Dec 31, 2009

An In-State Treatment Facility For Registered Sex Offenders Still Just A Pipe Dream - Courant.com

This article about a chronic sex offender that was recently released from prison is a perfect example of why a strict persistent offender law is desperately needed in this state.

While some members of The Connecticut judiciary committee would have us believe that Connecticut has a persistent offender law, from a practical standpoint it is not being utilized and therefore it is not legitimate.
The offender cited within this article, despite having shown himself to be a dangerous sexual predator, was given chance upon chance upon chance by Connecticuts court system -- Not only did "RE-OFFEND" as it appears on paper, but as is the inherent danger of such ill conceived "chances" he went on to assault a multitude of new victims after each and every release- And these are the ones we know about thus far: Experience has shown law enforcement that for each rape or murder a predator is caught committing, there are usually several others that he/she has not been caught for and may VERY WELL never be.

Some Connecticut legislators believe that a re-entry program for sex offenders is the answer, the missing link if you will,to our ever- burgeoning "recidivism problem"---- I cant help but wonder if either they or thier loved ones were to be the next victim of just such a chronic offender, if they'd still feel that a program of this sort was the answer or enforcement of the maximum sentence allowed by law for this or any violent crime?

I don't know if the attitude that permeates our legislative body can be explained simply by the old liberal knee jerk response to most social ails, including crime, whereby they would seem to believe is a direct result of the age old disparity of income and education between the haves and the have nots

This upper middle class guilt syndrome seems even more accentuated when it comes to issues like crime and punishment... or "rehabilataion" as they would have it
It seems that the whole issue of crime would seem to pluck at some innate guilt strings that the "privileged" or educated, assume (The best part of all of this is that I am in fact a registered democrat, but insofar as the issue of crime I part ways drastically with my left compatriots. Of course the basic premise behind this often includes the naive notion that all evil acts can be explained by poverty, abusive childhoods, neglect, uncaring society, racism, etc etc etc.
Unfortunately reality is simply not nearly so facile; There are are a fair percentage of sociopaths that find themselves incarcerated in our Connecticut jails and prisons and no matter what is done to "help "them, they are going to hurt others again and again given the chance.
And with each crime that they commit, any last vestiges of conscience that they might have once possessed-are quickly abandoned. And it is often the weakest of our citizens that suffer again and again at their hands Children, women, the elderly.

It is long overdue for the state and its people to collectively address the life and death issue of crime and justice. And like any other restructuring project we must start with basic awareness and education; Many people feel that they don't know enough about the issue to affect a change; They simply don't know where to begin and though they might have the best of intentions as well the desire to see productive change in our judicial system, they haven't a clue how to go about it-and thus regrettably, they do nothing.
But they don't feel good about it.

The good news is that its never too late to learn about the machinations of our state legislature-How laws are created and put into effect is something that a lot of otherwise intelligent people are surprisingly ignorant about. unfortunately with the amount of corruption in our states political history it is easy to understand why so many people become complacent about all matters politica; especially on the state level-
With a small investment of time and energy one can easily learn all there is to know about state government and the judiciary. Once we understand how the process is supposed to work then we can explore how it really works and therein usually lies most of our State's problems. In theory our justice system works well, but watch the daily dockets of our cities busiest courts and youll see another story;

The Next step might be organizing like minded neighbors friends family usimg the collective will of the people as a vehicle for change. Like minded needn't equate with sharing the same political views; The issue of crime and public safety should transcend political parties; We all want our families and loved ones to be safe- This is a universal desire and indeed a right, and to that end we must direct our efforts.

Our state legislators are voted in; ASSEMBLYMEN Selectman and Senators, If you don't like the way that your town or city's Representative has voted on bills concerning crime, do not vote for that person in the next election-simple- right?

All sessions ( meetings ) of the Connecticut General Assembly both regular and special sessions-are currently televised on Connecticut's own cable channel - As such, its now possible to keep track of our town and city reps and senators in real time.

Watch the next legislative session, find out what your assemblyman's history has been regarding his/her votes on all bills pertaining to crime, The voting records for all members of the house and the senate can be found online at the State of Connecticut General Assembly website, usually posted within 48 hrs of a given vote. While this is useful information, it doesnt substitute for watching the sessions as they unfold on tv, as well as the subsequent votes; You'll get a much better picture of which legislators are influential which ones dont know what they're doing and who stands where and why. Once you understand the process of lawmaking, you will undoubtedly want to be more involved; Historically organized Citizen action groups have been largely responsible for the advent of a great deal of important new crime legislation such as Megans law, Jessisca's law, and the original california based Three strikes law-several of these laws began as grassroots efforts by family and friends of murdered children. The key is to learn from the past; We dont have to wait until a brutal crime occurs to take action;
the proposed three strikes legislation in Connecticut was a classic example of this. Unfortunately the bill was voted down by Connecticuts largely democratic house of represntatives last year, however several republican legislators have vowed to pick up the baton and reintroduce it in this years session. The more public involvemnt with such bills the more likely they are to become laws.

Do not accept mere lip service from your towns reps re thier stance on crime; many of our current legislators HAVE claimed to be "tough on crime" when they were running for office or re-election, when in reality time after time they voted against bills that would keep violent offenders in prison for longer amounts of time, or they squash these bills before the bill can even make it to the floor for a vote.

