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    Joshua Komisarjevsky - Connecticut

    Extensive case coverage here



    Jennifer Hawke-Petit on Cheshire Bank Surveillance




    More Anguish: Cheshire Readies For Death Penalty Trial 2

    Trial of alleged mastermind Komisarjevsky could be longer

    CHESHIRE, Conn. (CBS 2) — The stage is now set for another death penalty trial in the home invasion murders of a mother and her two children in Connecticut.

    A day after a jury gave Steven Hayes a death sentence, the focus now turns to his co-defendant — the person Hayes has fingered as the mastermind.

    The new owner of the house where the accused killer once lived asked CBS 2’s Lou Young not to take pictures.

    “It’s very difficult. It’s very difficult for everyone,” Cheshire resident Ray Bennet said.

    Joshua Komisarjevsky was 26 years old in the summer of 2007 when the Petit home became a killing ground. It’s now a memorial park for the victims. That the adopted son of an affluent local couple would be accused of the crimes here is almost beyond belief.

    The younger defendant seemed to play the lead role in the horror that occurred in Cheshire. He was the experienced burglar. He allegedly used the baseball bat to beat Dr. William Petit and police found photos of the Petit girls on his cell phone, taken inside the house during the crimes.

    He also knew the area well. He grew up in Cheshire. His adoptive parents lived less than two miles from here.

    Bennet told CBS 2 that Komisarjevsky grew up in a good home in a nice community. So what could have possibly gone wrong?

    “I have, have no idea,” Bennet said.

    Komisarjevsky has a 5-year-old daughter, and a former girlfriend who may have been part of his motive for robbing the Petit home. The paroled ex-convict allegedly told her he was going to get $15,000 to reunite them in Connecticut – the precise amount of money Jennifer Hawke-Petit was asked to withdraw from a bank before she and her daughters were murdered.

    The girlfriend, Caroline Mesel, who lives out of state, said she now despises him.

    “I get so mad thinking about it. I kind of wish I could do to him what he did to the girls. I kind of wish he could just feel exactly what they went through,” Mesel said during a recent interview.

    Young has learned the penalty phase of Komisarjevsky’s trial will contain evidence of childhood abuse, drugs and psychological problems. Experts said it will be longer than the Hayes trial.

    “I think you’re going to see quite a few potential mitigating factors being put before the jury and the court,” former prosecutor Chris Morani told Young.

    The second Cheshire trial begins after the first of the year in New Haven.

    In personal writings Komisarjevsky fancied himself as a dedicated burglar who enjoyed breaking into homes, sometimes with the help of night vision goggles. He met Hayes in a half-way house awaiting parole.

    Before the Cheshire killings neither had a previous history of violence.

    http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/11/...nalty-trial-2/

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    Jury Selection In 2nd Cheshire Trial To Start Feb. 22

    Jury selection for the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, the second man charged in the July 2007 Cheshire home-invasion killings, will begin Feb. 22, Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue said this morning.

    Komisarjevsky, 30, of Cheshire, faces the death penalty if convicted of the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, during a break-in, robbery and arson inside their Cheshire home on July 23, 2007.

    Last week, Komisarjevsky's accomplice, Steven Hayes, 47, of Winsted, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the kidnapping, rape and strangulation of Hawke-Petit and the kidnapping and killings of Hayley and Michaela. The sentencing capped Hayes' high-profile trial, which began Sept. 13.

    Komisarjevsky is accused of breaking into the Petit home in the middle of the night and beating Dr. William Petit Jr., Hawke-Petit's husband and the girls' father, with a baseball bat and tying him to a pole in the basement.

    Once inside the home, the intruders ransacked the house looking for valuables. At one point, Hayes drove Hawke-Petit to the bank and forced her to withdraw money. After returning to the Petit home, Hayes raped and killed Hawke-Petit. Testimony at Hayes' trial showed that Michaela was sexually assaulted. Michaela and Hayley were tied to their beds and the home was doused with gasoline and set on fire.

    Petit was beaten during the seven-hour attack at his home but escaped before the house went up in flames.

    http://www.courant.com/community/che...,1918709.story

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    2nd Cheshire Trial Set To Begin Sept. 19

    Prospective Jurors Won't See Crime Scene Photos

    NEW HAVEN — The trial for the second man charged in the 2007 slayings of a Cheshire woman and her two daughters will begin Sept. 19 following what is expected to be months of jury selection.

