Oct 31, 2007

Prelude To Horror -- Courant.com

I deliberated long and hard whether or not to link to this latest article regarding the petit crimes. The reason for my reluctance is two-fold. One is the fact that at times the writer almost sounds empathetic to the plight of these two cowardly rapist murderers,particulary the younger of the two men- because of an alleged sexual molestation that took place in his childhood. This of course is ludicrous as there are many of us in this world who have been harmed terribly by others, yet do not choose to go out and committ robberies, assaults and murders years later.
Within the article there are also some very heartbreaking details regarding the Petit families last hours that are so disturbing I know that they will never leave me, nor many readers.
.
I deliberated whether it was unkind, insensitive or unfair to the surviving family to assist in the exposure of the infuriating details of the abuse that the Petit family suffered...And for that matter I wondered, was I now part of the problem, rather than the solution that I aimed to be, by pulling the curtain back in effect, on what may be considered private details of these brave ladies last hours on this earth?

In the end after much meditation and prayer, I decided that no matter how distasteful and upsetting these new details of the crimes against this family are, and despite the at times over-humanizing of the two monsters that committed these acts of cowardice and brutality, we as a people need to know the true horror that this family experienced for nearly 7 hours on that fateful day in July; for only in the reality of these details can we finally finally understand just how imperative it is for our justice system to become responsible to the law abiding people of this state. Our government has failed us again and again and again. They have literally sold our collective blood, our bodies, and our very sense of right and wrong- for little more than taking the easiest, cheapest path.
Shame on those in our system who have done so little for so long.


Prelude To Horror -- Courant.com

Cheshire Suspect Pleads Not Guilty -- Courant.com

Cheshire Suspect Pleads Not Guilty -- Courant.com

Oct 25, 2007

In Grief, Family Finds a Mission - New York Times

A family In New York resurrected the life of their murdered daughter, by setting up a foundation that helps prevent violent crime for off campus college students



In Grief, Family Finds a Mission - New York Times

Oct 24, 2007

The Middletown Press - Warrants outline details in family slaying

Clicking on the title header will bring you to a link that has copies of the warrants in the petit crimes-A good deal of them are blacked out, and anything pertaining to confessions has been omitted as the courts dont want a later claim of tainted jury pool, thus a later mistrial once these reprobates are found guilty-and they will be, but not soon enough.

Be warned- the information is upsetting and truly brings a sense of reality of the evil involved with the entire thing. The only reason I am linking to this is because I truly believe that the public needs to get a genuine sense of the horror that this family went through in order to see how important it is to get our justice system together in this state-whatever it takes!

If connecticut had done what it should have with these two men who had obvious chronic criminal behavior-giving them and holding them to thier full sentences as allowed by law, this crime never would have happened. The PETIT family would be living thier lives as they were, decent, good, kind, law abiding people.


Please get involved with criminal justice reform in this state and any other that shares the same loose, lackadaisical attitude-You do not need to wait until something brutal like this happens in your area to impose or tighten up your sentencing laws!
Educate yourself, write your congressmen, your Governor, your Attorney General- here in Connecticut, this is Richard Blumenthal in hartford.


Unite with others who are like minded, familiarize yourself with the many holes in our systems. Organize petitions and rallies. Do not continue to put your heads in the sand, for this is the biggest enemy of justice ; complacency and indifference. Though Indignance over this crime, and others like it is not enough. Take action, even in the smallest of ways, it makes a difference.

God bless Dr Petit and the Hawke-Petit families, may you heal well, you are in our prayers every day.

Oct 22, 2007

Judge: Unseal Cheshire Affidavits -- Courant.com

Judge: Unseal Cheshire Affidavits -- Courant.com

Just wanted to get this latest development in The Petit case out as it should affect what we all are able to read about this crime in the near future. There has been a lid on many of the details regarding the confessions that both murderers made to police shortly after thier arrests;
This due to both the defense and the states appeal to seal the warrant records from the press, each for thier own differnet reasons; The defense sighted the concern that the claim could be made down the line that a fair and impartial jury could not be found once details of the "alleged" confessions contained within one of the warrants were made public.

