HAYLEY and MICHAELA PETIT - 17 and 11 yo (2007) - New Haven CT

New Haven CT ---- On Tuesday, Steven
Hayes, one of the two men accused in the deadly Cheshire home invasion, said he
will take the advice of his attorney and plead not guilty.
The judge announced a recess and said jury selection
would now begin.
Last Thursday, Steven Hayes was ruled competent to stand
trial on murder charges in connection with the home invasion, which made
national headlines.
Hayes told the judge in open court last Thursday that he
would like to change his plea. The judge immediately called a recess so he and
the attorneys for both sides could determine how to proceed.
Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are charged with capitol
felony murder and sexual assault charges in connection with the deaths of
Jennifer Hawke Petit and her two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old
Michaela.



Komisarjevsky has pleaded not guilty.
Four jurors were selected before Hayes was admitted to
the hospital after an apparent suicide attempt in January. The hospitalization
prompted the call for a competency hearing.
After Hayes' attempt to plead guilty, his attorneys said
in a prepared written statement, "We are not here to assist Mr. Hayes in
committing suicide, whether by his own hands or by the state of Connecticut. We
would violate our obligation and our oaths of office were we to assist his
efforts to accomplish 'suicide by state.'"
Within an hour, jury selection resumed, a process that is
still expected to last another month or two.

Defense: Life sentence 'worse than death' for home invasion killer

November 5, 2010 4:00 a.m. EDT


Steven Hayes may receive the death penalty for his role in the slayings of two sisters and their mother.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "It is a fate worse than death," Steven Hayes' lawyer says
  
• Hayes and another man are accused in deaths of woman, two daughters
  
• Prosecutor calls for execution: "We do have the death penalty"
  

New Haven, Connecticut -- A Connecticut jury begins deliberations Friday on whether Steven Hayes should be sentenced to life in prison or put to death.

Hayes was convicted of killing two sisters and their mother during a 2007 home invasion. Tom Ullmann, Hayes' lawyer, told jurors on Thursday his client would suffer more if given a life sentence.

"Life in prison without the possibility of release is the harshest penalty," said Tom Ullmann. "It is a fate worse than death."

Ullmann then had his 47-year-old client stand directly in front of the jury, put his hand on Hayes' shoulder and said to the five men and seven women, "He isn't a rabid dog that needs to be put to death. He has lost 80 pounds. He will never have a private bath. He goes to the bathroom in public. He will never eat a dinner that he makes but one that they provide. He has a rec cage for an hour a day. Like an animal at the zoo."

As he stood, Hayes -- who did not testify during the trial -- looked down at the floor.

His lawyer continued, "If you want to end his misery, put him to death. ... If you want him to suffer and carry that burden forever, the guilt, shame and humiliation, sentence him to life without the possibility of release."

But prosecuting attorney Michael Dearington sought to persuade the jurors to order Hayes be executed for his role in in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit.

"We cannot tie Steven Hayes to a bed, pour gasoline on him and set him on fire," Dearington said, referring to the killings. "But under our laws, we do have the death penalty."

He added that the Petit family had been "destroyed because Steven Hayes wanted money."

Superior Court Judge Jon Blue then read a 36-page charge and verdict form to the jury.

A psychiatrist testified in October that Hayes had told him, "I would rather they kill me," reflecting Hayes' apparent hope that he'd be executed.

The high school dropout said he had a long history of substance abuse, the psychiatrist said.

But Dearington said Thursday that that did not excuse the murders. "Drugs don't necessarily lead to violent crimes," he said.

Hayes was convicted of 16 of the 17 charges against him, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping.

Prosecutors allege that Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the Petit home in Cheshire, beat Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, sexually molested one of their two daughters, set the house afire and tried to flee.

The girls died of smoke inhalation; Petit himself escaped to a neighbor's home.

Komisarjevsky is to be tried separately.

In March, Hayes said he no longer wanted to commit suicide "but intended to let the state do it," a psychiatrist testified.

Judge Rejects Plea Deal In Komisarjevsky Trial


A Superior Court judge has denied an effort by lawyers for Joshua Komisarjevsky to enter a guilty plea in the Cheshire home invasion murders. His lawyers had offered to enter a guilty plea in exchange for a court-imposed sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. If convicted in a jury trial, Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty. The other defendant in the case, Steven Hayes, was convicted at trial and sentenced to death.
In ruling against the request, Judge Roland Fasano says he is “not inclined” to grant the motion, even if he had authority to do so.
Komisarjevsky and Hayes are charged in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela at their Cheshire home.
http://hartford.cbslocal.com/2011/03/23/judge-rejects-plea-deal-in-komisarjevsky-trial/

Judge Denies Komisarjevsky New Probable Cause Hearings



Superior Court Jon C. Blue rules that the revised charges against Komisarjevsky are not substantially different from the original charges.



July 8, 2011


The trial judge for the second Cheshire home invasion case has denied a defense motion to hold new probable cause hearings on nine counts against the defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky.
Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue issued a decision today stating that none of the charges were substantially different or subject to more serious penalties than the original charges filed shortly after the home invasion triple homicides took place.
The nine charges included some of the most serious ones, which might lead to Komisarjevsky’s execution by lethal injection if he is convicted and the jury decides to give him the death penalty.
The jurors could decide to sentence Komisarjevsky to life in prison without possibility of release or parole if they feel the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors presented during the penalty phase of the trial.
Komisarjevsky is accused with murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, during the home invasion kidnapping. Other charges accuse him of sexually assaulting Michaela during the kidnapping.
Steven Hayes, his co-defendant, was convicted in a separate trial in 2010 and sentenced to die by lethal injection.
The probably cause hearing issue arose because in March 2011, at the beginning of jury selection, State’s Attorney Michael Dearington filed revised charges against Komisarjevsky.
Originally, a few days after the triple homicide, the state filed 21 charges against Komisarjevsky. At that time Komisarjevsky waived his right to a probably cause hearing.
But when the revised charges were filed, Special Public Defender Jeremiah Donovan, one of Komisarjevsky’s lawyers, made an oral motion in court for new probably cause hearings on the new charges.
In his decision today, Judge Blue said he denied that motion without prejudice because it might have disrupted the jury selection process.
However, following the completion of jury selection in June, a new motion was introduced and arguments were heard this Thursday.
The defense claimed that any change in the charges, even the addition of a comma, should require a new probable cause hearing.
The judge agreed instead with prosecutors that revised charges do not require new probably cause hearings if the revisions are insubstantial enough.
He cited a 1992 case, State v. Diaz, which ruled that the purpose of a probable cause hearing was only to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to try a defendant on the charges that he participated in a particular crime.
Judge Blue said he divided the new charges into three categories. He said five of the counts were virtually identical with the original charges, "with only minor changes in phraseology," and so they did not require new probably cause hearings.
A second group of three charges were lesser offenses than the original charges. "A waiver of a probable cause hearing on a greater offense is likewise a waiver of a probable cause hearing on a lesser included offense," Judge Blue said, thus ruling that new probable cause hearing were not required on those charges either.
The remaining charge was different because it alleges that Komisarjevsky "did intentionally aid" Hayes in causing the death of Jennifer Hawke-Petit during the home invasion on July 23, 2007.
But Judge Blue ruled the allegation of accomplice liability does not trigger the right to a new probable cause hearing.
"There is no practical significance in being labeled an ‘accessory’ or a ‘principal’ for the purpose of determining criminal responsibility," Judge Blue said.

http://cheshire.patch.com/articles/judge-denies-komisarjevsky-new-probable-cause-hearings-2

Defense says Connecticut home invasion suspect not "pure evil"
Mon Aug 1, 2011 4:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - The second suspect in a brutal 2007 Connecticut home invasion is a damaged human being but is not "pure evil," his lawyers said, arguing such descriptions by the victims' family threaten his right to a fair trial.

Joshua Komisarjevsky is accused of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, and beating her husband, Dr. William Petit, in a home invasion described as one of the most brutal attacks in Connecticut memory.

In court papers unsealed on Monday, lawyers for Komisarjevsky said he should be spared the death penalty, and that the "provocative language" of the Hawke-Petit's loved ones was impinging on their client's right to a fair trial.

"Contrary to the families' aspersions, however, Mr. Komisarjevsky is not 'pure evil'. He has displayed remorse, and his execution would not advance justice, as that concept is defined in most of the civilized world," the defense team said in an extrajudicial statement.

After a jury trial last year, Komisarjevsky's alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, was convicted of the triple murder and sexual assault and sentenced to death.

Komisarjevsky's lawyers criticized public comments made by the victims' family, including in a memoriam published in New Haven newspapers and in an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show describing both men as evil and deserving of the death penalty.

Komisarjevsky's lawyers, in the document, say their client was a "damaged human being" and suggest he had a mental disorder following years of trauma and abuse. They said he wants to avoid the death penalty and spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison.

Prosecutors have already said they have no plans to offer Komisarjevsky a plea deal that might spare his life. Connecticut's last execution, the only one since 1960, was in 2005, according to state authorities.

According to prosecutors, Komisarjevsky and Hayes decided to rob the Petit home in Cheshire, Connecticut after targeting Hawke-Petit at a local grocery store.

Breaking into the family's home in the middle of the night, the assailants found Petit asleep, beat him and tied him up.

After being held for several hours, Petit escaped the house, at which point the attackers sexually assaulted and killed Hawke-Petit, sexually assaulted the youngest daughter and set a fire that killed the two girls.

Komisarjevsky's lawyers said there were reasons their client was in the house on that night that will become known if the trial opens as scheduled on September 19.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-crime-homeinvasion-idUSTRE7705K320110801

Judge Denies Komisarjevsky's Request To Make Statement
Defendant In Cheshire Home Invasion Case Asked To Respond To Petit Family's Characterizing Him As 'Evil'
8:05 p.m. EDT, August 3, 2011
A judge's ruling barring Joshua Komisarjevsky from responding in court to comments made in a recent newspaper memoriam marking the fourth anniversary of the 2007 Cheshire home invasion killings did not stop the accused killer's comments from being reported.

