Petit Family murders. trial coverage, warning! graphic evidence photos.

[Lady Cop]

NEW HAVEN—

Prosecutor Gary Nicholson began closing arguments Tuesday, reminding jurors of the "horrific" evidence they saw and heard during the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky.

Nicholson said that in no courtroom could the horrors of the Cheshire home invasion be recreated. He asked jurors to go back to the Petit home on July 23, 2007.

He asked them to imagine what was going through the minds of Hayley and Michaela Petit, who lay tied to their beds as gasoline was being poured on them.

"Ask yourselves, what terror they felt ... they knew the end was near," Nicholson said.

"Hayley and Michaela knew they were going to die a horrible death," Nicholson said. "They were screaming for their lives. They were screaming for mercy, and any help they could get."

Nicholson reminded jurors that Komisarjevsky didn't untie them. "What did the defendant say he did? He closed the door. … Was he in a situation where he didn't want to hear their screams?"

Nicholson stood at a lectern in front of the jury and members of the Petit family. The hushed courtroom was packed. Komisarjevsky's parents, Benedict and Jude Komisarjevsky, and his sister Naomi sat in the row behind the defense table. The wives of defense attorneys Jeremiah Donovan and Walter C. Bansley III also were in court.

[imsuchawildflower]

I've stated here many, many times that I'm all for the death penalty. After reading a little background about Komisarjevsky, I'm inclined to put him in prison for life, without parole.

If he in fact was sexually abused as 4-6 year old, I'm going to cut him just a little slack, and believe that he's had a very fucked up life. I believe his older accomplice was the brains behind this operation, and he'll pay for it with his life.

Lots of people have been molested and raped and you dont see them
killing people...it doesnt change the fact you are raised in a society
that says it is wrong. If it were right, they wouldnt have tried to hide
what they did by setting fire to things. Dumb as a box of broken rocks,
or the mastermind, it doesnt matter. They knew what they did is wrong.
I hope they get death.

[Lady Cop]

i hope it goes to the jury today and takes 10 minutes, just to sign the various forms.


NEW HAVEN—

When it was the defense's turn to present closing arguments in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky Tuesday, attorney Jeremiah Donovan jumped out of his seat and stood behind Komisarjevsky, who was sitting at the defense table dressed in a suit and tie.

Donovan said Komisarjevsky confessed to breaking into the Cheshire home to steal, to beating Petit and to committing some of the crimes during the home invasion.

"But on July 23, 2007, he did not intend that anyone should die," Donovan said, resting his hand on Komisarjevsky's shoulder.

[imsuchawildflower]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions ....

[Lady Cop]

i don't believe any of hayes' sadistic imaginary murders from his prison letters. he's just a sick fuck sitting on death row and bored.


October 12, 2011
NEW HAVEN—
The jury began deliberating this morning whether Joshua Komisarjevsky is guilty of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela, burning their home and beating Dr. William Petit Jr. with a bat in a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire.

By the lunch break, after about 90 minutes of deliberations, jurors produced two notes, one asking for additional copies of the jury charge instructions and another that said the following:

"When giving the verdict, do we need to specify if we have found him guilty as a principal or an accessory?"

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue said no, they do not need to specify and added that they do not need to be unanimous on whether they believe Komisarjevsky was a principal or an accessory in a crime.

The jury left the courtroom to begin deliberations around 11:30 a.m., shortly after defense attorneys for Komisarjevsky told the judge that they wanted to put co-defendant Steven Hayes on the witness stand.

But Blue denied the defense request to reopen evidence, which would have allowed them to put Hayes, already convicted of murder in the 2007 Cheshire triple slayings, on the stand.

The request came following revelations that Hayes had written letters about how he would select victims and plan their deaths. The defense motion claims that Hayes said he raped and strangled 17 women.

Blue denied the motion for a continuance based on the three letters Tuesday, saying he did not know how the information in Hayes' letters was exculpatory in Komisarjevsky's case. He said the letters could be admissible in the penalty phase.

According to the motion, Hayes wrote, "I have 17 kills throughout the northeast United States ... and also dozens of drug rape victims."

The letters — more than 100 pages of material — were written by Hayes to a person in North Carolina and came to the attention of Komisarjevsky's defense attorneys on Friday as part of the discovery process, the defense motion says.

In one letter, Hayes calls the Cheshire invasion "a dry run in the partnership between Josh and myself. I do now realize had we gotten away, I would have killed Josh. He was not even worthy of my partnership."

The defense said Tuesday it had not had a chance to discuss the letters with Komisarjevsky and examine what effect they could have on his defense. The Courant has not seen the letters, which the defense says include Hayes' admission of killing the women and taking their sneakers.