Last year in the wake of the Petit FAMILY murders in Cheshire,our Ct Judiciary committee saw fit to pass a bill to abolish the Death Penalty. Despite a public poll that showed a clear pro death penalty choice by Connecticuts residents, The bill managed to narrowly pass muster in both the house and the Senate. If not for Governor Rell's courageous veto of that bill, the death penalty would no longer be viable in the state of Connecticut; In its place, life in prison with no parole would become Connecticut's idea of capital punishment. Most Ct citizens dont realize just how close we came to a criminal/judicial crisis via this proposed Bill.

The reasoning given for the abolishment bill was money. The whole country was in economic crisis as was the state and our judiciary committe thoughtfully came up with the ingenious idea that The state could save lots of money by abolishing the death penalty because built into the states death penalty is an unwieldy automatic appeals process which is extremely time consumptive and costly to the state. (Never mind fixing the problem, lets just eradicate the entire issue. )

There are virtually no limits as to the amount of appeals a death row inmate can file with the courts, thereby creating a virtual endless supply of administrative delays to any actual execution, which by the way, have been so scarce in Connecticut that the last man put to death had to literally sue the state to do so. But thats another story for another day....

Woman, 20, killed in Greenwich murder

This is so utterly horrible and senseless -It breaks my heart and makes my blood boil simultaneously
Why is it that in half of these domestic violence "murder/ suicides" , where a male is invariably the perpetrator, the suicide is unsuccessful but the murder is not? These cowards always manage to successfully murder ( murder being the ultimate control of a person via taking their life) the object of their hate/lust or obsession, and yet they botch the part where they " kill themselves" afterwards?

Dec 15, 2009

Lawmakers to hold special session in Hartford

Lets all pay careful attention to whether this upcoming special session effects funding for victim services as well as prison sentences in this state.
There was recently some clandestine legislation snuck through the house (piggy backed onto another bill ) which somehow flew completely below the local press radar-- and http://blog.ctnews.com/politicalcapitol/2009/12/11/dr-william-petit-jr-on-the-return-of-re-entry-furloughs-for-prisoners/ The legislation allows for early release "furlough "programs for selected Connecticut inmates- including inmates convicted of so called "lesser" violent crimes; crimes. like assault in the third degree, which on its face may appear to be low level, but when one considers that this charge is only what the person in question wound up convicted of. not not what he/ she was actually charged with and more importantly, committed, then releasing such inmates early becomes a slippery slope indeed. Someone in the general public is now in danger of becoming the "next victim" of this prematurely sprung criminal. Never mind the message that it sends to those who would prey upon others-- Isn't this exactly what happened with the men that committed the Petit family murders in Cheshire? The only difference is semantics - in 2007, the year those terrible crimes happened, the program in question was called "early release program"; it was designed to reduce prison overcrowding and you got it- save money for the state.
The program was halted soon after the Petit murders which brought attention to the dangers inherent with such practices.
Now the state is calling it "early release "furlough": which is in fact a misnomer, as furlough implies a return to the institution at some point in time and as you will note with this program there is no return just a one way ticket out.

After being told that he was being given early release parole in the spring of 2007, Steven hayes, co defendant in the Petit murders, was reportedly incredulous and admitted to friends that he "couldn't believe they were letting him out... but he sure as hell wasn't about to argue with them- ha ha ha. "

Ha ha indeed. As we all know, Hayes, a chronic felon of epic proportions, was given his early release, and he was not shoved out of the prison doors into the "real world" left "hanging" as many members of the Ct legislature would have us believe is the norm and indeed at the root of the states high recidivism rates with newly released prisoners. To which I say- nonsense.

Mr Hayes was helped by the state in obtaining decent paying full time work- incidently fulltime work was a requirement of his parole.


The state further ensured that he had somewhere to live when he left prison, and somewhere that was safe-In his case his mother reportedly gave him yet another chance to start his life again crime free. He was loaned a truck by family members to use for transportation to work and recreation- the latter as it fell within the parameters of his parole agreement which typically requires some kind of curfew and disallows parolees from paling around with other known felons, particularly newly paroled ones when the potential for newly formed criminal alliances is at its greatest. He had counseling available to him in order to help him with the re-adjustment of life from prison to the "normal" lawful workaday world.

But despite all of these tools, assists and opportunities, Steven Hayes chose not to play by the rules like the rest of us and work hard at a job, eventually making more money as experience and time at the job accrued. He chose not to take advantage of the many many fresh starts he was given despite a terrible track record both in and out of prison. Mr Hayes did not want to work for his money-he desired the quick easy money that he could get by robbing others.

And thanks to the states decision to send mr hayes and thousands of other imates to halfway houses after less than a third of already cut short sentences, he now made a new friend with a similar criminal mindset. That friend... johua komisarjevsky.
The two meshed perfectly and no one either in the halfway house or on the outside either family ir friends, discouraged the ill fated union despite the obvious potential for trouble.

Komisarjevsky happen to live in an affluent town among trusting folks that often left their doors unlocked, despite having so much to lose afact that he was quick to share with hayes, a reputed thief of admittedly smaller proportions; supposedly most of hayes smash and grab larcenies were committed to support a crack cocaine habit.
Komisarjevsky was a different species well known by local police since the age of 14, he'd spent his relatively young life setting abandoned buildings on fire and stalking young girls. As he grew older he graduated to perfecting "skills" like advanced breaking and entering a favorite of his was committing break ins while the homeowners were home sleeping in thier beds. He bragged to friends and police that if no-one was home during the robberies it was too boring. This was a missed red flag of grave consequence. There would be many others over the next 14 years or so.