Excerpts from the statement that Komisarjevsky wanted to make in court — unsealed by a judge Monday morning — were publicized by the media, including The Courant.

Now, a Superior Court judge is making sure that future requests for "extrajudicial statements" — in a case with a court-ordered gag order muzzling parties on both sides — are filed under seal.

In a motion filed last Friday, Komisarjevsky said that comments made by Dr. William Petit Jr. and other family members of the victims, calling him "evil" and an "animal," were part of "an ongoing public relations campaign" that could affect whether Komisarjevsky receives a fair trial. The motion said that the "families' characterization" of Komisarjevsky as an animal and evil murderer was inaccurate. And Komisarjevsky wanted the chance to respond.

His motion took issue with remarks that Petit, the only person to survive the attack on his family, made during various interviews with journalists, in e-mails, in letters to the editor and on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

"Komisarjevsky is a damaged human being (rather than the embodiment of evil) and has, in fact, displayed remorse," the motion said.

The motion also quoted the memoriam to Petit's wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, that was published July 23 in the obituary section of various newspapers. The memoriam displayed a photograph of Hawke-Petit and the girls and the words: "Your unrealized potentials were stolen by pure evil without a second thought of remorse."

The memoriam included quotes from Mother Teresa and Mahatma Ghandi.

Judge Roland D. Fasano pointed directly to the memoriam in his ruling Wednesday, saying that it was "clearly intended as a tribute to tragically lost family members and fashioned to attract little notice other than that of family and friends."

Fasano went on, saying, "There is reference neither to any named individual nor to legal proceedings, and any resulting adverse publicity is negligible, at best. Additionally, publicity generated by the [memoriam] pales in comparison to the publicity generated by defendant's motion filed in response."

Fasano said that "any subsequent motions to make 'extrajudicial statements' will be filed under seal for reasons recited by the court." Those reasons were outlined Friday when Judge Holly Abery-Wetstone initially sealed Komisarjevsky's motion "to preserve an interest which overrides the public interest in viewing this material at this time."

Abery-Wetstone called the sealing "time-limited" and "no broader than necessary to protect the overriding interests of all parties."

Komisarjevsky, 30, of Cheshire, faces the death penalty if convicted of killing Hawke-Petit and her daughters during a home invasion and arson at the Petit home on July 23, 2007. Petit was badly beaten in the attack.

Komisarjevsky's trial begins in September.

A second man, Steven Hayes, was convicted of the killings in a trial last year. He has been sentenced to death.


http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-cheshire-home-invasion-0804-20110803,0,6967576.story

Petit Trial Judge Rejects Change of Venue, Testimony Starts Monday

Sept. 16, 2011
A Connecticut judge dismissed a series of last-minute motions today that would have delayed the death-penalty murder trial for Joshua Komisarjevsky.

The stage is now set for Komisarjevsky to face a jury for his alleged role in what has been called the worst homicide in the state's history.

Komisarjevsky, 31, is accused of 17 charges, ranging from murder to abduction and assault.

He and Steven Hayes had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence instead of facing a death sentence, but the state rejected their offer. Hayes was convicted and sentenced to death last year for his role in the killing. He is on death row.

Second Petit Murder Trial Set to Begin

The crime that has inflamed such passion was the July 23, 2007, home invasion at the home of Dr. William Petit in Cheshire, Conn. Petit was severely beaten and tied up, according to testimony in Hayes' trial.

His wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, was raped and strangled. His two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were tied to their beds. The younger girl was sexually assaulted, and both girls were left bound to their gas-soaked beds as the suspects torched the house.

Hayes' inability to avoid the death penalty has prompted Komisarjevsky's court-appointed legal team to take a more aggressive approach and they had filed a series of contentious motions in recent weeks.

Today's rulings by Judge Jon Blue eliminated the last in a series of those motions, clearing the way for the trial to begin.

The most significant motion was for the trial to be moved out of New Haven where publicity from Hayes' trial and in the run-up to Komisarjevsky's trial has made it impossible to get an unbiased jury, defense attorneys argued.

They asked that the trial be moved to Stamford, Conn., which Blue rejected.

The judge also rejected requests today that the jury be dismissed and replaced by another panel, and that all the newspaper boxes -- which will presumably carry stories about the trial -- be removed from outside the courthouse.

Komisarjevsky's lawyers have also tried to limit the emotional impact of Petit, the only survivor of his alleged crime. In today's motions, they asked the judge to restrict Petit's testimony to what happened during the crime, and that he not be allowed to discuss the charities and other activities in which his wife and children were involved. Blue dismissed the request.

Other motions dismissed in the weeks before the trial included attempts to keep Petit out of the courtroom during testimony on the grounds that he is a witness who will have to testify, and that other Petit family members be banned from wearing pins memorializing the victims.

Petit attended every day of Hayes' trial and sentencing, and held an emotional news conference when that case was concluded.

"We all know that God will be the final arbiter and I think the defendant faces far more serious punishments from the Lord than he can ever face from mankind," he said at the time.

Petit said he dreaded the prospect of sitting through all the gruesome details of what happened to his family again.

"I didn't want to be here and listen to things that were being said," he said. "Thousands of times I wanted to jump up and scream out."

On some days, Petit said, he felt "so terrible" that he didn't know if he "wanted to cry or just die."


http://abcnews.go.com/US/petit-trial-judge-rejects-change-venue-starts-monday/story?id=14537689

It never ceases to amaze me how people who brutalize and murder others are so afraid of being put to death themselves; how they can argue against testimony in behalf of their victims; how they can request privileges for themselves when they have deliberately denied innocent people of even the right to life. Did they not bestow cruel and unusual punishment on their victims?

As Komisarjevsky Trial Begins, Witnesses Recount Tense Events
Neighbor Describes Petit Bleeding From Head Wound; Bank Teller Testifies Hawke-Petit Said Her Family Held Hostage

Reporters gather outside Superior Court in New Haven on Monday. (Stephen Dunn, Hartford Courant / September 19, 2011)
By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
4:45 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2011

NEW HAVEN — —
During an emotional first day of testimony in the Joshua Komisarjevsky trial, jurors heard tense accounts of the events of July 23, 2007: bank employees who talked with Jennifer Hawke-Petit as she tried to withdraw money to save her family from hostage-takers; an officer who responded to the scene of the Cheshire home invasion; and the neighbor who found Dr. William Petit Jr. bleeding from a serious head wound.

Testimony in Superior Court will resume Tuesday morning, and Petit is expected to testify.

Leaving court after Monday's testimony, Petit did not stop to speak to reporters, but when asked how is getting through the trial, he said, "We plan to stick together as a family."

Komisarjevsky, 31, is the second man to be tried in the Cheshire home invasion that left Petit's wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and their daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, dead. He faces 17 counts, including murder, capital felony, kidnapping, sexual assault, arson, assault and larceny.

Steven Hayes, who was tried in the same packed courtroom by the same judge almost exactly a year ago, was convicted and sentenced to death.

In Monday's opening arguments, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III attempted to distance Komisarjevsky from the 2007 killings of Hawke-Petit and her daughters and fingered Hayes throughout his remarks, saying Komisarjevsky "was a willing participant in the break-in but not" in the killings.

Bansley said the evidence will show that Komisarjevsky never intended for anyone to die inside the Petit home.

He said what jurors will hear will "shake your very confidence in humankind." The testimony will "break your hearts."

He said evidence will show Komisarjevsky did intend to break in the Petit home and steal but he did not have a weapon.

Bansley said it was Hayes who raped and strangled Hawke-Petit and set the fire that killed the girls.

Bansley recreated for the jury the tension between Komisarjevsky and Hayes in the moments Komisarjevsky realized that Petit had escaped.

Bansley said that Hayes — worried that Komisarjevsky had used his name and concerned about possible evidence left behind in the house — said they needed to kill the family and burn the house down.

"Joshua Komisarjevsky was stunned, perplexed with the whole situation. That wasn't part of the plan," Bansley said. He said Komisarjevsky said, "I'm not killing anyone. No way."

Bansley said Hayes then told Komisarjevsky "I'll take care of it."

Bansley also said that after fleeing from the house, Komisarjevsky noticed that Hayes wasn't with him. Bansley said Komisarjevsky re-entered the house and saw Hayes coming out of the master bedroom with two empty jugs that had contained gasoline.

Bansley also said that, during his confession to police, Komisarjevsky had said: "I can't imagine being burned alive. They did what they were supposed to do. … There was no reason for them to die."

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington told the jury he would not present opening arguments and instead would offer evidence.

The first witness to testify was Mona Huggard, who recounted Hawke-Petit calling in sick for her husband at 6:45 a.m. that day. Huggard said it was only the second time she recalled Petit calling in sick in her 18 years of working with him.

Kristin Makhzangi, a teller at Bank of America branch in Cheshire, testified that Hawke-Petit came into the bank and asked to withdraw $15,000. When Hawke-Petit could not offer two forms of ID, she told the teller she needed the money because two men were holding her family hostage.

Makhzangi testified that she then called her bank manager, who approved getting Hawke-Petit the money after hearing about the hostage situation.

Hawke-Petit appeared calm overall, Makhzangi testified, but her hands were shaking.

Prosecutors showed the jury black-and-white bank video footage, in which Hawke-Petit stands at the teller window. She appears calm and leans in at one point, putting her hand to her mouth as if to whisper something.

Makhzangi said Hawke-Petit left the bank after she received the money. Makhzangi said she watched from a window as Hawke-Petit waited in the parking lot until a man in an SUV wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap picked her up.

