NBC Lectures Father of Murdered Family Over His ‘Controversial’ Support of Death Penalty

Kyle Drennen | August 26, 2016
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More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.

In an interview aired on Friday’s NBC Today with Dr. William Petit – the sole survivor of a brutal home invasion in which his wife and two daughters were murdered – correspondent Cynthia McFadden pressed the now-candidate for Connecticut’s state house on his support for the death penalty: “The two men who committed the crime were sentenced to death, but then Connecticut voted to eliminate the death penalty entirely. Dr. Petit was an outspoken critic of the change.”

McFadden detailed the horrific 2007 attack: “Dr. Petit was beaten with a baseball bat and left for dead. His wife was raped and strangled. Michaela and her 17-year-old sister Haley were attacked and tied up. They died when the men set fire to the family's home.” Amazingly, she then wondered why he supported the death penalty for the perpetrators: “You know, your views about the death penalty have been controversial to some people. Some say the best thing is forgiveness, is to say – how do you deal with that part of it?”

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