Petit Family -- William, Jennifer, Hayley & Michaela - Father Beaten, Wife & Daughters Murdered 7/23/07

~ Snipped ~

Hayes' defense lawyer said he will show his client was affected by drug use and influenced by his co-defendant, who is being tried next year.

Hayes participated in torturing, strangling and/or burning to death THREE innocent victims, and it is supposed to matter to us that he was on DRUGS and just followed his co-defendant? I don't think so.

Accused Petit Murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky: 'I Lost Control' and 'Enjoyed It'
Steven Hayes' Accomplice Calls Michaela Petit the 'Angel of My Nightmares'

By KAITLYN FOLMER and EMILY FRIEDMAN
NEW HAVEN, Conn. Oct. 19, 2010



A confessed burglar said he "lost control" while beating Dr. William Petit with a bat before going on to murder Petit's wife and two daughters and admitted he started to "enjoy it," according to his journal entries read in court today.

The 43 pages written by Joshua Komisarjevsky were presented in the penalty phase of Steven Hayes' murder trial. Hayes was convicted of breaking into a Cheshire, Conn., home in 2007 and murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. The mother and one of the girl's was also raped.

Komisarjevsky, 30, will go on trial for the murders later.

A jury is now hearing evidence to determine whether Hayes, 47, should be executed. The judge allowed the letters and diary to be presented to help the jury determine the culpability of each man and their "relative evil."

Read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/steven-hayes-history-crude-women/story?id=11916557

The info from this diary is almost too disturbing to read:

~Snipped~
Hayes' lawyers hope the diary will show the jury that Komisarjevsky was the ringleader on the night of the Petit murders and spare Hayes the death penalty.

"I'm not an angel," Komisarjevsky wrote. "I've never claimed to be. The scars on my soul have forever defined me as different than others."

Komisarjevsky said that he "resented" the implication that he raped Michaela and wrote that he had "spared her that degree of demoralization." Admitting that he did in fact sexually assault her, Komisarjevsky wrote, "In a vulgar display of power, I ejaculated onto her."

"As for why? It was the accumulation of years of pent up aggression," he wrote.

Komisarjevsky admits in the journal to taking photos of Michaela after the assault, images he wrote that he planned to use to blackmail her parents.

"What I was not prepared for was my demons getting the better of me," he wrote.

Hayley was the fighter of the family, according to Komisarjevsky, who claimed the father was "passive" toward saving his family.

"If you don't want to defend your family, then take your chances with the criminal while police sit outside and follow protocol," wrote Komisarjevsky.

Sick!

I'd like to PUKE on him....

Doctor: Hayes wanted death penalty
Testimony resumes Monday in Conn. case

Updated: Thursday, 21 Oct 2010, 6:31 AM CDT
JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN,Associated Press Writer



NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut man convicted of killing a woman and two children in a home invasion spoke of suicide attempts and wanting to "look like a monster" so that a jury would sentence him to death, a psychiatrist testified Wednesday.

Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Paul Amble testified before a New Haven jury considering punishment for Steven Hayes. The doctor met with Hayes in March and concluded he was competent to stand trial.

Read more: http://www.fox11online.com/dpps/news/national/northeast/dr-says-conn-home-invasion-defendant-tried-suicide-nt10-jgr_3617903

Judge Withholds Ruling In Contempt Hearing In Cheshire Case
Says If Necessary He'll Refer Case To Another Judge

By JOSH KOVNER
3:03 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2010

NEW HAVEN — —
Judge Roland D. Fasano gave lawyer Jeremiah Donovan a stern rebuke today, but said he would withhold a decision on a contempt-of-court charge against him — for now.

Fasano also said that if he decided, based on Donovan's future conduct, that contempt of court proceedings needed to be held, he would refer the case to another judge.

Fasano was clearly distressed by Donovan's conduct in holding a Sept. 24 press conference for reporters covering the Cheshire home invasion case despite a gag order. Donovan, a former federal prosecutor who is representing Joshua Komisarjevsky, accused in the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela, called a press conference outside the New Haven courthouse during the trial of co-defendant Steven Hayes to rebut the way the state was describing Komisarjevksy's role in an alleged assault on Michaela, 11.