Bank manager Mary Lyons testified that when Hawke-Petit was unable to show a second form of ID, Hawke-Petit showed her photos of her daughters that she had in her purse.

"With that, I believed her," Lyons said. "I assumed she was who she said she was."

Lyons said Hawke-Petit was deliberate.

"To me, she seemed like she was trying to get done what she was sent in the bank to get done so she could get back to her family," Lyons said.

Lyons said she went back to her office, kept the lights off and called police.

Prosecutor Gary Nicholson played the 911 call for jurors as Lyons, talking quickly and breathing heavily at times, told the dispatcher Hawke-Petit needed the money to help her family being held hostage at her home.

Lyons said Hawke-Petit told her "if police are told, they will kill the children and the husband."

Hawke-Petit had told her the hostage-takers had "been very nice," Lyons said, and that "she knows they'll leave after they get the money."

"It's amazing how calm she was, but then again she could have been petrified," Lyons told the dispatcher.

In afternoon testimony, Officer Thomas Wright said he was patroling the northeastern section of Cheshire when he heard on his police radio about a possible home invasion at a home on Sorghum Mill Road.

He went to the scene and noticed that police had set up roadblocks in the neighborhood, Wright testified Monday afternoon. At one of the homes on Hotchkiss Ridge, Wright said, he saw a man he later learned was Petit.

Petit was bloody, suffering from a serious head wound.

Jurors heard the 911 call from Petit's neighbor, David Simcik, saying Petit was wounded at his home. On the call, jurors could hear Wright approaching Petit and Simcik when Simcik was on the phone. He takes the call, telling the dispatcher he needed an ambulance for Petit.

Then on the tape, yelling can be heard and Wright said he noticed a commotion at the Petit home.

'Petit Posse'

Prior to the start of witnesses' testimony, defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan called to the attention of the judge 27 people in the gallery — the "Petit posse," Donovan called them — wearing Petit Foundation pins.

Donovan said the pins could possibly be seen by jurors in the nearby juror box.

Dearington objected to Donovan's use of the phrase "Petit posse."

"I am not the word police, sir," Judge Jon C. Blue said. "They can use any phrase they wish."

Before the start of jury selection in March, Komisarjevsky's attorneys asked that Blue prohibit William Petit and members of his family from wearing Petit Family Foundation pins while seated in the courtroom gallery, in view of prospective jurors.

In rejecting that motion, Blue said that the pins were small and "discreet." The foundation, dedicated to the memory of Petit's wife and daughters, supports the education of young people, especially women in the sciences, and those affected by chronic illness and violence.

Monday, Blue told Donovan he could put legal arguments on the record. He then began calling jurors into the courtroom one by one, asking if anything had happened in their lives that would hurt their ability to serve on the panel.

All jurors and six alternates said they were ready to serve. Blue dismissed three backup alternates, saying, "Think of us slaving away here as you go."

Of the 12 regular jurors, four are from New Haven, two are from Meriden and the rest are from Bethany, Wallingford, Hamden, Guilford, Madison and Branford.

Reporters and spectators lined up before dawn to get a seat in the courtroom which has a capacity of 118. Komisarjevksy, seated at the defense table, wore a dark suit and tie and followed the proceedings attentively.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day1-0920-20110919,0,4211871.story?page=1

A doctor whose wife and two daughters were killed in a
home invasion told jurors Tuesday that he was attacked with a baseball
bat in the middle of the night and described how he fell, crawled and
rolled in his frantic escape to a neighbor's house.
It's the second time Dr. William Petit has had to talk a jury through the 2007 ordeal that left
his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters, 11-year-old
Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, dead.
Petit testified Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, a
31-year-old ex-con who faces a possible death sentence if convicted.
The physician also testified at the trial of Komisarjevsky's co-defendant, Steven Hayes,
who was convicted and sentenced to death last year.
Petit was not cross-examined in the first trial but faced 20 minutes of questioning from the defense on Tuesday.
He told the jury that he awoke to a warm liquid
running down his face and initially wasn't sure if it was a dream. He
says he saw two people, one of whom said "if he moves put a bullet in him."
Petit, who had blood in one of his eyes, said he was tied up and later moved to the basement,
saying he held onto the rails with his fingertips so he didn't fall. He was tied to a pole.
He said at one point that he heard loud thumping sounds on the floor and his wife moaning. Then he
said he heard a voice say, "Don't worry everything will be over in a couple of minutes."
"It sounded much more serious, much more sinister," Petit said of the voice.
Petit said he had struggled for hours to free himself, but the ties got tighter. "I think
there were times I would fade a bit and slump against the pole," he said.
As he slumped, Petit said his weight apparently loosened the ropes and he was able to free himself.
Petit said he wasn't sure of the intentions of the men. He noted that there were two of them, that
one of the men had a gun and that his feet were bound, so fighting back wasn't an option.
"I didn't think it would be a good match," he said.
Petit said he hopped up some stairs to a basement door. He said he fell down, crawled and rolled
across a lawn to a neighbor's house.
Petit said it felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest.
Authorities say Komisarjevsky and Hayes, two paroled burglars, broke into the family's
Cheshire home in July 2007 in a robbery attempt.
Hayes forced Hawke-Petit to withdraw money from a bank before he raped and strangled her in the
family's home. The girls, who had pillowcases placed over their heads,
died of smoke inhalation after the house was doused with gasoline and set on fire.
Both men have blamed each other for escalating the crime. Prosecutors say they're both responsible.
Komisarjesky's attorney, Jeremiah Donovan, cross-examined Petit for about 20 minutes. Donovan,
who had sought unsuccessfully to keep Petit off the witness stand, asked
Petit how much he really remembered and how much he was trying to put
together what happened based on what he heard from other witnesses and
evidence he has since seen.
"I believe what I testified is the best of my own recollection," Petit said.
Donovan pressed Petit on some pieces of his testimony and how they compared with what he had told police.
The attorney asked, for example, why Petit didn't mention to the jury that he had thought he was
being videotaped based on a bag he saw in the basement, as he told
police. Donovan noted that the bag was not in photos Petit has since
seen. Petit said he was not asked about the bag.
Donovan also questioned why Petit testified that he heard his wife call into his office the day
of the crime to say he would not be in work, but made no mention of that to police.
"Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you," Donovan said.
Petit stood by his testimony.
Petit said he did not see who poured the gas and set the house on fire. He said he heard one voice
during the ordeal, but couldn't make out whose it was.
After his testimony, Petit told The Associated Press in an interview that "it was more nerve racking" to testify this time.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Survivor-Testifies-Connecticut-Home-Invasion-Trial-Cheshire-130211933.html

Lurid Confession, Delivered In Calm Tones, Shocks Court
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: September 21, 2011

NEW HAVEN — The judge at the Cheshire triple-murder trial abruptly sent jurors home about 10 minutes early on Wednesday, saying that one of the panel members was having a tough time with the evidence.

The judge, Jon C. Blue, did not offer any further explanation. He did not have to. He had shouted “stop” more than an hour into a tape-recorded confession by the defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, that the jurors had seemed to take in with growing discomfort.

In calm, conversational tones, Mr. Komisarjevsky could be heard veering eerily through the home-invasion crime, which included assaults, arson and kidnapping, and ended with the deaths of a mother and her two daughters. In flat tones, he offered tangled perceptions, including descriptions of how he had tied up his victims and sexually assaulted the younger of the daughters, Michaela Petit, 11.

The narrative of the crime has been widely known since it occurred in Cheshire, Conn., on July 23, 2007, and many of the facts of Mr. Komisarjevsky’s confession have come out before. But his gravelly voice, exuding confidence, had never been heard publicly before.

It made for a chilling afternoon in the sixth-floor courtroom. Mr. Komisarjevsky, then 26, could be heard speaking clearly in full, grammatical sentences to detectives just hours after the crime. At the beginning, before its cumulative effect brought shocked unease in the courtroom, his version sounded merely off kilter.

He cast his co-defendant, Steven J. Hayes, as the one who had pushed his less-malignant intentions into dangerous territory. Mr. Hayes was sentenced to death for the crime last year.

Why was he there, a detective asked Mr. Komisarjevsky at the beginning of the recorded session at the Cheshire police station. He hesitated. For “a home invasion gone terribly wrong,” he responded. Prosecutors are presenting the confession in their death-penalty case against him. They are expected to argue it is a wily career criminal’s effort to slip out from the most damaging of the charges.

Over the courtroom speakers, his voice sounded collected, as if he were describing a failed cash-register robbery. He said that he had been interested only in “money, quick” and that he had hesitated for many minutes before he beat the sleeping father of the family, Dr. William A. Petit Jr., with a baseball bat.

He stood over the sleeping man, he said on the tape, “not wanting to hit him, not thinking that I could.” But then Mr. Hayes, he claimed, gestured, and he swung the bat. In his casting, he was a gentle soul: “I couldn’t take the scream. I’ve never hit anybody in the head.”

It was Mr. Hayes, he claimed, who first talked of killing. Mr. Komisarjevsky said he had insisted, “I’m not killing anyone.”

But it was his talk of Michaela Petit that drew the intense reactions. Dr. Petit and members of his family seemed stricken as they sat feet from Mr. Komisarjevsky in the courtroom.

He said he had spotted her and her mother in a shopping center parking lot. “For whatever reason,” he said, “I chose to follow the mom and daughter to their house.” He added that he “thought it would be nice to be there someday.”

As Mr. Komisarjevsky’s account of the hours-long ordeal continued, he began to refer to the child by her family’s nickname, “K. K.”

“I went back to K. K.’s room,” he said. “We were talking.” He claimed he had thought she was 14 to 16. He said he “ended up performing oral sex on her.” He is charged with forcing her to engage in sexual intercourse. His lawyers have claimed that he masturbated “in the presence of Michaela.”