No sooner was komisarjevsky's ankle tracking bracelet removed, then The pair began robbing the nice homes that peppered the well kept streets surrounding komisarjevskys modest childhood home where he still lived with his now elderly parents and his 3 year old daughter borne to an underage girl of 15 (Another red flag missed)

The two men robbed from others who had worked hard for those lovely homes, people who had put the endless hours days and years into a life that perhaps just now was finally beginning to yield the fruits of that sacrifice and labor.
Hayes and komisarjevsky could care less about other peoples hard work- they only saw that others had what they desired and indeed what they believed they deserved. They werent suckers like these people- they didn't have to earn these things- they could simply take them. No matter who paid for it.

And On july 23 2007 At approx 3 am the two broke into The home of Dr William Petit and his wife and 2 daughters, komisarjevsky had spotted Jennifer Petit and her 11 year old daughter Michaela while they were shopping at an area stop and shop earlier that same evening. With a sick plan already hatching in his mind he furtively followed the unsuspecting pair back to thier home.

After sharing his plan with hayes the men purchased an airgun at walmart cutting off its orange tip in order to make it appear more deadly. They brought rope and zipties in order to restrain Mrs Petit and the girls who they planned on sexually assaulting.

By 10 am Jennifer hawke Petit and her two daughters Hayley and Michaela would be murdered. At least two of them would be sexually assaulted and one of them beaten. Dr Petit the lone survivor would be near death from blood loss inflicted by repeated blows of a basball bat-and a town and a state would be mired in shock and grief . The anger would follow.

In the state of Connecticut approxamtely 97% of our criminal cases are disposed of with plea deals This means that there is no trial for these cases. There is instead a deal made between the lawyer for the defendant and the prosecutor assigned to that case; the majority of these deals made in the back rooms and hallways of the courthouse. Many prosecutors are inundated with full daily dockets and to save time and money theyll usually hammer out a deal after a series of monthly hearings, that are really little more than perfuctury protocol.

These plea deals result in lowered charges for the defendant in exchange for a guilty plea to usually substantially lowered charges; This means that charges that are quite serious like violent felonies such as assault in the second degree, winding up through a deal as assault in the third degree or even less ( assault 3 is only a misdemeanor). Or, sexual assault in the third degree involving a child could easily wind up as risk of injury to a minor. And This is assuming the police did thier work well and wrote up a good warrant did not violate any of the defendents rights and that case is relatively strong-- If not the charge (S) may be dismissed outright for " lack of evidence." or any number of other reasons.

Another daily standard practice in our Connecticut courts is the dropping of charges entirely within cases that have multiple charges- ie A defendant might have committed 4 serious charges, yet via the plea deal hell walk away with a conviction" for maybe two of those charges, and remember those charges will usually be lowered charges, at that.

This is all done in the name of judicial compromise mostly for expedience sake. And this doesn't happen in one hearing mind you, the average time frame for the ultimate resolution of a criminal case here in Connecticut is 6 -9 months. The norm is a hearing on the case transpires approx once a month, and it is "continued" until the next court date. This is a means of clearing the docket for the day and in effect procrastinating for the prosecutor and bulking up the defendants bill for the attorneys- lawyers are paid by time and court appearances are billed higher thus each time a hearing is "continued "he/she must show up with his client in front of the judge and the prosecutor, who has usually been talking with the lawyer behind closed doors or on the phone re the case and the general facts involved, announces to the judge that the defense is asking for a continuance while they sort out the facts of the case.

Pretty much Without fail the judge usually gives the prosecutor whatever they re asking for insofar as time and the same with any deal that the prosecutor eventually presents to the judge. Once in a while youll get a tough judge who will override prosecutors, and refuse plea deals that seem too liberal, espcieally for violent crime such as domestic violence and crimes against children.


While this might be acceptable for motor vehicle charges and non- violent drug charges and the like, it is another story altogether when extended to those who commit violent felony's., remember it takes alot to be charged with a violent felony in the first place-For example In the instance of assault two one must severely injure another human being in order for police to charge someone with this crime.

This charge would not result from your typical bar fight nor even your "average" domestic violence incident where someone has struck another person with a fist-these acts would in all liklihood result in an assault 3 charge. which is a misdemeanor- And then accordingly plead down from there to either nothing in a "Nollie," or Accelerated rehabilitation-a ct program for first time offenders which erases the criminal record after a year of compliance. The worst case scenario would be that this offender might receive a lesser charge in a plea deal something like reckless endangerment, that is if they have been convicted in the past of another violent crime.

One can easily see that our states court system already affords too many chances to someone who has committed violent crime, the last thing we need was new legislation that in effect gives some of these criminals a get out of jail early card.

Lets Keep a sharp eye on the states legislators within this upcoming session, and every session for that matter. All sessions are now televised on the local Connecticut cable channel. Watch listen and most importantly-vote accordingly when these people come up for reelection. We must be vigilant in letting our lawmakers know that it is no longer acceptable to treat any violent crime cavalierly. Our lives may someday depend on it.