Read more: http://www.ctnow.com/news/connecticut/hc-donovan-contempt-hearing-1027-20101026,0,2387905.story

Petit Murderer Steven Hayes Caught Off Guard by Brutality, Psychiatrist Testifies
Hayes Wants to Die, Has Nightmares of Son Burning, According to Defense Testimony

By BRANDON BODOW and SARAH NETTER
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 28, 2010

Steven Hayes didn't know ahead of the time that a Connecticut home invasion that resulted in the death of a mother and her two daughters would involve rape, murder and a fire to destroy evidence, according to a psychiatrist who testified today in the sentencing phase of the convicted murderer's trial.

Dr. Eric Goldsmith told the jury today that it was Hayes' co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, that came up with the idea to rob a house in well-to-do Cheshire, because he'd done it before and that the gruesome turn of events in July 2007 wasn't in the original plan.

And when Hayes worried about the DNA evidence that would be left at the scene, Komisarjevsky allegedly shot back, "fire kills everything," Goldsmith testified.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/murderer-steven-hayes-caught-off-guard-rape-fire/story?id=11994340

Evil and deeply disturbed......

Juror is dismissed in deadly Conn. home invasion

The Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The judge in the trial of a Connecticut man convicted in a deadly home invasion has dismissed a juror who was overheard making a derogatory comment to another juror.

A clerk heard the comment Friday after testimony resumed with a psychiatrist on the stand for the defense. It was not immediately clear whether the comment made by the female juror was directed at the witness or a defense attorney.

Read more: http://ap.cjonline.com/pstories/20101029/727835645.shtml

Last defense witness heard in home invasion trial

The Associated Press
November 1, 2010

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The last defense witness in the penalty phase of a deadly Connecticut home invasion trial has wrapped up testimony.

Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Goldsmith finished testifying Monday, and defense lawyers were expected to introduce documents before resting. Prosecutors are expected to call their first rebuttal witness Tuesday.

Read more: http://ap.cjonline.com/pstories/us/20101101/729271249.shtml

Love Note in Petit Murder Trial: Flirty Juror Makes Advances During Steven Hayes' Death Penalty Phase

Posted by Carlin DeGuerin Miller
November 2, 2010 12:36 PM



NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBS/WFSB) The penalty phase of the Petit family murder trial was nearly derailed Monday after the sole remaining alternate juror was caught passing a flirtatious note to a court officer asking for a date, just as the defense wrapped up its arguments against the death penalty for Steven Hayes, convicted of the 2007 triple murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters.

PICTURES: The Petit Family

The note-passing incident happened Friday afternoon when the juror in question gave a napkin to another juror to pass along to the object of her affection. It read simply "Sunday 5pm. Side Street Grill. Hamden," according to the Hartford Courant.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20021473-504083.html

Testimony Finishes In Steven Hayes Case; Closing Arguments Expected Thursday

By ALAINE GRIFFIN
4:36 p.m. EDT, November 2, 2010

NEW HAVEN — Testimony in the penalty phase of Steven Hayes' trial finished this afternoon, clearing the way for closing arguments Thursday.

If the jury fails to return a sentence by the end of the day Friday, the judge said, he wants them to continue deliberating into the weekend.

At the start of this morning's court session, Judge Jon C. Blue asked the jurors if they had weddings, funerals or other important events this weekend. They all said no.

Blue told jurors he wanted the deliberations to continue into the weekend if need be "because of all we've been through."

"Nobody welcomes this," he said, "but I think you can understand why I want to do this."

The jury is down to 12 regular members and one alternate, who has been allowed to continue despite a defense motion that she be excused because she showed a personal interest in a court marshal.

Today marks the 10th day of testimony in the penalty phase of Hayes' trial.

Read more: http://www.ctnow.com/news/hc-hayes-day10-1103-20101102,0,7720108.story

Jury Deliberating Fate for Suspect in Greenville Triple Killing

November 4, 2010

A jury is now deciding the fate of a man convicted of killing a Mercer County native and her two daughters.

