America. They praised each other for the civility of their deliberations, and took a few last shots at Hayes.
“This man has nothing positive to contribute to the face of this earth,” noted juror Herbert Gram.
Among the most touching of the appearances was an interview of Hawke-Petit’s father, the Rev. Richard Hawke.
“You’re an ordained minister, certainly in your years of studying the Bible you would have to have real questions about a situation like this — what’s your feeling about this death penalty,” The Early Show’s Harry Smith asked Hawke
“We really felt like we were between a rock and a hard place, for we value life so much,” the retired reverend answered. “But we have come to realize that there are some people who just do not deserve to live in God’s world, and we feel that Steven was one of those.”