Dec 10, 2009

Delay rejected in Petit Trial

Good news! Last month Steven Hayes's attorneys' asked for a 6 month delay for his trial and today in a hearing in New Haven, the judge said NO.

Thank heavens the good guys finally caught a break, the way this case has proceeded thus far I half expected these guys to get their damn delay; Youll have to Excuse the cynicism but it really seems like the deck has been stacked in favor of the criminals lately but thankfully todays judge had integrity and intelligence and he denied this latest ploy by the defense.

The request was purportedly based upon a book that was recently released about the crimes- the writer apparently met with one of the defendants in the case and indeed based much of the book upon That mans VERSION of the crimes a version which largely implicated the other man insofar as all of the most serious murder charges...naturally.

btw It has been 2 and half years since these murders happened and neither defendant has even begun jury selection-- We've been reading for months that jury selection for Steven Hayes, would begin in janurary 2010. A request by the prosecutor for simultaneous trials for both men was dropped when it became clear that it would a) likely be denied from the already vociferous defense objections, and
B) If it wasnt denied joint trials could be used later as a reason for a possible mistrial by either defense.
So despite the fact that it would have saved the Petit and Hawke families from having to go through the pain and trauma of rape and murder trial twice...they decided to drop the notion of simultaeneous trials in leui of a gurantee that a guilty verdict will mean a death sentence.

It was bandied about that since one of the defendents decided to meet with a writer for the purposes of writing a book about the crimes while there was still a gag order on the case, then he should be forced to go to trial first
-for the record joshua komisarjevsky the man who basically co authored this disgusting book was scheduled to go to trial after steven hayes, but since he changed the climate surrounding the crimes ie the press media and public interpretation---then its ownly right that he should have to live with the negative effects - discernabile or not.


I agreed with this myself but it would appear that Komisrjevsky once again gotten away with breaking the rules. I suppose if he cannot respect the sanctity of human life we shouldnt expect him to abide by the tenets of the court--it just seems as if there should be a greater penalty for purposely manipulating the jury pool in defiance of a court ordered gag, other than a toothless charge of obstruction of justice" which is what has been proposed for komisrajevsky by mr hayes's attorneys.
After all when your facing multiple capital murder charges are you really going to lose sleep over an obstruction of justice charge-probably not.

Nov 27, 2009

State opposes delaying jury selection in Cheshire slayings (with documents)- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut

This backwards reasoning on behalf of Joshua Komisarjevsky's lawyers, that Steven Hayes's suicide watch for the past 2 years in prison only "proves " his guilt in the murders of the Petit women, is truly astounding. Moreover, the leap that they make that hayes's guilt somehow equates with thier client's innocence, is even more insulting to our collective intelligence.
Its quite clear to me that this "book" that komisarjevsky spoon-fed writer Brian mcdonald, was created with the express purpose of re-vamping public opinion re komisarjevsky and the events that transpired on the night that Jennifer hawke Petit and her two daughters were murdered.
Despite a gag order imposed somewhat belatedly on the case, many facts including copies of redacted warrents were made public, and these facts were damning indeed for both defendents.

The book in the middle of the night which was in effect co-authored by komisarjevsky, was made in hopes of bamboozling the public and thus the potential jury pool -into believing that co-defendant Steven Hayes was responsible for all of the "really bad crimes" committed that fateful night.
The crimes that are in contention are the capital murder charges- these are the only ones punishable by death.

And thrown in the book for good measure is a generous helping of tragic childhood background replete with purported sexual molestation of komisarjevsky at the age of 14, which we have absolutely no way of verifying especially when one considers the chronic manipultive nature of this guy.
Either way the intention of the book is clear; humanize and very nearly excuse the behavior of this man who admittedly raped an 11 year old girl and at the very least largely contributed to the deaths of three human beings.

But What really irks me is the depths to which these lawyers sink in their rabid attempts to save their client from accountability for his own actions. This is not the first time I've heard or read about komisarjevsky and hayes's lawyers verbally assailing the sole survivor of their clients criminal rampage.


But somewhere in the middle of all of this they tryed the soft peddle approach, wooing Dr Petit and other members of the Petit/Hawke families via a thinly veiled letter from a "restorative justice firm" working on behalf of Komisarjevsky and co, which was in effect lawyers on the states public defender payroll posing as well meaning "intermediaries" between the defendent and surviving victim.
The letter offered to answer "any questions about the crimes" that Dr Petit and family might have and to clear up any misunderstandings" There was a name and a phone number of a third party contact proffered.

Dr Petit, an intelligent man, saw through the subterfuge and proceeded to refer the letter to the office of victims advocate as well as pursuing a protective order againt the entire komisarjevsky defense camp in order to block any more attempts at contacting him or his family.

Almost immediately following this, the komisarjevsky lawyers dropped thier schmoozing and did an about face, lashing out at Dr Petit in the press, accusing him of spear-heading a " public campaign to have their client put to death."

This of course only showed up the disingenuousness of thier recent conciliatory posturing.
Oh yeah, and they didn't like that Dr Petit called their client, a man who admitted to beating Petit in the head with a bat"like he was chopping wood" ...an "animal" . within a letter he wrote to the court.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that komisarjevsky has become indignant over someone calling him an animal in a public forum; Last time, it was the prosecutor assigned to the 12 felony charges that he was convicted of several years prior to the Petit family crimes. He was on parole for those crimes when he decided to break into the Petit's home with a plan of sexually assaulting 11 year old michaela Petit whom he had stalked together with her mom at a neighborhood stop and shop.