In closing arguments Thursday, prosecutors told a Connecticut jury that Steven Hayes tormented his victims for seven hours.

Read more: http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Jury-Deliberating-Fate-for-Suspect-in-Greenville/Uku-ZUYNOkG7UFe86Oc9HQ.cspx

#Hayes jury will return to court at 10 a.m tomorrow.That's it for today.

Jury now holds fate of Steven #Hayes in their hands. Follow @nhrlive all day tomorrow for possible verdict or go to http://is.gd/gIMeF

http://twitter.com/nhrlive

Can't wait, hope they decide tomorrow.

Petit Jurors Split on Executing Convicted Triple Murderer Steven Hayes

Judge Tells Jurors to Keep Deliberating in the Triple Murder Case

By DON ENNIS
NEW HAVEN, Conn. Nov. 5, 2010



Jurors were split over whether to doom Steven Hayes to death row or sentence him to life in prison for the grisly murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, according to jury notes released by the court today.

The jury's struggle to agree on a sentence for Hayes, 47, came towards the end of their first day of deliberations when they sent a note to Judge Jon Blue.

"What does it mean to unanimously find the existence of a statutory mitigating factor?" the note asked.

After meeting with the judge and resuming deliberations, a second note sought additional clarification on mitigating factors, specifically on mental capacity and "conforming to law."

Mitigating circumstances would allow the jurors to sentence Hayes to life in prison rather than to be executed. The note gave an example in which two jurors indicated that they saw no mitigating circumstances and Hayes should be to put to death.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/petit-murder-jurors-split-death-penalty/story?id=12069544

The jury has been dismissed for the day. Deliberations will resume at 9 AM tomorrow morning.

Hayes' Jury Begins Deliberations

Testimony from defense witness reread

BY ALAINE GRIFFIN
1:05 p.m. EDT, November 6, 2010

NEW HAVEN — —

It has been decades since a Superior Court jury deliberated on a weekend, but with just one alternate left and the high-stakes nature of the widely publicized Cheshire home-invasion trial, jurors deciding triple murderer Steven Hayes' fate are back at work today.

The jury of five men and seven women first told Judge Jon C. Blue that they would work through lunch today but then indicated that they would take a lunch break.

Juros went into the deliberation room at 9:31a.m. and deliberated for about 90 minutes before sending a note asking to rehear a portion of Prosecutor Michael Dearington's cross-examination of defense expert witness Dr. Eric Goldsmith.

Goldsmith interviewed Hayes over several hours. He testified that Hayes told him that Hayes' accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, told Hayes he had killed the Petit family after Hayes had returned from the bank with Hawke-Petit. The expert said Hayes became enraged and as a result, raped and strangled Hawke-Petit.

The expert said that this extreme emotional reaction was the type that a jury considering the death penalty could view as a mitigating factor.

Before the jury began deliberations, Judge Jon C. Blue acknowledged the unusual Saturday proceedings. The only business at the Church Street courthouse today is the Hayes trial.

Court staff and judicial marshals were brought in for duty.

"I just want to thank everyone for their extraordinary professionalism to be willing to come to court on this Saturday."

Read more: http://www.ctnow.com/news/connecticut/hc-hayes-sentence-1107-20101106,0,7034104.story

Interesting: Ullman wrote in April it was probable next #ctgov would abolish death penalty. Malloy against DP http://j.mp/9IRcSF #Hayes

Coming up on 4pm. And still no word or knock or note from the deliberating jury. Some in crowd thinking we'll be here again tomorrow. #Hayes

http://twitter.com/nhrlive

The jury didn't reach a verdict today. Deliberations resume at 10 AM Sunday morning.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/steven-hayes-sentenced-death-role-connecticut-home-invasion/story?id=12087221

Steven Hayes Sentenced to Death for the Deadly Conn. Home InvasionJurors Spent Nearly Four Days Deliberating Hayes' Fate

EMILY FRIEDMAN and ANNE-MARIE DORNING
NEW HAVEN, Conn. Nov. 8, 2010

...........The jury unanimously found the death penalty the appropriate punishment for Hayes' role in the triple murders.

