Jury Slow to Agree on Sentence for Murderer - Wall Street Journal

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The same jury that quickly convicted Steven Hayes of killing a mother and her young daughters is having a harder time deciding on his sentence.

The jury completed its third day of deliberations Sunday and is expected to continue deliberations Monday. At issue is whether Mr. Hayes gets life in prison or the death sentence.

Judge Jon Blue had asked the 12 men and women to deliberate through the weekend in hopes of streamlining the case.

The jury's notes during the weekend suggested the group was divided over whether there were mitigating factors that impaired Mr. Hayes's mental state during the killings. If the jury finds that there were, Mr. Hayes will receive a life sentence. A unanimous decision from the jury is necessary for the sentence.

The judge asked the jurors for permission to attend his local church for about a half hour. Then around lunchtime, when the jury said it wanted to continue its deliberations over pizza, Judge Blue offered to go pick up the order himself.

The oddities were just the latest in the two-month-old trial, which saw Mr. Hayes convicted in October.

Another defendant in the killings faces trial next year.

Just last week, Judge Blue gave a stern warning to the lone remaining alternate juror after she wrote a flirtatious note that was intended for a court marshal, but was intercepted by a clerk. The trial began with six alternates.

The trial's proceedings have been watched closely throughout the state, prompting most of the 20 or so news reporters covering the case to use Twitter to send minute-by-minute updates from the courtroom.

The jury took about five hours in early October to determine Mr. Hayes's guilt in 16 of the 17 charges he faced in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in 2007.

Write to Chris Herring at chris.herring@wsj.com

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Fresh Off Victories, Republicans Share Their Plans - New York Times

“You know, Republicans doubled the debt when we were in charge and then Democrats are tripling the debt,” he said on “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” on ABC.

To rein in annual deficits and cut that debt, he said he would reduce the federal work force and its wages by 10 percent and freeze hiring. He said an average federal worker earns $120,000 in wages and benefits a year, twice what an average worker in the private sector earns.

Congress, he said, should also consider raising the age of eligibility for retirement benefits under Social Security and apportioning those benefits on the basis of a means test. The military budget, he said, should not be spared and such cuts might require an earlier withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The Tea Party is about the debt,” he said. “It is concerned and worried that we’re inheriting or passing along this debt to our kids and our grandkids.”

Asked whether the Tea Party was “co-optable,” by the culture of Washington, Mr. Paul replied, “actually the Tea Party is co-opting Washington.”

“We’re proud, we’re strong, we’re loud and we’re going to co-opt,” he said, “And in fact I think we’re already shaping the debate.”

In the wake of the Republicans’ decisive showing in the midterm elections, in which the party won control of the House by capturing 60 seats and gained six seats in the Senate, Republicans dominated most of the Sunday television news programs.

Despite post-election talk of working with President Obama, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, took a hard line on one of the most pressing issues facing the government — whether to extend tax cuts put into effect during the Bush administration for those earning more than $250,000.

Mr. McConnell said rejecting an extension would amount to tax increases in the middle of a recession and would raise taxes on “750,000 of our most productive small businesses,” whose payrolls support 25 percent of the American work force.

“Small business is the biggest job generator in America,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Nevertheless, he said, Republican leaders are “happy to talk to the president about that and all the other issues that he has on his mind.” He did not rule out a temporary extension of the tax cuts for perhaps two years or so.

“We’re willing to start talking about getting an extension of some kind so that taxes don’t go up on anybody,” Mr. McConnell said.

Addressing the Obama health care plan, he said his preference was to repeal or replace it, but falling short of that he would consider ways of blocking financing for agencies like the Internal Revenue Service that are charged with enforcing the health care law. Mr. McConnell said the Republicans had “a commitment to the American people to keep this awful 2,700-page monstrosity that took over one-sixth of our economy from going into effect.”

In an interview broadcast Sunday night on “60 Minutes” on CBS, Mr. Obama blamed the tone and rhetoric he adopted with his opponents for disappointing Americans. The president signaled, however, that he was ready “to have a serious conversation” with Republicans on issues including the Bush-era tax cuts.

Mr. McConnell, in his “Face the Nation” appearance, said the major issues for many Americans were the level of federal spending, the debt and the health care law. The voters, he said, “wanted to have a midcourse correction.”

“I think he’s a good salesman,” Mr. McConnell said of the president. “I think his problem was not his sales job. It was the product.”

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Banged-up Indianapolis Colts lose to Philadelphia Eagles 26-24 - Indianapolis Star

The banged-up Indianapolis Colts lost another key player to injury Sunday and a 26-24 road game to the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Second-year wide receiver Austin Collie was carted off the field on a stretcher after a scary collision with two Eagles defenders in the second quarter. Team president Bill Polian told CBS Sports that Collie was awake and alert in the locker room and the preliminary diagnosis was a concussion.

The Colts were already playing without several key injured starters, including tight end Dallas Clark, running back Joseph Addai and cornerback Jerraud Powers.

Despite trailing 13-0 at the outset due to sloppy defense, the Colts rallied to take a halftime lead at 17-16. Peyton Manning threw a TD pass to Jacob Tamme. After the Collie collision resulted in a personal-foul penalty, the Colts capitalized with a Javarris James scoring run. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 37-yard field goal just before the end of the first half.

But the Eagles (5-3) scored 10 second-half points and maintained ball control for much of the time in the final quarters. The Colts (5-3) finally rallied late on another James TD run with 1:50 remaining but Asante Samuel intercepted Manning in the final seconds, Samuel?s second INT of the game, to end it.

The Eagles have won 12 in a row after the bye. David Akers? fourth field goal gave Philadelphia a 19-17 lead, then quarterback Michael Vick broke loose on a 32-yard scramble near the end of the third quarter to set up a 1-yard TD sneak early in the fourth.

The Colts had a 13-game November win streak snapped. They fall into a tie with idle Tennessee for first place in the AFC South.

Philadelphia wide receiver DeSean Jackson caught seven passes for 109 yards, including a 58-yarder. He started the scoring with a 9-yard TD catch in the opening quarter.

Vick ran for 75 yards on just nine carries as the Eagles amassed 196 yards rushing. The statistic is consistent with the other two Colts losses, both on the road, when Houston ran for 257 yards and Jacksonville gained 174.

Vick also was efficient throwing the ball as he completed 17-of-29 passes for 218 yards and one TD without an interception.

Manning completed 30-of-51 passes for 287 yards with one TD and two interceptions.

The Colts return home next week to host Cincinnati. The Eagles are at Washington next Monday.

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