In the sentencing transcript for that case, which was conspicuously absent from his criminal file, along with most of his pertinent criminal records when the state decided to parole him, one can read verbatim Mr komisarjevsky bitterly complaining to the court that the prosecutor referred to him as" a wild animal within one of his addresses to the court concerning the seriousness of the crimes.

If you read the rest of the transcript, which is available online, you will see that the presiding judge in that case also called komisarjevsky" a cold calculating predator who is a decided threat to the people of Connecticut"

This was clearly a savvy judge who recognized the signs of a dangerous offender whose crimes were escalating. He had intended Komisarjevsky be behind bars for 9 years minimum with 6 years of special parole. Instead, komisarjevsky was in a halfway house within 2 and a half years and paroled after 3. He was in solitary confinement at his own request during most of that stint due to "issues with other inmates'

Fast forward 4 robberies, a sexual assault of a minor, severe battery and three capital murders later and Komisarjevsky is still indignant over being called "an animal"- This time his hackles are up against the man whose family komisarjevsky stalked and hand picked for an evening of rape and robbery( in the MacDonald book as in his confession to police, he readily admits to this .


What is striking here is the audacity of this guy- He is not content to merely sit quietly and await his trial with even fiegned remorse or humility- but rather HE breaks a court ordered gag on the case, writing and meeting multiple times with a true crime writer for the purposes of publishing a book outlining the crimes and convienently placing all culpability for the murders on his co-defendent- steven hayes.


He knows that the book will be published quickly and this fits his motivation perfect;ly; his own trial is scheduled after hayes and this leaves plenty of time for his "version" of the crimes to take ahold and voila- they are transformed into" fact." Even the newspapers and online magazines seemed happy to oblige him, using komisarjevskys claims in the book and laundering them as verifiable fact. Titles like "2nd killer laughed maniaclly as he ran out of the burning Petit home." Not " first killer trying predicably to place blame for murders on his accomplice...."
Not surprisingly all of the " confessions" that komisarjevsky made in the book were connected to facts that were already well established by very prejudicial evidence against him ie nude pictures of michaela petit on his cell phone, phone records from his cell phone placing him at the Petit home and calls to his house and his job on the morning of the murders- clothing with gasoline and dna found on his person as he was caught fleeing the burning crime scene in the Petit family car. And testimoney of police at the scene one of whom witnessed BOTH MEN LAUGHING AS THEY RAN OUT OF THE BURNING HOME.
And in typical fashion he prattled to police detectives prior to lawyering up, a habit he had of almost bragging about his criminal exploits to astounded law enforcement.

Now Anyone who has watched Dr Petit' conducting himself within the pubic forum knows that he and the rest of his family have shown remarkable restraint when speaking of the two men responsible for the murders of their loved ones.
The fact that Hayes was put on suicide watch shortly after his arrest and continues to be on it for over two years, is not only not indicative of his guilt for the murders. as komisarjevsky and lawyers would have us believe, but rather shows me that Hayes, unlike his criminal counterpart, possesses at least some modicum of a human conscience. I absolutely believe that joshua komisarjevsky has none.

Ive concluded from the start that despite his older age, Hayes was the proverbial follower in these crimes, komisarjevsky the instigator -the crimes were his brainchild. He is a sociopath of the textbook variety-remember the hallmarks of anti-social personality disorder are manipulation, deception and a complete lack of conscience. This isn't to say that Socios cant feign these qualities when neccesary; theyll muster up whatever they surmise is neccesary in order to get out of the various scrapes that they get into with authorities and institutions in their lives- be it school, police depts, courts- crocodile tears notwithstanding.


By all accounts komisjevsky is intelligent and articulate and his boyish appearance that belies the criminal mindset beneath. I am guessing that his looks, his youth and his family's respectable middle class roots all combined to help him in escape appropriate consequences all of his life, whenever he was caught disregarding the rules, or the rights of others (another hallmark of the sociopath persona and teens with conduct disorder)

He set an abandoned gas station on fire at 15. He stalked a young girl who he knew from school repeatedly peering in her windows at night. He broke into neighbors homes over and over again. He was found to have stolen personal items from the women who lived in the homes that he broke into. Pictures lingerie clothing-This is a classic sign of the early stage sex offender. Once thought to be fairly innocuous, peeping toms and panty thieves have been exposed as serious pre-cursors to full blown sexual assault and murder.

Many would have served a full ten years for the sheer quantity and seriousness of the last string of house robberies that he committed in 2002. In almost every case the robberys took place at night when his victims were home, setting the stage for possible violent confrontation. Those home owners were violated, they were victims. Komisarjevsky bragged on more than one occasion that this was the only way "he got off" -breaking into empty houses was too boring he claimed. All of these facts, many of which hed shared with local police upon his arrest, should have been red flags for the Ct judicial system, especially the parole board.

to be continued ...

Attorneys: gag order doesn't apply to Cheshire murder defendant The Republican-American

Boy, these lawyers have no shame whatsoever.

Prosecutors Criticize Defense Request For Delay In Petit Slaying Case -- Courant.com

Nov 26, 2009

Give to The Domestic Violence Hotline...