See link for more.

kh

I'm sure this is no surprise to anyone...

Thanks for the update, kh. While death is almost too good for him, he did say he wanted a death sentence. He deserves it.

The jury made the right decision. It's a shame that such a waste of life could take 3 beautiful lives out of this world in any manner, let alone the heinous manner in which they were murdered.

Justice4all wrote:Interesting: Ullman wrote in April it was probable next #ctgov would abolish death penalty. Malloy against DP http://j.mp/9IRcSF #Hayes

Coming up on 4pm. And still no word or knock or note from the deliberating jury. Some in crowd thinking we'll be here again tomorrow. #Hayes

http://twitter.com/nhrlive

I guess he's hoping what happened to Charles Manson, received death sentence then automatically commuted to a life sentence when California eliminated the death penalty, will happen in CT.



Hayes lawyer hopes next Conn. gov. anti-death penalty
Published: Sunday, April 18, 2010

NEW HAVEN (AP) — An attorney for a Connecticut man charged with killing a woman and her two daughters in a home invasion is hoping a new governor will abolish the death penalty.

As it happens, the state legislature will most likely revive an effort to ban capital punishment and two leading Democrats running for governor in November say they would not have vetoed a bill to ban executions as Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell did.

On the other hand, leading Republican candidates favor the death penalty and a political expert says the criminal case is so notorious, it could strengthen support for a candidate who favors capital punishment.

Still, Thomas Ullmann, attorney for Steven Hayes, says in a letter to prosecutors that there's a "realistic probability" the next governor will sign a law banning executions.

Read more:
http://newhavenregister.com/articles/2010/04/18/news/doc4bcb59b0218a8514743866.txt

Death is really too good for him anyway. He SHOULD rot in jail for the rest of his life.

Dr. Petit testified before this group this year, Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty


~Snipped~
Few testifying at the hearing favored the bill, at least as a whole. The Public Defender's Office opposed the provision to limit appeals and questioned them as unconstitutional. Though Chief State Attorney Kevin Kane favored the habeas reforms, he opposed the other reforms in the bill, on the grounds that they would further prolong the legal process. Dr. William Petit testified against the provision in the bill that a victim's impact statement be read after, rather than before, a jury has reached a verdict.

From their website:

http://www.cnadp.org/dpConn.php

Jurors: Serving in deadly home invasion case was life-changing

By the CNN Wire Staff
November 9, 2010 6:57 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- Jurors who convicted a man of three murders in a 2007 Connecticut home invasion and recommended he be put to death for his crimes said Tuesday that serving on the case changed their lives -- and took an emotional and sometimes physical toll.

"This has strengthened my faith," Paula Calzetta told In Session on the truTV network. "We all came together. It was amazing, how it worked out, and we came to the right decision. I know that this is, for me, God's plan, and I think I'm honored to be a part of that."

Jurors recommended Monday that Steven Hayes, 47, should die for his role in the 2007 invasion of a home in Cheshire, Connecticut, that left Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, dead along with her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit. They earlier convicted Hayes on a list of charges, including murder, capital murder and kidnapping.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/09/connecticut.home.invasion.jurors/index.html

Dr. Petit: 'Glad for the girls that there was justice,' as Hayes sentenced to die

Published: Tuesday, November 09, 2010
By Randall Beach, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — When Dr. William Petit Jr. Monday finally heard a jury declare Steven J. Hayes should be sentenced to death for murdering Petit’s wife and two daughters, he said he wept for the loss of his family but was “glad for the girls that there was justice.”

More than three years after the idyllic Cheshire home was broken into and the nightmare began with Petit being beaten with a baseball bat, 12 jurors stood up in Superior Court and affirmed Hayes deserves to die for what he did.

Read more: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/11/09/news/aa1_hayesverdict110910.txt

Jurors In Conn. Home Invasion Trial Get Counseling

by The Associated Press
November 17, 2010, 02:22 pm ET

In his sleep, Maico Cardona sees a little girl tied to a bed, burning up in a house fire. She cries out for help, but he can't reach her.

So graphic was the testimony he heard as a juror in the case of a Connecticut home invasion, a shocking crime that left two girls and their mother dead, that the nightmares haunt him a week later.