A descision from the Judge regarding the release of all of these warrants has been pending for 2 months with the whole issue further complicated by the fact that attorneys for the hartford courant-a local paper in the cheshire area, have petitioned for the records to be unsealed and made available to the press, as they claim that the states handling of this case is most pertinent to the people of connecticut.

The judge made a compromise in effect by decreeing that redacted versions of the warrants would be released, which translates into abbreviated facts or summations of findings, rather than specific word for word record. This is supposed to keep the jury pool uncontaminated by sparing the public the gory details found within the confessions as well as the many evidenciary solicitations and findings.


Reportedly among the most damning evidence is the cell phone records of the two defendents; Apparently the murdering child killers were text messaging each other with details of what they were up to while in seperate areas of the Petits home, after having beaten and bound the slumbering Dr Petit, and presumbably while sexually assaulting Mrs petit and her little daughter!

This is utterly heart breaking and the only solace thatI have in my heart at this moment is that it is clearer to me as a law abiding citizen of Connecticut that we Must use this horrific crime as the proverbial last straw in our bent and broken justice system and begin in earnest the process of drastic criminal justice reform. This is the only true way of honoring these women so that they did not die these terrible deaths in vain. We Now have a sacred duty to the Petits and ourselves; Its time for action Connecticut..


Judge: Unseal Cheshire Affidavits -- Courant.com

Oct 15, 2007

Justice system Was Given heads up regarding Petit family killer Komisarjevsky

Just when you think it couldn't get much worse, it does. http://www.repam.com/newsdocuments/Komisarjevsky_Sentencing.pdf

I came across this court transcript easily on the net, via a Google search on the names of the two career criminals that took the lives of the Petit family women in July.
It is a word for word record of the final court sentencing proceedings for what appears to be a huge string of robberies that spanned three different towns!


The information is disturbing because what we see is proof that the court knew this man posed a serious threat to innocent home dwellers in our Connecticut suburbs.
As the prosecutor so aptly pointed out, in every instance of his robbery, the family or homeowner were home at the time of the break in. Thus, making those crimes home invasions, as the potential for a violent confrontation ending in a loss of life, great-a chance that Mr Komisarjevski gladly took, often with his own neigbors, over and over and over again.

This is obviously much more serious than some smash and grab drug desperate addict who goes to all lengths to avoid running into people within his robbery crime-which happens to be the mode of operandi for stephen hayes, the second murderer in the Petit carnage.

On the other hand Komisarjevski made a point to only rob homes late at night, which indicates a truly arrogant and dangerous criminal. This is thrill seeking behavior with stalking at the very core of the crime-- indeed, the stealing of things seems almost incidental to this guy, he also stole personal items of some of the women that lived in the homes that he robbed. All of this exemplies a typical sociopathic persona, ie chronic disregard for the rights of others,as well the beggining stages of a sex criminal -You'll remember that this guy stole a personal framed photo of a young couple from the last home that he'd robbed the very night before the Petit home invasion.


What I gleaned from this court sentencing transcript was that the prosecutor in charge of Komisarjevskys bindle of break-ins was a responsible man, who clearly took his job seriously.

He was thorough, he was clear, and most of all, prepared to communicate to the court (ie judge) why he felt that this man should be given a serious sentence for the harm he had done in unquantifiable terms ie trauma emotional of the family's that were predated upon by him.

Certainly Compared to the prosecutors in my case (whereupon I became victim of violent crime in Connecticut) this states attorney was clearly devoted to upholding the law and speaking on behalf of the victims and making suggestions to the court based upon their best interests as well the interests of the rest of the public at large.

Take into consideration that The crimes being addressed here were a a bunch of house robberies where the loot taken amounted to a relatively smallish sum. My case was an out and out group of full blown violent crimes including assault in the 2nd degree ans well as criminal restraint in the 2nd degree, among others. The man that committed those crimes against me was also of the sociopathic variety-textbook in fact, And yet the prosecutors at Ga2l court in Bridgeport Connecticut were so indifferent, lazy, unprofessional and completely lacking the most rudimentary knowledge re criminal pyscology, they plead out this criminal that nearly cost me life with a deal that dropped very serious charges down to nothing charges, no prison time, no restitution,and on top of this travesty, allowed him to plead no contest to the lowered charges so that he never had to say the word 'guilty' This one thing that mattered very much to me, was taken from me by these inept, callous prosecutors who I daresay did more damage to me with their handling of my case, as well the utter invalidation of my soul after surviving a terrible set of violent crimes.