On Wednesday, defense attorney Walter C. Bansley III said the defense team needed time to read through the letters and discern how Hayes' testimony would be used. He said the letters offer an M.O. that shows the Cheshire home invasion may have been a way for Hayes to further his "agenda" of "depraved" behavior.

He said the writings show a "sadistic side" of Hayes, outlining how he said he killed each of the women. He said it was "fundamentally unfair" that they were not made aware of these letters by the state until just recently.

Blue appeared to question the veracity of the letters on Wednesday and said reading them was "not a pleasant" experience.

"If you take them at face value," Blue said.

Blue said putting Hayes on the stand "could be a mixed blessing" for Komisarjevsky.

If Hayes is truthful, Blue said, he is "one of the great serial killers" in history who also says extremely damning things about Komisarjevsky that Blue said he found "hard to imagine" the defense "would want to put on."

Blue said Hayes wrote that Komisarjevsky raped Michaela Petit, poured gasoline and that the men "went into this enterprise with the joint plan of killing everybody."

[username]

I heard that the defense, in closing arguments, basically said the doctor fleeing the house "precipitated" the rest of the events. There was also some talk about what the girls (I think) could have done differently (going out a window) to prevent their deaths. Jesus.

Here:

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - After trial let out today, Dr. William Petit and his sister Johanna Chapman gave their reactions to some of what the defense said in closing arguments.

"I'm perturbed with their closing of their defenses use that Dr. Petit getting out of the basement precipitated things," said Dr. Petit. "As if there had been no plan for this for two or three hours or longer prior to that."

Defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan also brought up how things would be different if police responded more quickly - or if 17 year old Hayley had made a different decision in her escape plan.

"The what if scenarios were a little nauseating to listen to," Petit said.

"And then he went on to say that Hayley, had she gotten out of her room and climbed out of her window, the events wouldn't have taken place," said Chapman. "If she had gotten out of her room and Michaela's room, and gotten out that window, the events wouldn't have taken place. That's really stretching, really grasping, delusional actually."

[Kip]

Deliberations over for today. Read that the jury asked for clarification of instructions and whether they had to distinguish between guilt as principle and accessory.

God-damned defense attorneys about the what-if scenarios - yeah, shift the blame to the victims and LE.

What if when your shit-head client was in the grocery store, he just paid for his groceries and went home (instead of following the Petits)?

What if when your SHC was driving to the Petits, he decided it was a bad idea, and turned the car around?

What if when Hayes was out at the bank with Mrs. Petit, your SHC left the house and made an anonymous 911 call?

The what-ifs can go on ad nauseum. But there were two people there who controlled the situation. There were hundreds of decision points were Komisarjevsky could have turned the situation around.

[Mickeymouse]

My heart goes out to this family....living thru one trial had to be hell...but two trials.... I hope this bastard gets the death penalty!

[Lady Cop]

media gathered outside hoping for a verdict today.

[samantha87]

i hope they rot

[Lady Cop]

VERDICT IN. WAITING. 17 COUNTS TO GO THROUGH. 6 are capital counts.

[Lady Cop]

GUILTY on the murders. counts 1 and 2 and 3 so far. not surprising. jury being polled on each count by Judge.
top count 4 on capital felony guilty. means DP is applicable.[

penalty phase 10/24

[imsuchawildflower]

Thank God they put him within death penalty reach.
You get what you deserve definitely applies.

[Lady Cop]

what they deserve is to die screaming in a fire after being sexually assaulted. state not allowed to do that. too bad.

[imsuchawildflower]

Very much so...
Ive always had a hard time with the whole
"humane treatment" of those that treat others
so inhumanely, and downright diabolically.
It just doesnt compute in my brain as ok.

[Lady Cop]

excellent summary of the day by Hartford Courant:

http://www.courant.com/community/cheshir...8994.story

[dominokitty]

New to this forum and going to start reading this thread, but may I say if there was ever a perfect example for the death penalty it is these two and I'm sure this other scumbag will get it also, just hope they don't take 30 years to do it!

[Lady Cop]

all the "new" people one-post-wonders in this thread who continue to ignore my PMs and fail to load an avatar will have posting ability suspended immediately, no more polite PMs.

[dodo]

depraved doesn't begin to describe this crime. BUT could it have been prevented by some early intervention of the sexual abuse of the perpetrators? could the death penalty actually encourage extreme actions to cover DNA evidence? are we a sick society or are these sick individuals or both?

[Lady Cop]

you cannot read post immediately before yours?