Out of concern for the shell-shocked jury, Connecticut's Judicial Branch took the rare step of offering counseling services. Cardona, who was part of a jury that convicted and sentenced Steven Hayes to die by lethal injection, said he is grateful for the help.

"I wasn't prepared mentally for what I was going to see," Cardona said.

Only a handful of states provide counseling services for jurors, and for now Connecticut is offering it only through a pilot program for those involved in the home invasion trial. But legal experts say such assistance can be invaluable for those picked at random and thrust into emotionally trying murder cases.

The trial in New Haven had several factors that can aggravate jurors' stress: multiple victims including children, sexual assault, graphic evidence and — as a capital case — the responsibility of deciding whether a defendant should live or die, jury scholar Valerie Hans said.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131389523

Hayes awaits official sentencing

November 23, 2010

The defense team for Steven Hayes — who was convicted of murdering Hayley Petit and her mother and sister in 2007, and who is expected to be sentenced to death for the crime — has asked New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue to either grant Hayes a new trial or sentence him to life in prison without parole, The Middletown Press reported Friday. Hayes’s lawyers have cited extensive media coverage and the political nature of the trial as factors that could have biased members of the jury against Hayes.

Hayley Petit — the daughter of William Petit ’78, who survived the attack — would have matriculated with the Class of 2011.

After deliberating for three days, on Oct. 5 the jury in Hayes’s trial convicted him of all six capital crimes and 10 of the 11 other crimes with which he was charged, The Dartmouth previously reported. On Nov. 8, the jurors recommended the death penalty, according to NBC Connecticut.

In the state of Connecticut, only one person has been executed since 1960, according to The New York Times.

After the jurors proposed a death sentence, Thomas Ullmann, one of Hayes’s attorneys, requested that his client’s official sentencing be delayed, NBC Connecticut reported. Ullmann said the widespread media coverage of the trial affected the jury’s decision.

In the request for a delay in sentencing, Hayes’s defense team argued that the more than 145,000 “tweets” about the case posted on Twitter affected the jurors’ opinions about Hayes, FOX News reported.

Read more: http://thedartmouth.com/2010/11/23/news/Hayes

Justice4all wrote:Jurors In Conn. Home Invasion Trial Get Counseling

by The Associated Press
November 17, 2010, 02:22 pm ET

In his sleep, Maico Cardona sees a little girl tied to a bed, burning up in a house fire. She cries out for help, but he can't reach her.

So graphic was the testimony he heard as a juror in the case of a Connecticut home invasion, a shocking crime that left two girls and their mother dead, that the nightmares haunt him a week later.

Out of concern for the shell-shocked jury, Connecticut's Judicial Branch took the rare step of offering counseling services. Cardona, who was part of a jury that convicted and sentenced Steven Hayes to die by lethal injection, said he is grateful for the help.

"I wasn't prepared mentally for what I was going to see," Cardona said.

Only a handful of states provide counseling services for jurors, and for now Connecticut is offering it only through a pilot program for those involved in the home invasion trial. But legal experts say such assistance can be invaluable for those picked at random and thrust into emotionally trying murder cases.

The trial in New Haven had several factors that can aggravate jurors' stress: multiple victims including children, sexual assault, graphic evidence and — as a capital case — the responsibility of deciding whether a defendant should live or die, jury scholar Valerie Hans said.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131389523

They saw their worst nightmare, in real life with real victims. I would think it would change you forever. I'm glad they are offering help.

Judge denies Hayes acquittal in assault on Petit; no answer on new trial

By: Mary Ellen Godin
Posted: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 12:39 pm

NEW HAVEN –It would be a rare human being not to have nightmares in this trial, Judge Jon C. Blue told attorneys for Steven Hayes Wednesday morning.

“The fact of the matter is your client left in his wake a scene of unimaginable horror. The defense is not entitled to a jury of robots,” the judge told Public Defender Thomas Ullman.