On the tape in the courtroom, a detective could be heard asking if Michaela had consented. “It started off as against her will,” he answered. It was then that Judge Blue said “stop.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/nyregion/komisarjevskys-confession-in-cheshire-triple-murder-played.html?ref=nyregion

Alleged Home Invasion Defendant: 'I Never Thought of Untying Girls'
Published September 22, 2011
| Associated Press



NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In a confession played for jurors Thursday, a Connecticut man on trial for a brutal home invasion can't explain why he didn't untie two girls before they died in a fire.
In the recording, Joshua Komisarjevsky says he closed the bedroom doors where the girls were and couldn't believe his co-defendant was considering burning the girls alive. But he says "it just didn't cross my mind" to untie them before the house was doused with gas and set on fire.

Komisarjevsky's ongoing trial is the second in the case. In the first one last year, his co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted of strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killing her two daughters. Hayes was sentenced to death, and Komisarjevsky could join him on death row if he's convicted.
Authorities say Komisarjevsky and Hayes broke into the house in Cheshire in 2007, beat Dr. William Petit with a bat and tied him and his wife and two daughters up as they looked for money. Hayes later drove Hawke-Petit to a bank so she could make a withdrawal, police said.
When he returned to the house, he raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, authorities said. The girls, 11-year-old Michaela and her 17-year-old Hayley, died of smoke inhalation after the house was doused with gasoline and set on fire.
The two men have blamed each other for escalating the violence, but prosecutors say both men are equally responsible.
Jurors began listening to the confession Wednesday. New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue at one point stopped the recording Wednesday, saying a juror was having a tough time. That prompted a motion for a mistrial by Komisarjevsky's attorney, who said Blue shouldn't have made the comment in front of other jurors.
Blue denied the motion, saying he chose his words carefully.
The confession was disrupted again Thursday when the court was evacuated for what turned out to be a false fire alarm.
Komisarjevsky told police he undressed 11-year-old Michaela and took explicit pictures. But he blamed Hayes for the gasoline-fueled fire that killed the girls.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/22/judge-denies-mistrial-in-conn-home-invasion-trial/#ixzz1Z4GP9AET

Second week of the Komisarjevsky trial starts this morning


Petit home invasion scene photo
Cheshire fire fighters leave the house as Cheshire SWAT prepares to enter and search for any remaining suspects at 300 Sorghum Mill Rd. on Monday morning, July 23, 2007. Fire fighters had not finished battling the fire when they were temporarily ordered out while police searched for suspects of a home invasion that turned into arson and murder.



Posted: Monday, September 26, 2011 8:38 am | Updated: 8:42 am, Mon Sep 26, 2011.
Mary Ellen Godin | 0 comments
NEW HAVEN -- The second week of Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial is expected to open with continued testimony from police, fire officials and a representative from Verizon Wireless, court officials said Monday.
Defense attorneys for Komisarjevsky are expected to resume their cross-examination of Cheshire Detective Joseph Vitello, who took Komisarjevsky's statement in the hours after the deadly home invasion on July 23, 2007.
Last week a 90-minute audiotape of Komisarjevsky's confession was played in open court. Komisarjevsky admitted to assaulting Dr. William Petit Jr. and molesting one of his daughters but said no one was suppose to die during the burglary attempt.
Komisarjevsky and a co-defendant Steven Hayes are accused of breaking into Petit's home and tying the family up to rob them, then setting the house on fire as they fled from police. Hayes was convicted of among murder and arson charges, strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit. He was sentenced to death. Her two daughters died of smoke inhalation.
The Verizon officials will use cell phone technology to track the men's activities and whereabouts during the attack on the family.

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/cheshire/article_da2925ca-e83c-11e0-85ea-001cc4c002e0.html

Warning: Strong Language And Graphic Content: Audio Statement By Joshua Komisarjevsky On Cheshire Home Invasion
Below are links to the audiotape statement made by Joshua Komisarjevesky on July 23, 2007. The audio, released Monday by state judicial officials, has been divided into six segments by Courant editors.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-confession-tapes-audio,0,3846651.audiogallery

Komisarjevsky Trial: Hayley Petit's Autopsy
Medical Examiner Noted Burned Ropes On Wrist And Ankles, Clothes Smelled Of Gas


9:41 p.m. EDT, September 26, 2011

NEW HAVEN—
— Hayley Petit died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, an associate state medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the 17-year-old victim of the Cheshire home invasion testified Monday afternoon in Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial.

Death would have overtaken the girl in as little as a few moments as her body suffocated, said Dr. Malka Shah. Shah said she found burned remnants of rope tied around Hayley's right wrist and ankles and soot in her nose and mouth. The remains of her clothing smelled of gas.

Hayley had burns all over her body, but Shah said she could not determine whether the burns occurred before or after Hayley died. Hayley had been tied to her bed but managed to break free. Investigators found her body on the second floor at the top of the stairs.


Hayley's mother, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her 11-year-old sister, Michaela, also died in the attack. Monday would have been Hawke-Petit's 53rd birthday.

Hayley's father, Dr. William Petit Jr. — the only member of his family to survive the deadly home invasion on July 23, 2007— was not in the courtroom Monday for Shah's testimony, which moved some jurors to tears.

Under questioning by prosecutor Michael Dearington, Shah said the rope on Hayley's wrist was tightly tied in a square knot. The evidence suggests Hayley, who died face-down in the hallway, was able to free herself from the bed by breaking the rope ties.

Prosecutors noted that Komisarjevsky admitted he tied both girls to their beds and left them tied when the fire started.

Cheshire police Det. Joseph Vitello testified Monday that Komisarjevsky initially told him he may have poured gasoline in the Petit home. Since the trial started, Komisarjevsky's lawyers have maintained it was Komisarjevsky's alleged partner in the crime, Steven Hayes, who poured the gasoline. The house was set on fire as Komisarjevsky fled the house with Hayes.

Komisarjevsky is charged in the three killings. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Hayes was convicted and sentenced to death in a trial last year.

The judge on Monday released the chilling 90-minute audiotaped statement and transcript Komisarjevsky gave to police after his arrest.

Inside The Supermarket

Earlier, prosecutors took the jury inside the Cheshire Stop & Shop supermarket on July 22, 2007, where Hawke-Petit and Michaela shopped for the family's last dinner together before the slayings.

Supermarket surveillance photos captured Hawke-Petit and Michaela — referred to as "females of interest" by investigators — browsing the produce aisles.

Michaela, wearing a sleeveless shirt and her hair in a ponytail, can be seen carrying a bag of tomatoes. Petit stared up at the photos of his wife and daughter on the movie screen as his sister, Johanna Petit Chapman, placed her hand on his back.

Prosecutors say it was during this shopping trip that Komisarjevsky spotted Hawke-Petit and Michaela leaving the store, and followed them to their home.

Jurors also saw surveillance video from the bank ATM inside the supermarket, where Michael Ranno testified he withdrew money to pay Komisarjevsky for a roofing job. The prosecution compared the time on the supermarket's video with the bank's photos, to show that Komisarjevsky was at the Stop & Shop at the same time as Hawke-Petit and Michaela.

Vitello had testified that Komisarjevsky told him in his statement to police that he followed them to their house, which he would later target as the site for the home invasion.

Vitello also testified that Komisarjevsky said he had taken cellphone pictures of Michaela. The photos are said to show the 11-year-old girl tied to her bed.

The detective had interrogated Komisarjevsky in the hours after the killings of Hawke-Petit and her daughters. on July 23, 2007. The defense contends that Komisarjevsky made his taped statement under duress.

Details And Diagrams

During cross examination, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III attempted to show that Hayes was not cooperative with police but that Komisarjevsky cooperated when he was questioned by police and when he was commanded to surrender after he and Hayes crashed a vehicle into a police cruiser as they fled the burning house.

Bansley noted that, when asked, Komisarjevsky gave details to police — including diagrams of where the victims were in the house — details they would not have known without Komisarjevsky's telling them.

Vitello testified that Hayes had a black BB gun that resembled a 9mm handgun tucked into the back of his pants. When asked if police found any weapons on Komisarjevsky, Vitello replied, "Not to my knowledge."

"Is that a no?" Bansley asked.

"That's a no," the detective said.

Vitello said Hayes told him, "I don't know, things got out of control," when Vitello asked him if anyone was inside the burning home.

And when he asked Komisarjevsky who was inside the house, Vitello said Komisarjevsky told him there was a woman in the house who may be dead. Vitello said Komisarjevsky said, "There's three people in the house, one of whom may be dead."

During his six hours of questioning Komisarjevsky, Vitello said Komisarjevsky told him the gloves he was wearing at the time of his arrest were on his hands during the entire home invasion and attack.

Hayes, however, removed his gloves, Komisarjevsky told Vitello.

Hayes admitted strangling and raping Hawke-Petit. Vitello said the gloves Hayes was reportedly wearing tested positive for traces of gasoline.

Vitello said Komisarjevsky was cooperative and didn't balk at talking to investigators and never asked for a lawyer

"Did he ever break down crying?" Bansley asked.

"Never," Vitello said.

"Did he ever show emotion?" Bansley asked.

"Not once," Vitello replied.

Bansley pressed Vitello about whether Komisarjevsky asked for anything from police in exchange for his statement, something Bansley noted criminal suspects often do when interrogated. Vitello said Komisarjevsky did not ask for anything from police in return for his statement.

'Many' Things He Didn't Tell

But under re-direct by prosecutor Michael Dearington, Vitello said Komisarjevsky was "very willing" to talk about Hayes' role in the crime but did leave out details of what Komisarjevsky did inside the home.

Vitello said Komisarjevsky was with Hayes when he bought the BB gun at Walmart. When Dearington pressed Vitello about whether Komisarjevsky had any weapons, Vitello testified that police seized a pocketknife from Komisarjevsky.