    The start date in Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial was announced in Superior Court on Thursday during a hearing on pretrial motions. Lawyers for Komisarjevsky and prosecutors agreed they would select a total of 21 jurors in a process to start March 16. They will choose 12 regular jurors, six alternates and three backup alternates.

    Also Thursday, Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue ruled that prospective jurors will not have to view gruesome crime scene photos during the selection process. He denied a defense request seeking the showing of the photos.
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    Defense attorney Todd Bussert had argued that showing the photos during jury selection would help uncover any prejudice or influence that could affect the outcome of the trial. Bussert and his defense team said seeing jurors' reactions to the photos could help them preclude selection of any juror who might be unduly swayed by the images.

    "We're concerned with his rights," Bussert said of Komisarjevsky.

    Blue said showing juror candidates evidence is inappropriate. He added that during the trial, he tells jurors to set aside their emotions during deliberations. He said he believes they understand that obligation.

    Blue made a similar ruling in the trial of Steven Hayes, who was sentenced to death last year for his role in the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home on July 23, 2007. Komisarjevsky also faces the death penalty if convicted of the killings.

    Blue denied a motion to sequester jurors.

    http://articles.courant.com/2011-02-...pective-jurors

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    Court Rejects Komisarjevsky Guilty Plea

    The court will not accept a guilty plea from Joshua Komisarjevsky in return for life in prison instead of the death penalty.

    Komisarjevsky has been charged with murder and several other offenses in the home invasion and slaying of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 in their Cheshire home in July 2007.

    Steven Hayes was convicted of the crimes last year and is on death row.

    Prosecutors say the men acted together in carrying out a night of horrors, including restraining the Petit daughters to their beds and setting fires in the home.

    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...118517029.html

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    Ninth Juror Picked for Komisarjevsky Trial

    Another woman was chosen Thursday for the jury that will decide the fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky, the second Cheshire home invasion defendant.

    The ninth juror is a 30-year-old Yale University employee from Branford, according to a source knowledgeable about the proceedings at the New Haven County Courthouse.

    She is the third Yale employee to be chosen since jury selection began on March 16.

    Both Komisarjevsky’s defense lawyers and the state prosecutors used peremptory challenges on Thursday to excuse jurors they felt might favor their opponent in the trial.

    Today’s session completed another week of jury selection, with a total of six women and three men picked so far. The process will begin again on Monday.

    Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty for the triple homicide of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in 2007.

    http://orange.patch.com/articles/nin...jevsky-trial-2

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    Home invasion suspect appeals ruling against plea

    A suspect in a deadly Connecticut home invasion is appealing a judge's ruling that prevented him from pleading guilty in exchange for the state not seeking the death penalty.

    Lawyers for Joshua Komisarjevsky appealed to the state Appellate Court on Monday. It's not clear when the state's second-highest court will take up the appeal. His trial is scheduled for September.

    Komisarjevsky's lawyers question whether New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue mistakenly ruled that he had no power to accept the guilty plea because prosecutors objected to the proposal. Komisarjevsky proposes that he serve life in prison without the possibility of release, but the state is seeking the death penalty.

    Authorities say Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes killed a mother and her two daughters in Cheshire in 2007. Hayes was sentenced to death.

    http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_hav...g-against-plea

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    Defense Lawyers Want to Move Komisarjevsky Trial

    They filed motions in New Haven Superior Court asking to move the case to Stamford, according to the Hartford Courant.

    Komisarjevsky is the second suspect accused in the home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 in their Cheshire home. Jury selection was scheduled to begin this month, but was delayed to March 14.

    Steven Hayes, the first of the two suspects tried in the case, was sentenced to death for the murders in December. Komisarjevsky's lawyers said they wanted the trial moved because of what they called "unprecedented, prejudicial publicity" surrounding Hayes' trial, the paper reported. Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty as well if he is convicted.

    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...115323834.html

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    Judge denies bid to move trial of man charged in deadly home invasion

    A Connecticut man will go on trial for murder not far from where a mother and two daughters were killed in a 2007 home invasion, after a judge on Monday denied the defendant's bid to move the proceedings.

