Joshua Komisarjevsky, the second suspect in the Cheshire triple homicide, lost his effort to avoid a capital murder trial with a plea deal, the New Haven Register reported.

Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano denied an offer by Komisarjevsky’s defense team that would have had him plead guilty to all 17 counts against him in exchange for a life sentence, the Register reported.

Komisarjevsky is accused in the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in the home of William Petit in Cheshire, Conn. Steven Hayes, the other defendant in the case, was sentenced to death in December.

Jury selection in Komisarjevsky’s trial began Mar. 16 and has so far impaneled three jurors, one of them a Yale School of Medicine professor.

Komisarjevsky’s trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 19.