When asked about the moment when Komisarjevsky told police there was a woman in the home, possibly strangled, Vitello added that before Komisarjevsky gave him that answer, Vitello "grabbed him by the shirt and asked him to tell" him if anyone was inside the burning house.

Komisarjevsky then pointed the finger at Hayes, Vitello said.

"He was more than willing to tell you that?" asked Dearington.

"Correct," Vitello said.

"And you would later learn there were things he didn't tell you?" Dearington asked.

"Many," Vitello said,

Vitello said Komisarjevsky told him he had taken cellphone photos of Michaela.

"He said he was going to send them to Mr. Hayes to show Mrs. Petit if she wasn't cooperative," Vitello said.

But under further cross-examination, Bansley repeated all of the information Komisarjevsky did volunteer to police, including that he broke into the home and viciously beat Petit in the head with a bat.

Judge Chides Tardy Jurors

Proceedings in Komisarjevsky's trial began Monday morning with Judge Jon C. Blue mentioning his concerns about one or two jurors who have "developed a habit" of being late.

He urged jurors to arrive at the courthouse about 15 minutes before the start of 10 a.m. testimony. Blue said tardiness could make the already long trial even longer and frustrate other jurors.

"If this gentle persuasion doesn't work, I will think about what else I have to do. I don't want to have to embarrass anybody," Blue said.

Blue also told jurors Dearington likely would be seated throughout most of Monday's testimony because of an injured back. Dearington limped at times as he walked around the courtroom.


http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day5-0927-20110926,0,4457742,full.story

Cheshire Home Invasion Trial Evidence (Warning Graphic Content)
Evidence submitted during the trials of Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes.

http://www.courant.com/community/north-haven/hc-cheshire-home-invasion-evidence-pictures-20110921,0,5563168.photogallery

Cheshire Trial Evidence: Ropes, Scissors, Charred Beds And Carpets
Komisarjevsky jurors shown numerous photos of burned bedrooms and basement, stolen belongings

By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
8:50 p.m. EDT, September 27, 2011

NEW HAVEN—
— Jurors in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky are expected to hear testimony Wednesday about the final hours of the life of 11-year-old Michaela Petit, the youngest victim of the 2007 Cheshire home invasion.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, the state's chief medical examiner, is expected to testify about how Michaela, bound to her bed, died from smoke inhalation as her home went up in flames in an arson fire. Similar testimony in last year's trial of Steven Hayes, Komisarjevsky's co-defendant, brought jurors to tears and forced Michaela's father, the lone survivor of the crime, to leave the courtroom.

Jurors on Wednesday also might hear about cellphone photos taken of Michaela during the home invasion as she lay tied to her bed, her head covered with a pillowcase. According to testimony earlier this week, Komisarjevsky told detectives that he took the photos and planned to send them to Hayes' cellphone so that Hayes could show them to Michaela's mother in case she did not cooperate with the family's captors.

Prosecutors on Tuesday gave jurors a preview of what they say happened to Michaela on July 23, 2007. Police testimony took the jury inside the Petit home after the roaring flames were doused, the screams had subsided and police radios were once again calm.

With all eyes on the movie screen positioned above the defense table, Senior Assistant State's Attorney Gary W. Nicholson showed photographs of the bedroom of 17-year-old Hayley Petit, the Dartmouth-bound scholar-athlete who, according to earlier testimony, broke free from the bounds that the suspects had wrapped around her wrists and ankles and tied to her bedposts.

Testimony on Tuesday showed, however, that she could not escape the inferno inside her home. She succumbed to smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning just steps before reaching the second-floor staircase that would have led her to the front door of her home.

Nicholson showed a close-up of Hayley's burned, soot-covered bed and the ties on her bedposts, ties that state police Sgt. Karen Gabianelli said resembled nylon stockings.

Investigators took samples of a burned rug near the side of Hayley's bed, Gabianelli testified, after a police dog trained to identify fire accelerants hit on the area.

Down the hallway, a police dog again alerted investigators, Gabianelli testified, this time in the soot-covered bedroom of Michaela. Nicholson showed a photo of Michaela's bedroom with a scorched carpet and the daybed where police found her body.

Near Michaela's stuffed animals, police found kitchen shears and a baseball bat that Gabianelli said was used to beat Michaela's father, Dr. William Petit Jr., who managed to escape the burning home.

Police also found a bra on the floor of Michaela's bedroom that Gabianelli said had the straps cut. In the audiotaped statement that Komisarjevsky gave police after his arrest on July 23, 2007, he admitted that he had cut off the younger girl's clothing.

Jurors looked intently as Gabianelli pulled out remnants of Michaela's clothes from an evidence canister — a pair of small red shorts, burned and stained with bleach, and a tattered green shirt. Gabianelli said that was "what was left" of Michaela's clothing.

Some jurors lowered their eyes when a photo was displayed showing rope tied to the posts of her charred daybed. Gabianelli said the rope was in the area where Michaela's feet had been tied.

Gabianelli said investigators removed carpeting and foam backing from the floor of her bedroom where it is believed that an accelerant was poured.

Jurors also were shown photos of the Petits' master bedroom, which had been ransacked. All the drawers had been pulled out of the bureaus, Gabianelli testified, and the items dumped on the floor. Jewelry boxes and other decorative containers were opened and strewn across the bed. She said the telephone jack had been pulled out of the wall.

In one photo of a piece of furniture, a piece of white rope lay curled up on top of a framed collage of family photos

Nicholson also showed jurors a photo of the basement of the Petit home, where blood covered the floor and pillows near a pole that Petit was tied to after he was beaten with the bat.

Near the blood, Gabianelli noted what looked like pieces of rope — "ligatures," she said — that bound Petit's hands. She said "he was able to break free" from them shortly before he escaped the burning home.

Jurors also viewed a photo of the neighbor's garage, where Petit went for help after he escaped. Blood covered the floor.

Gabianelli also testified about items belonging to the Petits — including a purple knapsack, sneakers and a sequined outfit — that were found in a truck that Hayes had borrowed that was parked at the local supermarket. She also described evidence, including a knit cap cut with eyeholes, found in a van registered to Komisarjevsky's mother, Jude, that was parked at a Cheshire housing complex not far from the Petit home.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III asked Gabianelli why some items were seized as evidence from the back of the cluttered Komisarjevsky van and others were not.

"We pulled out evidence that we thought were of evidentiary value," Gabianelli testified.

At The Gas Station

Prosecutors also focused on the gasoline believed to have been used to ignite the fire in the Petits' house.

Selma Haddad, manager of the gas station where prosecutors say Hayes bought the gasoline, testified that police asked her to provide them with the station's video surveillance from the morning of July 23, 2007.

Prosecutors displayed surveillance photos that showed a stocky bald man pumping gasoline into a Chrysler Pacifica at about 7 that morning. The photos also showed the same man making a purchase at the cash register. Haddad said the man bought $10 worth of gas with a $20 bill.

The same photos were shown at Hayes' trial last year, and the man in the photo was identified by prosecutors as Hayes.

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington noted that the gas was pumped into the vehicle tank, and he asked Haddad about what kind of container gas could be pumped into.

She said it had to be a "legal" container.

"I am sure that gas can be siphoned out of there with the right equipment?" Dearington asked.

"I am sure," Haddad said.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Todd A. Bussert pointed to Komisarjevsky and asked Haddad if she recognized him. She said she did not.

Komisarjevsky faces death by lethal injection if convicted of the triple slaying. Hayes was convicted last year of raping and strangling Hayley and Michaela's mother, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and of killing the girls. He was sentenced to death.

Komisarjevsky told police that he beat Petit, tied Hawke-Petit and her daughters to their beds and sexually assaulted Michaela. He told police, however, that it was Hayes who pushed to kill the family and set the house on fire.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day6-0928-20110927,0,6948113,full.story

Komisarjevsky Defense Thwarted In Bid For Mistrial

By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
10:29 a.m. EDT, September 29, 2011

NEW HAVEN— The defense attorney for Joshua Komisarjevsky unsuccessfully moved for a mistrial Thursday morning, arguing that a walk-out by Dr. William Petit Jr. and members of his family in court Wednesday was prejudicial to his client.

Jeremiah Donovan told Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue that the Petit family members were aware that the state's chief medical examiner was going to provide disturbing testimony about the crime that left Petit's wife and daughters dead. Donovan noted that the jurors watched as the family members walked out of court.

"They left en masse,' he said. "It seems to be that is so prejudicial to my client."

Donovan asked the judge, who denied the motion, to prohibit Petit family members from pulling "any stunts like that again."

In denying the motion, Blue said that trial spectators are free to come and go from the public courtroom.

Petit and his family members were not in court Thursday morning as Donovan moved for the mistrial. More disturbing testimony was expected from the state's first witness of the day, Dr. Susan Williams.

Williams performed the autopsy on Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

A fire investigator is also expected to testify Thursday about the raging gasoline-fueled fire set at the Petits' Cheshire home before the suspects fled following the 2007 home invasion for which Komisarjevsky is facing trial.

On Wednesday the medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, spared no details. Prosecutor Michael Dearington immediately directed his testimony to the autopsy of the youngest victim of the crime, 11-year-old Michaela Petit.

Carver lowered his eyes and said, "That was my responsibility."

Carver said there were ties around the girl's wrists and an ankle. He found heat damage to the girl's skin and soot in her airways. Her long blonde hair was well-preserved but parts of her clothing were bleached and cut into tatters.

Then, when it seemed as though Carver's words about cutting out and examining organs couldn't be more shocking, prosecutors turned jurors' attention to the movie screen pitched above the defense lawyers' table. In a photo shown there, Carver's latex-gloved hands, which appeared giant on the screen, held Michaela's pinkish voicebox and trachea.

They were filled with a black crumb-like substance Carver described as soot.