    Connecticut Superior Court Judge Jon Blue ruled that Joshua Komisarjevsky will stand trial in New Haven, judicial branch spokeswoman Rhonda Hebert said Monday. It is the same place where Steven Hayes, 47, was sentenced to death in December after being convicted on 16 of 17 charges related to the same invasion.

    Jury selection will begin March 16 for Komisarjevsky's trial, which also could end in a death sentence. That process is expected to take months, with the trial itself scheduled to start on September 19, Hebert said.

    Komisarjevsky's lawyers had filed a motion to move the proceedings out of New Haven, singling out the Stamford-Norwalk district to the southwest as a better trial option. They claimed that "the unprecedented, prejudicial publicity surrounding the case" made it near impossible to seat an objective jury in New Haven, a court memorandum issued Monday said.

    Testifying for the defense, Steven Penrod, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, brought up a poll conducted under his supervision in which 99.5% of respondents in the New Haven district showed "recognization" of the case, with 85% saying they believed Komisarjevsky was guilty.

    Blue, the same judge who presided over Hayes' trial, cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that stated a trial venue could be changed "if extraordinary local prejudice will prevent a fair trial."

    The judge contended that was not the case for Komisarjevsky's trial, saying there were enough impartial potential jurors in the New Haven judicial district, there wasn't a widespread sense that Komisarjevsky had somehow confessed, and that four years -- a considerable amount of time -- will have passed since the incident.

    Blue also contended the fact a jury found Hayes not guilty on one count -- arson -- despite significant pretrial publicity, shows jurors in that case were not automatically inclined to convict him on all counts.

    "The court finds that (Komisarjevsky) has failed to establish a presumption of prejudice requiring a change of venue," wrote Blue in his memorandum Monday.

    Prosecutors alleged that Hayes and Komisarjevsky, in July 2007, invaded the Petit home in Cheshire, Connecticut, beat and tied up Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, molested one of their daughters, and set their house on fire before attempting to flee.

    Hayes forced Hawke-Petit, 48, to go to a bank and withdraw $15,000 from an account after finding evidence that the account held between $20,000 and $30,000, authorities said.

    The two daughters -- 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit, both of whom had been tied to their beds -- died of smoke inhalation. Petit escaped to a neighbor's home.

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/28/...rial/?hpt=Sbin

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    EDITED:

    Thirty Excused as Komisarjevsky Jury Selection Resumes

    Jury selection resumed Tuesday for the second Cheshire home invasion triple-murder trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, but no jurors were selected.

    Observers in the courtroom said prosecutors used peremptory challenges to excuse two prospective jurors and defense attorneys used one.

    Each side had a total of 40 peremptory challenges to use to reject a prospective juror without giving a reason. Usually, the challenges are used when the lawyers believe an individual would favor the other side.

    Previously, Komisarjevsky’s defense lawyers used three challenges and the prosecutors used one.

    A total of 30 prospective jurors were examined Tuesday in the sixth-floor courtroom in New Haven Superior Court during the process known by the legal term voir dire.

    http://cheshire.patch.com/articles/t...ection-resumes

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    Defense Lawyers Want Blue Disqualified From Komisarjevsky Trial

    Attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky want to disqualify Judge Jon Blue from hearing his case and the motion will go before another judge on Feb. 15.

    Komisarjevsky is the second suspect accused in the home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 in their Cheshire home. Jury selection was scheduled to begin this month, but was delayed to March 14.

    Steven Hayes, the first of the two suspects tried in the case, was sentenced to death for the murders in December. Blue presided over his trial.

    Komisarjevsky's lawyers cited "partiality, lack of objectivity and unsuitable temperament" as reasons they want the judge disqualified. They also brought up reporters tweeting from the courtroom and the judge bringing chocolate chip cookies and giving them out at court.

    "In the hypothetical event that the motion is granted, the case will be reassigned. In the hypothetical event that the motion is denied, I will retain jurisdiction of the cae and proceed to hear the remaining motions," Blue wrote in the order released on Monday.

    Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty as well if he is convicted.

    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...115505104.html

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