HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - On the eve of a confirmation hearing for the first full-time parole board members, two of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's appointees are being pulled from consideration.

The two nominees served for years on the Board of Pardons and Paroles while it was a part-time entity, and were involved at different times in the parole hearings for the two suspects in the deadly Cheshire home invasion.

In a written statement Thursday, Rell says her office knew that Robert W. Neil of Bolton and Cicero B. Booker Jr. of Waterbury, sat on those hearings. She says both men have served ably, but didn't want their presence to shift focus from parole board reforms.

She says the decision to withdraw the nominations was mutual.

The killings of a woman and her two daughters during a July 2007 home invasion in Cheshire prompted calls for sentencing reform. The two men charged in the case were paroled burglars. Parole officials have said they did not have all the available information, including sentencing transcripts, about the men when their parole hearings took place.