He said the bright pink color meant that poisonous carbon monoxide had attached itself to the young girl's red blood cells.

Carver went into some technical explanations, which Dearington boiled down into a question.

"So, essentially, the carbon monoxide takes the place of oxygen — is that correct?" Dearington asked.

"Yes," Carver replied. He confirmed that Michaela died of smoke inhalation.

Carver also testified about a rectal sample taken from the girl's body during the autopsy. It tested for sperm, Carver said.

Jurors last week heard Komisarjevsky's audio statement to police in which he admitted cutting off Michaela's clothes with scissors, tying her up, performing oral sex on her and taking pictures of her with his cellphone.

Komisarjevsky, 31, had no obvious reactions to the testimony. He looked up at the movie screen and listened intently to Carver's testimony while leaning back in his chair. Some jurors, however, looked grim.

Petit's sister-in-law, Cindy Hawke-Renn, who remained in the courtroom with her parents, the Rev. Richard and Marybelle Hawke, kept her head down for most of Carver's testimony and sobbed.

Graphic Cellphone Photos

Earlier the jury viewed graphic photographs of Michaela that Komisarjevsky took with his cellphone on the morning of the home invasion.

John Farnham, a state police investigator, testified that he found eight photographs on the cellphone after Komisarjevsky's arrest in connection with the July 23, 2007, attack that claimed the lives of Michaela, her 17-year-old sister Hayley, and their mother, Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

John Brunetti, a state forensics science examiner, testified Wednesday that six of the cellphone images showed a young female, dressed in a skirt. The photos were taken from 7:27 a.m. until 9:14 a.m. the day of the killings.

Petit, the sole survivor of the attack, watched jurors as they passed the photos — tucked inside a manila folder — around the jury box.

According to testimony in last year's trial of Komisarjevsky's alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, one of the images, taken at 7:27 a.m. on July 23, 2007, showed a young female, dressed in a skirt and a sleeveless shirt lying on a bed with her arms up above her head. Her face was covered with a cloth, which Komisarjevsky since has admitted was a pillowcase.

A photo, taken at 7:51 a.m., showed a close-up of the girl's private area. Another image, according to testimony in the Hayes trial, showed the same girl lying on her back.

A photo shot at 7:52 a.m. showed the girl on a bed with her legs tied.

On redirect, Brunetti said he had determined that the pictures were of Petit's 11-year-old daughter.

Komisarjevsky is charged with the murders of Hawke-Petit and her daughters. If convicted of the killings, he could face the death penalty. Hayes was convicted last year and sentenced to death.

According to testimony earlier this week, Komisarjevsky told detectives that he took the photos and planned to send them to Hayes' cellphone so that Hayes could show them to Hawke-Petit in case she did not cooperate with Hayes' demands.

Text Messages

Farnham also testified about text messages found on cellphones Hayes and Komisarjevsky used in the hours before the deadly break-in.

On July 22, 2007, the night before the attack, Hayes texted Komisarjevsky at 7:45 p.m.: "I'm chomping at the bit to get started. need a margarita soon."

At 8:45 pm, Hayes texted, "We still on?" Komisarjevsky responded, "yes."

At 8:51 pm, Komisarjevsky followed up: "I'm putting kid to bed hold your horses." Komisarjevsky has a daughter, who was 5 at the time.

Then Hayes texted Komisarjevsky at 9:20 p.m. "Dude the horses want 2 get loose! lol."

After Wednesday morning's court recess, Komisarjevsky returned to the courtroom and looked at his father, Benedict Komisarjevsky, seated in the front row of the gallery where he has been on most days, and said, "Hi, Dad."

No Alcohol Or Drugs Found

State toxicology experts testified Wednesday that they found no alcohol or drugs in Komisarjevsky's blood in samples taken by investigators after his arrest.

One expert, Mark Anderson, testified that he tested the blood of Komisarjevsky and Hayes for alcohol and "other volatiles."

"We did not find any ethanol in any sample," Anderson said.

Laura Grestini told jurors she tested the suspects' blood for illegal drugs. The only thing she found, she said, was caffeine.

During Anderson's testimony, some jurors looked around in confusion as a banging noise sounded throughout the courtroom.

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue asked a judicial marshal to investigate the noise, adding that the courthouse is currently undergoing construction.

"If this becomes a distraction, please raise your hand and let me know," Blue said. The jurors nodded their heads in agreement, saying the noise was not disturbing them.

The banging noise eventually stopped.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day8-0930-20110929,0,3736846,full.story

Komisarjevsky Trial: Investigator Says Fire Started Near Hawke-Petit's Body
Evidence doesn't rule out two people spreading flammable liquid


NEW HAVEN —— The gasoline-fueled arson fire that killed Michaela and Hayley Petit started in the first-floor family room of the Petit home, near the body of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, a state police fire investigator testified Friday in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky. Hawke-Petit had been raped and strangled before the fire began.

Det. Paul Makuc said that the family room was burning so fiercely that the flames drove back police and firefighters who tried to enter.

Makuc also said the evidence did not rule out the possibility that two people spread the ignitable liquid around the house, adding that the fluid trails could have merged.

In a brief but pointed cross-examination Friday afternoon, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III elicited from Makuc that — although the evidence didn't rule out the possibility that two people poured the gasoline — the detective did not know for sure whether more than one person was involved.

Bansley also questioned Makuc about evidence in the family room. Makuc said that a significant pool of flammable liquid was found near and on Hawke-Petit's body, which was leaned up against an ottoman there.

Bansley's questions clearly were aimed at distancing Komisarjevsky from his alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, and suggesting that Hayes had a strong motive to burn up criminal evidence. It was Hayes who had raped and strangled Hawke-Petit. Hawke-Petit was already dead when the fire started, according to testimony Thursday from the medical examiner who performed her autopsy.

The fire engulfed the Petit family home on July 23, 2007, as Komisarjevsky and Hayes fled. Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, died during the home invasion.

Earlier in the week, a police detective who interrogated Komisarjevsky the day that he was arrested testified that Komisarjevsky initially said he might have poured gasoline in the house but later said that Hayes was solely responsible for spreading the gasoline.

Komisarjevsky could face the death penalty if convicted of murder and other charges. Hayes, who was tried last year, was convicted and sentenced to death.

The Girls' Bedrooms

Makuc took jurors on a virtual tour of the burned house, pointing out areas that suffered only minimal damage and other spots — including parts of Michaela's and Haley's bedrooms on the second floor — that were fully consumed by the flames and heat.

He first pointed to photographs of the master bedroom, where soot discolored the walls but there was little burn damage and, he said, no evidence of an accelerant. Investigators did find boxes of jewelry on the bed, and Makuc said it appeared that the room had been ransacked. An office on the second floor also showed minimal smoke and heat damage.

Using photographs projected on a large screen, Makuc then pointed out a stretch of charred carpeting on a second-floor hallway, including areas where a trained dog had alerted investigators to the presence of gasoline or another fire accelerant. Hayley's body was found outside a second-floor bathroom, and Makuc said that investigators found part of a plastic container under her body. The container, he said, had "an odor that was possibly consistent with a gasoline odor."

Smelling that same piece of evidence Friday, Makuc told jurors he could still "detect an odor that could be similar to gasoline."

Elsewhere in the hallway, investigators found the melted remnants of another plastic container that also smelled of gasoline.

Makuc said that the line of charred carpeting led directly to both Michaela's and Hayley's bedrooms, and that there were additional burn patterns around both girls' beds consistent with a liquid accelerant having been poured and splashed on the floor.

There also was clear evidence of an accelerant on top of both beds, and Makuc said it appeared that an accelerant had been poured over Michaela's body. Komisarjevsky has admitted that he tied the girls to their beds.

During part of Makuc's testimony, Dr. William Petit Jr., the sole survivor of the home invasion, bowed his head and closed his eyes. While prosecutors projected most of the photographs of the scene for all in the courtroom to see, photographs showing Michaela's body were shown only to jurors.

In both girls' rooms, parts of the bed and the bedding were intact, with little evidence of fire or heat damage, while other parts were heavily damaged or destroyed. In Michaela's room, much of the bedding was dark and charred, while a comforter at the foot of the bed showed no evidence of fire.

Makuc then showed photographs of the bedposts of Hayley's bed — including remnants of the rope and stockings that had been used to tie her. The paint was intact and clean on some of the posts, while "inches away we have near total consumption of the mattress material," Makuc said.

State's Case Wrapping Up

Prior to Makuc's beginning his second day on the witness stand Friday, Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue said that prosecutors expect to rest their case Monday, and that jurors could begin deliberations in as soon as a week.

Blue said that prosecutors are expected to question their last witness Monday morning, and that after routine motions, defense attorneys probably will begin calling witnesses Monday afternoon.

"Depending on how things go, the defense may rest on Wednesday or so," Blue said. If there is little or no rebuttal testimony from prosecutors, Blue said, he might schedule closing arguments at the end of next week and give his legal charge to the jury on Friday, in advance of the Columbus Day holiday. Blue indicated that if he could not charge the jury on Friday, he probably would hold off on scheduling closing arguments until after the holiday.

'My Sister's Home'

Hawke-Petit's sister, Cynthia Hawke-Renn, said Friday afternoon that she had no interest in hearing about Komisarjevsky's life and his explanation for the crimes with which he's charged.

She said she was returning home to North Carolina.

"I don't expect to hear a lot of the truth" when the defense presents its case next week, she said.

Asked about the first nine days of testimony in the trial, Hawke-Renn said: "The only thing the prosecution is missing is the voices of the innocent deceased people."

After Friday's detailed testimony about the fire, she added, "It's not just a burned house."

"That's my sister's home," Hawke-Renn said. "A place of wonderful memories. It's such a shame it was turned into a hellhole. These were monsters who did this."

