New Haven (AP) — An audio tape from the jury selection at the murder trial of death-row inmate Steven Hayes' is missing.

The New Haven Register reports the tape was at the center of a hearing Wednesday involving attorneys in the case, including those preparing Hayes' appeal of his capital felony conviction in the 2007 home invasion and murders of three members of a Cheshire family.

The missing tape from May 24, 2010 involves the questioning of a woman who was chosen as an alternate, but became a full member of the jury when another juror couldn't serve during the trial's penalty phase.

Hayes lawyers had argued unsuccessfully during the trial that state law doesn't allow a juror who didn't deliberate the guilt of a defendant to help decide that person's fate.