Hayes’ defense team is challenging the jury verdict that condemned Hayes to death for his role in a horrific Cheshire home invasion that killed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters Hayley, 17 and Michaela, 11. The only survivor, Dr. William Petit Jr. was badly beaten in the seven-hour ordeal.

Two weeks ago, a 12-member jury sentenced Hayes to death on six capital felony counts. On Wednesday, he appeared in court wearing orange prison garb and leg shackles as his attorneys asked for a new trial or life sentence. Blue withheld any decision on the request, but vowed to have a ruling before final sentencing Dec. 2.

Haye’s defense argued the jury was heavily swayed by emotions rather than law and evidence. Ullman cited post-verdict interviews with the media that recorded jurors saying the evidence pictures of the dead girls, charred rope and burned beds and mattresses, left them with nightmares.

Read more: http://www.myrecordjournal.com/latestnews/article_22e4d81e-f7f6-11df-b999-001cc4c002e0.html

Wow, talk about throwing one out there! That's disgusting. I don't know how some of these defense attorneys sleep at night.

Judge Denies Defense Motion For A New Trial In Hayes Case

The Hartford Courant
November 26, 2010

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue Friday denied a defense motion for a new trial for killer Steven Hayes.

Hayes was convicted and sentenced to death for killing three members of a Cheshire family during a 2007 home invasion.

Defense lawyer argued last week that Hayes should get a new trial because of juror comments to the media after the verdict, newspaper articles that quoted former jurors, and "tweet accounts" about the case, the verdict, and the aftermath.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/cheshire-home-invasion/hc-hayes-motion-for-new-trial-1126,0,238701.story

Do I understand this correctly, the defense wants a new trial because of what the jurors did and said after the verdict was in? Do they want to control the jurors' lives from now on? I think they should be free to express themselves as they wish, after having to sit on this case.

That's what it looks like mama. I'm glad Judge Blue denied the motion. Hayes is guilty and the jury correctly found him guilty. That should be the end of it.

Besides, after what they had to endure during this case, and reliving the horror this family was subjected to, they need to talk about it and not hold everything in. That would be really bad for them.

I agree mama. This case was so horrible that some of the jurors are having nightmares and are in counseling. Nothing they say now should be held against them as long as their decision was based on the facts that were presented in court.

Dr. William Petit To Speak Of Family At Steven Hayes' Sentencing Thursday
Uncertain If Hayes Will Address Court

By ALAINE GRIFFIN
The Hartford Courant
10:57 a.m. EST, December 1, 2010

NEW HAVEN — The lives of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, will be remembered Thursday when a judge sentences their killer to death by lethal injection.

Dr. William Petit Jr., Hawke-Petit's husband and the girls' father, is expected to speak about his family and show photos of them in Superior Court. Petit is the only person to survive the attack and killings at the family's home in Cheshire on July 23, 2007.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-hayes-to-be-sentenced-1202-20101201,0,5748649.story

Dr. William Petit Tells Court He Has Considered Suicide Many Times
Steven Hayes Speaks to Court for First Time at Sentencing

By EMILY FRIEDMAN and ANDREA CANNING
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 2, 2010



Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor in the home invasion that left his wife and two daughters dead, said today he has considered suicide many times because he is living in a "universe he doesn't want to be in."

"I seriously considered suicide may times. I have no wife, no children, no home and no interest in life in general," Petit said. "My wife was raped and strangled in her own home. Hayley and Michaela died alone in the only home they had never known."

Read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/petit-relatives-make-emotional-victim-impact-statements-familys/story?id=12294476

Oprah Interviews Dr. William Petit Jr. For Show Next Week

By ALAINE GRIFFIN
The Hartford Courant
6:45 p.m. EST, December 3, 2010

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" will air an interview next week with Dr. William Petit Jr., the lone survivor of a deadly home invasion, the show announced Friday.

Steven Hayes, convicted of killing Petit's wife and two daughters on July 23, 2007, during a break-in and arson at the family's Cheshire home, was sentenced Thursday to death by lethal injection.