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day9-1001-20110930,0,71414,full.story

Komisarjevsky Trial: Prosecution Rests After 10 Days Of Testimony
Witness Says He Found 'Petroleum Product' On Clothing And Boots; Defense Loses Mistrial Bid Over Juror Contact

8:35 p.m. EDT, October 3, 2011

NEW HAVEN — —
Ten days of disturbing testimony from more than 30 witnesses called by prosecutors — which at times brought some jurors to tears and prompted victims' loved ones to leave the courtroom — ended Monday, clearing the way for Joshua Komisarjevsky's attorneys to launch his defense later this week.

On Monday, prosecutors attempted to link the deadly fire that swept through the Petit family's two-story Colonial home on the morning of July 23, 2007, to Komisarjevsky.

In his opening statement at the start of the trial last month, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III told jurors that Komisarjevsky's alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, decided on his own to kill Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and to buy the gasoline needed to fuel the fire that would kill her two daughters.

Jack Hubball, a state police chemist, testified Monday that he found a "petroleum product consistent with gasoline" on Komisarjevsky's work boots, sweat shirt and pants, which police seized from Komisarjevsky shortly after his arrest.

Hawke-Petit, 48, a nurse at Cheshire Academy, was strangled, according to testimony, and Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, died from smoke inhalation. Komisarjevsky has admitted beating Dr. William Petit Jr., Hawke-Petit's husband and the girls' father, with a baseball bat. Petit escaped the burning house.

Hubball also testified Monday that he found "organic compounds" on brown gloves and latex gloves and socks seized from Komisarjevsky.

The compounds were consistent with what is found in household cleaners, he said.

"In no way does it have anything to do with a flammable liquid," Hubball said.

Hubball said sneakers, socks, jeans and a T-shirt seized from Hayes also contained traces of a "petroleum product consistent with gasoline," as did the following evidence:

Melted plastic canisters found downstairs and upstairs near Hayley's body, Hayley's shorts, samples near the beds in Hayley's and Michaela's bedrooms, carpet and fire debris downstairs and upstairs and on the stairs, blue denim fabric from Hawke-Petit's pants and Michaela' shorts and shirt.

Hubball said he also found bleach on the shorts. He said he did not know how long the bleach had been on the shorts.

Komisarjevsky faces 17 counts, including murder, capital felony, kidnapping, arson, assault and larceny. He also is charged with sexually assaulting Michaela. His defense has said that Komisarjevsky put bleach on her clothes to try to cover up evidence of the sexual assault.

Under cross-examination, Komisarjevsky's attorneys went back to the latex gloves Komisarjevsky had worn at the time of the crime, gloves he had on at the time of his arrest, prompting Hubball to say again that he did not detect gasoline on them. Hubball also said that he could not pinpoint where the gasoline was found on Komisarjevsky's boots and pants.

His attorneys also asked Hubball if the gasoline on Komisarjevsky's clothes and boots could have come from fuel Komisarjevsky might have used to clean tools he used on previous construction jobs. Hubball said that was possible.

Juror Was Approached

Before Monday's testimony, defense attorneys unsuccessfully moved for a mistrial after a juror reported being approached by a supporter of the victims' family last week.

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue denied the motion, but gave spectators a stern warning.

"Supporters from either side should not be approaching the jury," Blue said. Although last week's contact was "not catastrophic" and not grounds for a mistrial, Blue said, additional reports of contact would force him to impose penalties.

"I'll do what's necessary, including the banishment of those involved from the courtroom for the rest of the trial. That," he said, "I will definitely not hesitate to do. I will be quite ruthless about it. So everyone stands on notice here."

Bansley said that he did not believe Komisarjevsky could receive a fair trial after a Petit supporter spoke with the juror and that the contact was consistent with intimidation and threats experienced by the defense team and witnesses since the trial began.

Bansley said that a supporter of Komisarjevsky's who appeared at the trial earlier said a Petit supporter told her: "How dare you support him. You disgust me." The same person reported finding a dead mouse in a mailbox, Bansley said.

Blue called the male juror to the witness stand and asked him about the contact. He told the juror he was not in any trouble.

The juror said he was in the jury line after the lunch break waiting to get into the courtroom when a woman turned to him.

"She said, 'Thank you for what you're doing,' " the juror said. "I just walked through security and came right back up."

The juror said he was not affected by the contact.

"I know the importance of the case, and I didn't want to be swayed either way," the juror said.

A female juror and another male juror were also called to the witness stand and asked if the contact had hurt their ability to serve fairly on the jury. They both said no.

The other male juror said he thought the woman's words were "a compliment to the jury."

During a break Monday morning, Johanna Petit Chapman, Dr. William Petit Jr.'s sister, said: "Clearly no family member would approach a juror. I don't know who the person was."

Petit Chapman added that whatever the person said to the juror, she hopes it was just to compliment the jurors on their service and not an attempt to influence their opinion.

Jurors will not hear testimony Tuesday but attorneys from both sides will meet to argue motions expected to be filed in the case, including a defense motion for judgment of acquittal.

When the defense begins Wednesday, they may use the testimony of a mental health expert to show that Komisarjevsky has cognitive difficulties that make him unable to make quick decisions in stressful situations.

Hayes was convicted at a trial last year and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Komisarjevsky, 31, also faces the death penalty if convicted.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day10-1004-20111003,0,2066144,full.story

Komisarjevsky Defense Begins Wednesday
Prosecutors say neuropsychologist's report leaves out four key years of Cheshire defendant's life

10:55 p.m. EDT, October 4, 2011

NEW HAVEN — —
Jurors deciding the fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky will begin hearing defense testimony Wednesday about the accused triple killer's life, stretching back to his birth.

Defense attorneys also are expected to try to get jurors to think differently about what was found on Komisarjevsky's boots and clothing the day of the deadly July 2007 Cheshire home invasion.

Earlier this week, a state witness said he found a "petroleum product consistent with gasoline" on Komisarjevsky's work boots. The defense has suggested that Komisarjevsky, who worked in construction, might have used fuel to clean tools. His attorneys may present evidence showing that sealants or adhesive products Komisarjevsky used on the job were petroleum-based.

Komisarjevsky, 31, of Cheshire, faces 17 counts in the home invasion and arson case, which left Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, dead. Komisarjevsky has admitted tying both girls to their beds, sexually molesting Michaela and beating the sole survivor of the break-in, Dr. William Petit Jr., in the head with a baseball bat.

Komisarjevsky and his alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, broke into the Petit home in the middle of the night. Both had recently been paroled from prison.

After Petit was beaten, he was tied to a pole in the basement. Hawke-Petit was strangled. Hayley and Michaela were left bound to their beds. The house was doused with gasoline and set on fire. Before Hawke-Petit was killed, she was forced to go to the bank with Hayes and withdraw money to give to the intruders. Hayes raped her after they returned to the home.

Petit, who was unconscious for most of the seven-hour ordeal at his home, escaped from the house shortly before the fire was set and sought help from a neighbor.

Police arrested Hayes and Komisarjevsky as they fled the burning home in one of the Petits' vehicles. Last year, Hayes, 47, of Winsted, was convicted of 16 of 17 charges he faced in connection with the home invasion. He now sits on death row.

In their quest to spare Komisarjevsky a similar fate, his defense attorneys will include the testimony of Dr. Leo Shea, a neuropsychologist.

Shea is expected to testify about Komisarjevsky's adoption, the troubles Komisarjevsky had in his early school years and his home schooling. Jurors will hear about Komisarjevsky's religious life, his worldwide travels with a Christian performance group, and his work history, including training he had from the Army and as an emergency medical technician.

Shea put together the portrait in a report that defense attorneys plan to use to show Komisarjevsky suffers from cognitive difficulties they say make it difficult for him to make quick decisions in stressful situations.

The report came under fire Tuesday from prosecutors who put the judge and defense attorneys on notice that they plan to challenge Shea's report outlining "the current level of" Komisarjevsky's "cognitive functioning," because of what it leaves out — a significant four-year period from the chronology of Komisarjevsky's life.

According to a motion prosecutors filed Tuesday seeking to preclude Shea's testimony, Shea's report starts with Komisarjevsky's birth on Aug. 10, 1980, and includes information up to March 2002. The chronology resumes June 2006. Prosecutors say the time not included in the report is "relevant and admissible."

In October 2002, Komisarjevsky was convicted of several burglaries and sentenced to three years in state prison. He was convicted of 12 more burglaries in December of that year. He was sentenced to nine years and served about four.

The prosecution's motion said, "The doctor meticulously relies on the activities of the defendant up to age 22 then omits four years and then resumes his chronology and activities."

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue on Tuesday said he would not rule on the motion but would hear arguments on the issue during Shea's testimony.

Jurors did not hear testimony Tuesday, while attorneys from both sides argued motions. Blue denied a defense motion for judgment of acquittal, saying the state had met its burden of proof in the case.

Defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan said the state did not prove that Komisarjevsky intended to kill Hawke-Petit and her daughters, pointing to Komisarjevsky's statement to police that he told Hayes: "I'm not killing anyone … no one's dying by my hand today." Komisarjevsky said Hayes suggested that they kill the family and burn down the house.

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington disagreed, saying state evidence showed Komisarjevsky had gasoline on his clothes and boots, that he gave Hayes directions to service stations where he could buy the gas, and that he followed Hayes as the gas was spread throughout the house.

Blue said while he understood Donovan's argument, he asked Donovan if intent could be inferred based on testimony that Komisarjevsky "stood guard" at the Petit home while Hayes went to buy gasoline and when he drove Hawke-Petit to the bank. Blue also noted testimony that showed Komisarjevsky tied, untied and retied the daughters to their beds and tied up Hawke-Petit after she returned from the bank.

"Isn't it at least a possible argument that your client … did have the intent to kill?" Blue asked.

Donovan said Komisarjevsky never went along with Hayes' decision to burn people to death.

