HBO's "Cheshire Murders" returns to Petit tragedy
“The Cheshire Murders” (2013) aired earlier this month on HBO and explored the appropriateness of the death penalty sentence for the July 2007 murder of the Petit family in Cheshire, Conn.
Hayley Petit, then 17, was set to join the Class of 2011 that fall in Hanover. She was killed with her sister and mother, Michaela Petit and Jennifer Hawke-Petit. Hayley Petit’s father, William Petit, Jr. ’78 survived a severe physical beating.
Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, the perpetrators, were sentenced to death in trials following the home invasion, but neither sentence has been fulfilled.
Critics have praised the documentary for raising questions on the death penalty’s appropriateness. The Washington Post’s Hank Steuver wrote that the film “invites a frank and remarkably even-handed discussion of what sort of punishment could ever fit the crime” but acknowledges the “hyper-media era” of criminal celebrity culture that we participate in while watching the true crime documentary.
Yet national media continues to examine officials’ response to the crime. The Associated Press’s Dave Collins explored questions about police action in light of the documentary, six years after the murders.
The College honored the Petit family’s memory through a gallery in the Class of 1978 Life Science Center that includes a quilt in Hayley Petit’s memory and a photo of the family.