Message below from Cherl Cates CEO of National Domestic Hotline

Community of Hope

Every day I wonder what the holidays would mean if I were not surrounded by the people I love and trust most in this world: my family. This noisy, funny, feisty clan shows their love for me repeatedly with acts of generosity and acceptance, large and small, which tells me they will always be there for me, no matter what. They are my safe harbor, my community of hope.

For those of us who do not share the safe harbor of family, who fear the stress and heartbreak that holidays inevitably bring to some, you are not alone. There are communities of hope for you, and people who can help. One call to the Hotline will help you find compassion, courage, and a commitment to help. These are the beginnings of hope and a new life.

To others far more fortunate, you are in a position to help someone else, and I ask that you join the National Domestic Violence Hotline in creating communities of hope for everyone who makes that difficult call for help over the holidays. We make ourselves and everyone stronger through our compassion, courage and commitment. To give the gift of hope is to give the gift of life. Please give generously.

By Sheryl Cates
CEO, National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call The Hotline: 1−800−799−SAFE(7233)
or TTY 1−800−787−3224


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Nov 19, 2009

Nov 15, 2009

Murder in America : The New Yorker

A very good essay that centers around the Petit family murders and thier implication in the bigger picture of our countries violent nature.

Nov 9, 2009

Rihanna: 'No Soul' in Chris Brown's Eyes

Despite the fact that this case involved partner violence and all of its trappings I've stayed away from this story for some time because so much publicity was being given to the case and almost all of it the wrong kind-You know,the kind that would seem to delight in the ugliness of the rich and celebrity falling down on their faces, if you will.



But the other day I caught some of the Rhianna interview with Dianne sawyer and I was soon Struck with respect and admiration for this young woman, who despite a very public experience with severe interpersonal violence, managed to defy the worlds expectations, my own included, and extricate herself from her clearly dangerous relationship with Chris Brown and learn some important things about herself through this ordeal.



For a time just following the assault there was evidence that Rhianna had returned to the relationship- at one point being very vocal about her lack of desire or the need for that matter for the protective order against Chris Brown, which the presiding judge wisely ordered despite her complaints for a minimum of one year.
In fact It seemed almost a foregone conclusion at that point that Rhianna had fallen victim to one version or another of the classic " battered woman syndrome", a variation of the Stockholm syndrome ,whereupon victims of abuse are trapped in a cycle of violence and conciliatory gestures aka the honeymoon period following the episodes of abuse. Bear in mind that this is a very pared down and simplistic definition of these relationships, there are many dynamics at play and very often a victim of ongoing abuse has to be deprogrammed in order to truly break away long enough to pull back and view her own predicament realistically. I think that Rhianna, by the grace of god, was the recipient of some serious intervention and thankfully had the strength to listen, and ultimately listened to her own inner voice, which the longer she was away from the abusive relationship, the louder it became.



So today whilst mulling over the aforementioned interview and what I wanted to write about it on this very forum, the abovetitled caption on a webpage grabbed my attention; I was immedietly compelled to read more about this statement re Browns "soulless eyes."
I instinctively knew exactly what that meant.


 I too have seen those "soulless" eyes.

In fact, I tried to describe this very phenomenon to the local area detective who was assigned to my criminal case many years ago; I believe I likened my assailants eyes during and after the attack to a souless animal .human.



As a survivor nyself there were a good many things that I related to with Rhianna but one of the most emotional for me was something that she said about thinking that the assault upon her seemed to " go on and on and on " and she just kept "wondering "when is it going to stop?"


When I read those words, that exact emotional remembrance flooded back, it seemed the crimes had just happened,, rather than the eight years which have passed since then.



To be Continued as  I have a feeling Ms Rhianna is srill stuck in the cycle.

Oct 29, 2009

Nancy has her smile back - Overcoming Battered Lives

This is a really good program for victims of abuse who have damage to their teeth as a result of partner violence-" http://www.aacd.com/index.php?module=cms&page=34
Its a group of dentists oral surgeons and endodontists who all work pro-bono on victims of abuse whose dental health has been greatly impaired by that abuse.

Considering that many battered women are struck in the face/head and neck regions,( studies suggest 78 percent or so) this is very common area to sustain often permanent damage.
The broken and missing teeth that can result from physical abuse only serves to carry that abuse forward into all areas of that victims life-starting with her already flagging self esteem.
For women to make the already daunting step from victim to survivor, once they are extricated from their abuser, requires rebuilding that terribly damaged self esteem - This is made especially difficult when glaring evidence of the former abuse is staring her in the face each time she looks in the mirror, or sees someone react to her smile, which may be unsightly due to the seleleque of assaults upon her..

The bottom line is that victims of abuse need all the help they can get in order to begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Please support this program in your area-visit the site, donate what you can and if times are too tough financially, see if you can donate your time or services to this or any other program that supports victims of partner violence.
You will help make a positive difference in someones future and there is nothing more rewarding.

Overcoming Battered Lives

A story about a woman who survived an assault by a man that she'd dated years prior. She became paralyzed by the attack and is now in need of van that accomodates an electric wheelchair.

Man Charged With Tracking Ex With Cellphone -- Courant.com

There always plenty of domestic violence cases but it seems that this month, which happens to be domestic violence awareness month-has seen more than its usual share.