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day11-1005-20111004,0,7259773.story

Neuropsychologist Details Komisarjevsky's Brain Functions
Calls Concussions, Childhood Sex Abuse And Extensive Drug Use 'Perfect Storm' That Affected Cognitive Abilities

A series of head concussions, a history of childhood sexual abuse and extensive drug use could have affected Joshua Komsarjevsky's mental health and his ability to make decisions and to react to stressful situations, a neuropsychologist from New York University testified Wednesday.

Dr. Leo Shea, the defense's key expert witness, called the clash of those experiences and other factors a "perfect storm" in Komisarjevsky's life that affected his cognitive function.


Shea was one of four witnesses to take the stand Wednesday as defense attorneys launched their defense of Komisarjevsky, who faces the death penalty if convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17 and Michaela, 11, during a July 23, 2007, break-in and arson at their Cheshire home.

Prosecutors' cross-examination of Shea will resume Thursday morning.

Shea said Komisarjevsky, 31, suffered five concussions to his head beginning when he was 9 and up until he was a teen. One concussion occurred in a car crash; others happened when he hit a soccer goalpost and in a snowboarding accident, Shea said.

Shea said he relied on Komisarjevsky's childhood medical records, a battery of tests he conducted on him and 12 hours of interviews with him to reach the conclusions he documented in a report.

During Shea's discussion of Komisarjevsky's results on a series of cognitive tests, some jurors appeared inattentive and restless. But Shea's testimony about the sexual abuse Komisarjevsky allegedly suffered as a young boy seemed to grab their attention.

Shea testified to a hushed courtoom that Komisarjevsky was anally and orally raped between the ages of 4 and 6 and that he had been tortured by being burned.

Shea also testified about Komisarjevsky's significant drug use over an 18- to 24-month period, including the use of crystal methamphetamine and marijuana.

All of those experiences could have affected certain parts of Komisarjevsky's brain, Shea said. The effects include irritability, an inability to make decisions, social problems and the lack of ability to think of the needs of other people.

Shea also found that Komisarjevsky was a poor speller, a slow reader and weak in math and that he has trouble concentrating, yet is a good talker and has good verbal comprehension. Another test found that Komisarjevsky is a risk taker. He scored well in a rigid and controlled environment but "if you break up his world, he gets confused," Shea said.

During this testimony, Komisarjevsky seemed more impassive than he has in the earlier days of his trial. Dressed in a suit and tie and sitting just a few feet from the front-row gallery seat where his father, Benedict, sat listening to the testimony, Komisarjevsky sat still in his chair with his eyes forward. He rarely consulted with his defense team.

During cross-examination, New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington questioned Shea about why he did not look at police reports and relied on Komisarjevsky's accounts of his past when compiling his report.

Dearington's questioning of Shea also gave prosecutors another chance at detailing the crime, including showing parts of Komisarjevsky's chilling audiotape statement to jurors. Dearington asked whether Komisarjevsky was able to make decisions during the seven-hour home invasion, to which Shea responded, "I don't know."

Dearington asked Shea if it was a hasty decision by Komisarjevsky to invade the home at night after Dearington said Komisarjevsky stalked Hawke-Petit and Michaela at the supermarket earlier in the evening.

"No," Shea said.

Dearington pressed Shea about how the cognitive issues he found in Komisarjevsky relate to the deadly home invasion, questioning that led to a testy exchange between the two men when Shea called the crime "a bad plan."

"Don't you see it as a little more devious than that, than just being a bad plan?" Dearington asked Shea.

"I see it as a horrific thing," Shea replied.

"And you agree that he may be a bad planner, but it was still part of the plan to go to that house and break in?" Dearington asked.
"I agree," Shea said.

Hayes' Behavior Worried Mother

Though he now sits on death row for his role in the home invasion killings, Steven Hayes' name has rarely surfaced in the trial of Komisarjevsky, his alleged accomplice.


That changed earlier Wednesday when Komisarjevsky's defense attorneys — who have said Hayes was to blame for the slayings — focused on what Hayes' mother told police about her son's behavior in the days and weeks before the killings.


Defense attorneys maintain Komisarjesky never intended to kill the Petit family members but did intend to break in and steal their belongings. In defense opening statements, Hayes was briefly portrayed as a career criminal desperate for money who feared going back to prison.

On Wednesday, state police Det. Francis Budwitz testified about his interviews with Hayes' mother, Diana Hayes, days after the crime. She died in 2009.

Reading from the mother's written statements displayed on a movie screen in the courtroom, Budwitz recalled that Diana Hayes wrote that at the time of the Cheshire home invasion Steven Hayes was living at her home, sleeping on the living room couch and storing his things in a linen closet.

She said her son — who was on parole at the time — borrowed her vehicle for work and then he would "disappear" with the vehicle on the weekends, the statement said.

During a July 20, 2007, surprise visit from Hayes' parole officer, Diana Hayes said she told the officer she and her son were not "getting along" and she feared "what he was up to." She said she wanted him out of her house.

One day, she said, her son was drinking alcohol heavily and said, "Maybe I'll die like Bobbie," a cousin who had recently died from a heroin overdose. She said Hayes then called his daughter and told her he loved her.

A Yellow Tube Of Sealant

Earlier Wednesday, a yellow tube of sealant took center stage as Komisarjevsky's attorneys attempted to offer another explanation for why police found fuel on his clothes and boots. The tube was inside Komisarjevsky's work bag, which investigators found in a van belonging to Komisarjevsky's mother.

Komisarjevsky has blamed the gasoline-fueled arson fire that killed Hayley and Michaela on Hayes. Defense attorneys have suggested that a product "consistent with gasoline," which investigators said they found on Komisarjevsky's clothes and boots the day of the killings, could have come from fuel Komisarjevsky used to clean tools or from an adhesive or sealant, which might have been petroleum-based.

John McGrath, owner of a roofing supply company in Connecticut, said roofers use gasoline-powered machines that pump or spray adhesives.

Michael Ranno of Brunetto Construction testified that Komisarjevsky had repaired a flat roof on a garage in New Britain on July 22, 2007, the day before the deadly home invasion.

Komisarjevsky faces 17 counts in the home invasion and arson case. He has admitted tying Hayley and Michaela to their beds, sexually molesting Michaela and beating the sole survivor of the break-in, Dr. William Petit Jr., in the head with a baseball bat, but said that he never intended for anyone to die.


http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-komisarjevsky-day12-1006-20111005,0,963719.story?page=1

Komisarjevsky: Tales Of A Tortured Childhood
Both Sides Rest; Closing Arguments Tuesday


By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
10:41 p.m. EDT, October 6, 2011

NEW HAVEN —— When he was 14, Joshua Komisarjevsky carved the word "hate" into his arm.

He began the self-mutilation the year before because it was "soothing," according to a report that his defense attorneys made public Thursday at the close of his triple-murder trial.


"I hated everything about my life. I had been abused and I wanted others to know what it was like to hurt, to lose something. I had so much pain inside and cutting was a way to get at it," Komisarjevsky told New York psychologist Dr. Leo Shea, who wrote the report. Shea based his findings, titled "Joshua Komisarjevsky Cognitive Evaluation" on 12 hours of interviews and testing of Komisarjevsky.

Shea was the final witness to testify in the trial of Komisarjevsky, 31, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, during a home invasion at their Cheshire house on July 23, 2007.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.

Shea testified Wednesday that mild traumatic head injuries and sexual abuse that Komisarjevsky said he suffered — coupled with his drug use — created "a perfect storm" that battered Komisarjevsky's cognitive ability, making it difficult for him to make decisions in stressful situations.

Shea's report says that Komisarjevsky told him that a 15-year-old boy named Scott, whom the family took in as a foster child, sexually and physically abused him from about the age of 3 until 6.

"My earliest memories were of anal sex, oral sex, cigarette burns, etc.," Komisarjevsky told Shea, according to the report.

Komisarjevsky told Shea that his parents tried to get him help through their church and "got the elders to put their hands on me, to cast out sin, to heal me. I was so scared and felt smothered, I felt desperate to get out of that circle of people."

Shea said that Komisarjevsky was taught Bible studies at home "to exorcise the demons within. He was seen by pastors and church counselors to help him deal with his perceived sinful nature," Shea wrote.

At about age 9, Shea said that Komisarjevsky would leave his home late at night and wander in the woods near his house "monitoring houses and the activities therein for curiosity," Shea wrote. Komisarjevsky was a troubled student and eventually left the classroom after fifth grade to be schooled at home by his mother.

In 2000, Komisarjevsky said he began experimenting with marijuana and alcohol "but then started heavy drugs," Shea wrote, including crystal methamphetamine, LSD, cocaine, crank and prescription drugs.

In Superior Court on Thursday, prosecutors continued their cross-examination of Shea, the last of four witnesses to testify for the defense in the trial's 12 days of testimony.

Shea agreed with New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington that such a "perfect storm" does not necessarily lead to criminal behavior. When Dearington asked how widespread childhood sexual abuse is, Shea said that one of three females and one of six males is sexually abused.

"It doesn't necessarily lead to criminal behavior. I would agree with that. It predisposes him to it," Shea testified Thursday.

Dearington pointed to tests that Shea gave Komisarjevsky, including results that showed he was average in many areas and better in others. He received a high score in a verbal comprehension evaluation. Shea had testified that Komisarjevsky was a good talker and could be persuasive.

During his interviews with Komisarjevsky, Shea said he used appropriate vocabulary and "sought to express himself in a more literate manner utilizing occasional references to Shakespearean texts and poetry."

He told Shea that his favorite plays were "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Komisarjevsky also made elaborate drawings, including one "of a young girl, frog, vines and cascading flowers with a fantastical fairytale quality to it."

"This is a superior level of functioning here," Shea said.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-komisarjevsky-day13-1007-20111006,0,547171.story