Every few years, Connecticut legislators toy with the idea of getting rid of the state's rarely applied death penalty. But then, a horrible case like the Cheshire triple murders comes up. Dr. Willliam Petit was the sole survivor when two former parolees allegedly broke into his home, and raped and killed his wife and their two daughters. One of the men, Steven Hayes, is set to be sentenced this month, and prosecutors are asking for the death penalty. Public support for the death penalty in the state is the highest it's been in a decade. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the state's gubernatorial race. Dan Malloy, the Democratic candidate who had been leading in the polls before Republican Tom Foley started closing in, supports getting rid of the death penalty. Under normal circumstances, that might not be enough to disrupt the race. But as Gary Rose, a political science professor at Sacred Heart University, says, these high-profile cases and unequivocally terrible cases, right before the election, could alter the race. At this point, even a slight alteration might make a difference. -- Monica Potts