My point with this diatribe is this; I can amass a great deal of information from this court transcript re joshua komisarjevsky. And the most important fact that leaps out is that this was a responsible court meaning prosecutor and judge, both of whom spent a good deal of time and energy making sure that this vermin was handled in a fashion that proved that he was considered a danger to the general public at large

Having been through my own court experience as a victim of crime in this state I assumed that all Connecticut courts worked the same-the judge is just a centerpiece with little or no involvement in the disposition of a sentence, as almost every single case has already been discussed and an outcome or usually a 'deal' agreed upon OUTSIDE OF THE COURTROOM.
And it is brought in front of the judge for his her obligatory nod, this once all continuances have pretty much been exhausted by the accused attorney-This dually serves to bolster the attorneys bill up very nicely thank you and to clear the prosecutors daily schedule (as well the court) often adding up to a years time which is close to the average length of time it takes to dispose of a case from arraignment to sentencing at golden hill street court.

Lackadaisical cavalier attitudes like this are commonplace in some Connecticut courts, right along with apathy, laziness and a seeming commitment to doing the absolute minimum requirements of judicial civil service jobs.

But in fairness after some diligent investigation I have found that The various Connecticut courts are all run differently, each one with its own internal and external political workings and agendas- All of which greatly affect the daily machinations and moreover, the tone of the court itself (IE tough on crime vs lax, overly rehabilative oriented vs punitive-
Or.... as it is in my bridgeport ga2, court completely run by the local states attorneys office within the court, whose tone seems to be "We do not want to hear from the victim ,we dont want to do any extra work and dont even think about us taking a case to trial -as little as 2 percent of all violent crime cases that come thru our doors are ever tried-the rest are nolled dismissed or plead out And that plea deal is usually contingent on the kind of relationship the defendents lawyer has with said states attorney in charge of that case.


In any case, nothing resembling justice takes place under that roof, and Id like to know how this all came to be at GA2. When did the power leave the hands of the judges and foolishly transfer to the prosecutors offices? I know for a fact that it wasnt always that way at ga2.

In fact that very court was used as a model for doemstic violence docket 10 yrs ago, mainly due to a hard ass judge or was known to throw the book at abusive men men that battered women or children-and the same for child molesters. All as it should be. Apprently as soon as this judges term was over, so was the tough on crime attitude that prevailed in his court-it was right back to usual so Im told by certain state employees, with the main prosecutor at the time setting the age old civil service employee stereoptupe you know the guy you see at the MVD except these peole are supposed to be victims voices and purveyors of justice. bah!

.Please Note that i never use the term 'criminal justice system" This is because my experience as well as many others in this area, have proven that it is soley the justice end of this loose partnership that is a problem the problem, whereas the law enforcement involvement with crime in our state is for the most part, good. Most dept' s are versed well re domestic violence and stalking crimes. They see just how serious crimes of this nature are;time and time again they see the carnage brought about as a result of a chronic batterer being treated so cavalierly by the courts and no real protection given to thier victimes.

As a victim of violent crime of the so called domestic variety ( I argue this categorization and will tell you why later)I found The FAIRFIELD police departement extremely responsible and responsive-(they also take violent crime very seriously here and they are frustrated after all of their hard work; being painstakingly thourough with a case, drawing up clear Comprehensive warrants, apprehending dangerous criminals at risk to their own lives, only to watch the local court set them free with not even a slap on the wrist oftentimes, multiple "first time" offender free passes, and criminal records that do not reflect the seriousness of the crimes that these people committed-not even close.

These men and women are in the trenches if you will- they see first hand the damage done by these criminals. they are there when the terror and the wounds of crime are fresh. They see the eyes of the victims. And They know that despite that the likelihood is strong that these men will be let right back out to harm another innocent human being, and it will be someones daughter, mother sister or friend.

Oct 10, 2007

Domestic violence awareness project

October is domestic violence awareness month

Take Action this month to help end domestic violence...
Make a difference for women and their children seeking refuge from abusive situations

Donate a used car, cell phone or even real estate to The National Coalition to end Domestic Violence http://www.800charitycars.org/set-cookie.php