2007 CT Triple Murder

WOW... watching the Today Show this morning and they did a segment on the Petit family (mom and 2 daughters; dad Dr. Petit survived) that was killed in Connecticut by Steven Hayes when he invaded their home.

First off, what a heinous crime. But what I think is interesting is how the jury decided to sentence him to death... i.e. giving him the death penalty vs. life in prison.

I don't feel strongly one way or another about the death penalty- I'm not strongly for nor against. But what's interesting is I bet the majority of the time these criminals probably feel "relieved" when they receive the death penalty vs. life in prison. In this particular case, Steven's attorney even said [Steven] is relieved that he received the death penalty and this is what he wanted.

I'm not saying this is the case, but you hear of this a lot- that the criminals feel relief... is this so that they don't have to live a life filled with regret and remorse (even they even are capable of those emotions). If so, do we give them "an easy way out"?