Check out the Courant blog via the above link for many good articles, stories and referrals regarding partner/ dating violence. Above all, talk about it- this needn't be a dirty shameful secret; this is what has helped DV to prosper all of these years, keeping it in the dark exactly where abusers prefer to keep it.

Study: Most States Fail To Protect The Legal Rights Of Abused Children

Looks like Connecticut did very well insofar as protecting at risk children - have a read.

Oct 26, 2009

WTIC News/Talk 1080 - Cheshire Residents Debate Blocking Petit Book from Library

And the good fight continues...
Please sign the linked petition to boycott this "book" that was written in direct violation of a gag order. www.petitiononline.com/cfg415/ See previous posts beginning in September archives for the complete story surrounding the book. Help us take a stand.

Oct 15, 2009

Happy 20th Birthday Hayley Petit

Today is Hayley Petit's birthday. Hayley would be celebrating her twentieth birthday today with friends and family had she not been murdered by two men who made a life-long pattern of taking from others that which did not belong to them.
On this occasion they stole life - three beautiful lives. And although the Petit family victims were all attractive, I am speaking here of something far more enduring and important, their inner lives, a beauty of spirit.

Two and a half years have passed since Hayley, her mom Jennifer and her sister Michaela, were murdered in what has been labeled as a "home invasion", a misnomer as far as I am concerned. The two men caught fleeing the murder scene in the Petit family car, sit in prison awaiting a trial which has yet to be scheduled.

When lone survivor and grieving husband and father Bill Petit, vocalized his dismay over the plodding pace of the Connecticut judicial system, he was admonished by the presiding Judge at the time, " honorable" Judge Damiani, and rather rudely assured that two plus years was well within the normal parameters for a capital murder case in this state, thank you very much.

In fact, the judge expounded, he was personally offended by the mere proposition that the Judicial process was taking far too long. It was an "insult to him and his court"

When I heard Damiani's words, I was livid - for Dr Petit, his families and for all victims of violent crime in the state of Connecticut. This state needs an overhaul in how it views and subsequently handles its violent crime and criminals. And Judge Damiani's words perfectly illustrate a huge part of the problem and that is: desensitization that has led to a perversion of the very notion and definition of justice.

In an overzealous effort to protect the accused criminals rights, our courts have shown a directly proportional increasing lack of rights begginning with sensitivity and respect towards the victims of these brutal and violent crimes.

As the lone survivor of his family's massacre, Bill Petit is a double victim.
People tend to forget that this man was repeatedly beaten on the head with a baseball bat, suffering traumatic brain injury, life threatening blood loss enduring vertigo headaches and what surely must be severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- all due to the commission of these crimes.

He survived only because in an adrenalin surge, he somehow managed to break free of the rope tying his hands to a pole in his cellar and hop up the cellar's bilco stairs (with his feet still bound) then half crawling, rolling to a neighbors arriving just before his house burst into a gas fueled flames, with his children tied to their beds inside.

He suffered and lived through this by sheer will and happenstance, and he is further victimized by the same mechanism by which any and all family members of violent crime victims are; they become victims themselves via the sheer knowledge of the details and the violence that befell their loved ones,. Family members are traumatized.

And as details about the crimes emerge friends and family are re-traumatized, which is why many family members of homicide victims feel the need to know everything that they can about their loved ones murders before the trial. This, so that they feel "prepared" emotionally prior to any court proceedings where details are likely to be discussed ad nauseum.

What is ironic here is that it is the victims after all for whom the state is presumably working it is for them that justice is pursued. Are they not the very embodiment of the crimes, the charges that the state is pursuing against the accused? I'm afraid that this notion has become moot as our courts have slowly but surely turned into little more than administrative processing pits.

We owe it to Hayley Jennifer Michaela and every victim of violent crime in this state to see that this changes.

'You must be the change that you wish to see in this world"
Eleven year old Michaela Petit's favorite quote on her Facebook page

Lawyers File Subpoena On Jailhouse Meetings -- Courant.com

Oct 4, 2009

Boycott Book co-written by murderer of Petit Family Mom and two daughters


I've written a few posts recently concerning a book that was just released in Major book stores and Amazon, that is about the tragic Petit family murders which happened 2 years ago here in Cheshire Connecticut.
The book is in a word - evil - and I'm not one to bandy that word about this is true evil folks.
Look, its bad enough that money is made from the sensationalizing of horrible details of sexual assaults and murders, particularly when it involves children -But I grudgingly suppose that is part of the price that we collectively pay for freedom of speech and this includes the written word - here in our country again I stress grudgingly. However this book transcends mere bad taste, ugliness and moral turpitude all of which it does entail.... Moreover, neither of the two men accused of murderering Mrs Petit and her two young daughters have been tried yet! In fact jury selection has not even begun for the first scheduled trial of Steven Hayes, a fact not overlooked by those of us who see all of the possible manipulative reasoning for the existance of this book as well the timing of the book. ie it is released well before the
And then theres that pesky issue of the Court imposed Gag order that was carefully and clearly written with much consideration and aforethought by the presiding Judge at the time Judge d prohibiting all parties related to the crimes, including the defendents" as well the Petit and Hawke families, from speaking about the crimes themselves or legal details concerning the case. All of the above treatise were violated by co defendent and apparently co-author-joshua komsiatrjevsky, albeit said co-author of a poorly written terribly edited, opportunistic crap-posing as a "book"

Although technically written by Brian Mcdonald large segments are based on face to face prison meetings and correspondence with one of the two men that murdered Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit. In fact large segments of the book are from komisrajevskys narraitive including the opening "scene"

I need to start with this very clear disclaimer; I have not purchased this book, nor will I, nor have I read it in full, as well I implore all conscientious and morally sound folks, do not buy this book under any circumstances. It has been made from the suffering and the crys of its victims, victims that include an eleven year old child Michaela Rose Petit.