During the interview – which will air Thursday - Petit will talk about the loss of his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and his two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, and "what it was like during the two-month trial to face a man who committed such heinous crimes" and "how he's able to go on," according to a press release from the show.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/hc-petit-oprah-12-4-20101203,0,4313796.story

Jury selection set for Feb. in home invasion trial

Published: 12:58 p.m., Tuesday, December 7, 2010

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The second defendant charged in connection with a deadly Connecticut home invasion has been scheduled by a judge to go on trial Feb. 22.

The trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky (koh-mih-sar-JEFF'-ski) will start with jury selection, a process that could take months as prospective jurors are questioned by prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Jury-selection-set-for-Feb-in-home-invasion-trial-866010.php

Oprah interview with Dr. William Petit to air at 4 p.m. today

Thursday, December 9, 2010

CHICAGO (AP) -- A Connecticut doctor whose wife and two daughters were killed in a gruesome 2007 home invasion tells Oprah Winfrey he chose not to commit suicide because he hopes to see his family again in the afterlife.

Dr. William Petit will appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Thursday afternoon. The show will air at 4 p.m.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Oprah-interview-with-Dr-William-Petit-to-air-at-870963.php

Lawyers Want Judge Out In CT Home Invasion Case

February 13, 2011 10:43 PM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP/CBSNewYork) — A hearing has been scheduled on a request by a Connecticut man charged with a deadly home invasion to disqualify the judge.

Attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky are seeking to have New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue removed from his trial. Another judge will consider the request Tuesday.

Read more: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/02/13/attorneys-want-judge-removed-in-ct-home-invasion-case/

Judge, Prosecutor In 2nd Cheshire Case Could Be Called To Testify

By ALAINE GRIFFIN
The Hartford Courant
6:50 p.m. EST, February 14, 2011

NEW HAVEN — New Haven's chief prosecutor and veteran Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue could testify at Tuesday's hearing on a motion to disqualify Blue from the trial of the second suspect in the Cheshire home-invasion killings.

Both Blue and New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington have been served with subpoenas by defense attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky, charged in the July 2007 torture and slayings of a Cheshire woman and her two daughters.

The attorneys are asking to have Blue disqualified because, they say, the judge "demonstrated bias" during the trial last year of Steven Hayes, the other man charged in the slayings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/community/cheshire/hc-komisarjevsky-judge0215-20110214,0,1754456.story

Pretrial sessions OK’d for home-invasion survivor

The Associated Press
Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 | 3:27 a.m.

A judge on Wednesday rejected a request by attorneys for a Connecticut man charged with a deadly home invasion to exclude the sole survivor of the crime from pretrial arguments and jury selection.

Attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky had asked that Dr. William Petit be kept out of the court proceedings. They said Petit, whose wife and two daughters were killed in 2007, referred to the testimony of other witnesses when he testified at the trial of Komisarjevsky's co-defendant, Steven Hayes, who was sentenced to death last year.

Judge Jon Blue denied the motion but said attorneys could bring up the issue at trial. Blue said witnesses are not typically sequestered before trials but can be later if there are concerns their testimony could be affected by that of others.

Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/20/us-home-invasion/

Conn. defense: Client not the devil

Attorneys want to humanize Joshua Komisarjevsky

Updated: Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011, 3:10 PM CST

~Snipped~

With Joshua Komisarjevsky heading to trial on capital murder charges next month, his attorneys are trying to lessen emotion in the case. They want to humanize their client, who was compared to the devil last year at the trial of his co-defendant, Steven Hayes, who was convicted and sentenced to death.

Among their many moves last week in New Haven Superior Court, defense attorneys argued that Komisarjevsky should be allowed to sit closer to the jury, where prosecutors traditionally sit. Todd Bussert, one of Komisarjevsky's attorneys, said there is a "perception that he is a monster."

"We want the opportunity to let them see him up close, to see that there is nothing to be afraid of," Bussert said. "He is a troubled young man. He made a mistake being there that night. He should not have gone into that house."

Read more: http://www.fox10tv.com/dpps/news/national/northeast/conn-home-invasion-defense-says-client-not-the-devil-nt11-jgr_3726263

A troubled young man who made a mistake? I wonder if defense attorneys believe anything that comes out of their own mouths. The devil comparison fits Komisarjevsky to a T.