Crime | Steven Hayes Murderer's Last Plea: It's Too Expensive to Kill Me Conn. killer hopes to avoid execution By John Johnson Posted Oct 9, 2010 5:51 PM CDT Copied This June 2007 file photo shows Dr. William Petit with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, center rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit. (AP Photo/William Petit, File) With their client convicted in a ghastly triple murder of a mother and her two young daughters, the lawyers for Steven Hayes have mustered what seems like a grasping-at-straws argument to keep him from being executed: It's too expensive. When the penalty phase of the trial begins, the lawyers will call an expert witness to make the case that it costs taxpayers far more to execute an inmate than to keep him imprisoned for life—$3 million to $1 million by one estimate, taking into account court costs. AP has more. Read These Next Trump laid a 'trap' for Democrats, and GOP aims to pounce. Men's, women's hockey players stick together after Trump joke. Christina Applegate pulls back the curtain on her real life. Cindy McCain says she's leaving the World Food Programme. Report an error