I have read enough of the book via the many excerpts that are being posted within newspaper articles, Blogs, internet media outlets and the author's website which I admittedly visitied in hopes of gleaning some insight into the person who could write such a book at such a terribly raw and still very painful time-for both the surviving Crime victim Bill Petit, his families and the community and state at large.

Having written about the Petit family crimes from the terrible day that they happened , I felt that I needed to have at least a general idea of what was being said in this book by the co- murderer and indeed mastermind by his own admission- joshua komsiarjevsky. This, in order to get a handle on how this
could affect the potential jury pool and ultimately the trial itself.

I am asking the public and not limted to the state of Connectricut- to stand up and boycott this book, in much the same way that the Orentahal J Simpson book was boycotted. 9 I refuse to refer to him by those by now infamous intials that were once an endearing nicvkname when the man was known only a good athelete and later, a bad actor. I believe to continue reffering to this womanbatterer and murderer by this nickname is an insult to Nicole Brown Simposn Ronald Goldman and all of their bereaved loved ones


In any event in the Simpson book case, the people rose up and in effect said 'NO! NO WAY is this GUY GOING TO PEDDLE A BOOK DESIGNED TO TIttalate THE READER stopping one step short of admission---ABOUT TWO BRUTAL SADISTIC MURDERS THAT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY KNOWS HE COMMITTED AND SUBSEQUENTLY GOT AWAY WITH. The mere premise of that book was despicable and the american public and even the media-largely as a result of the outcry..

There was such a strong response from the public, that the publisher did the wise thing (and whether it was merely covering their butts or a sudden attack of conscience ahem) they stopped publication and distribution of millions of hard cover Books, many already bound Packed up and poised to shp out to Bookstores accorss the world. As well A WELL KNOWN TV station cancelled a highly touted interview with the killer/ "writer" , well hyped and shamelessly promoted at that Juncture.

Of course these companies never should have contracted the project in the first place but at least they responded to the public outrage. Remember, companies are comprised of human beings-they are not entities without human characteristics, despite what corporate america is often depicted as.

I remember feeling proud the day that I heard this book was not going to be sold, albeit a bit surprised- surprised that decency and integrity actually won out over greed and public titillation.

While the situation surrounding the Simpson book is similar to the recently released Cheshire book, there are some key differences which make the latter even worse; In the case of the OJ book-the case was long resolved by the time the book came out., although the criminal resolution was a veritable travesty and the not guilty verdict disturbed many many people. We all knew that this man killed his ex wife and essentially got away with it. He is a sociopath and as such, he played the oh so carefully selected jury, he used them and got what he wanted from them; near absolution for the murder of two human beings, one of them the mother of his children.

In the simpson case the not guilty verdict compounded amd excacerbated the public's irel It was bad enough that he got away with murder but now he was rubbing our collective faces in it, including the victims families- not to mention the killer stood poised to make a lot of money by titillating the masses with a half assed confession or murder.
The Bottomline- the American public had its Limits after all and we collectively said so via the successful boycotting of the book- the publisher and any related media outlets. .

In the case of the book about the Petit murders, the most essential fact is that the case hasn't gone to trial yet and the book is violating a court ordered gag on the case.
It has been over two years since these murders occurred and with two co-defendants to try, neither has a set trial date nor even a tentative date for jury selection to begin. Unfortunately this is typical of the state of Connecticut's tortoise- paced judicial system.
Almost immediately after the arraignment for these two "defendents", the presiding judge put the gag order on the Petit case. Warrants were heavily redacted before being released to the press via the freedom of information act.
A Confession from one of the killers (THE very same who co authored the book in question) were completely whited out and all parties involved with the case including the sole survivor, Dr Bill Petit, were ordered not to talk about the details of the case with anyone. Everyone complied, as difficult as it was at times, partcularly for the survivor and the families, who I am certain wanted to shout from the rooftops 'look what these bastards did to my loved ones!'
But they didn't. Ironically, this gag order and the many steps taken to redact information from the media, were done largely to protect the rights of the defendants in the case, who by the way have plead NOT Guilty. Novody wanted a reason for a mistrial or a to provide

Two years with scattered hearings of little consequence pass by and out of seemingly no where we are told that a book is coming out about the crimes and it is written from the standpoint of one of the killers! Not just one of the killers mind you, but the same killer presumed to be the instigator-of the crimes, the leader if you will:
Twenty eight year old Joshua komisarjevsky of Cheshire, broke the gag order and Apparently penned voluminous letters to and met with-brian macdonald, a writer, on multiple occasions, for the specific purpose of recounting his version of the crimes against the Petit family for a new book --- Until Connecticut Dept of Corrections "caught him" and reportedly removed the writers name from komisarjevskys visiting list.

At the same time we are told that all of komisarjevskys visitors were stricken from the list with the exception of his layers presumably as punishment- This included the inmates family, which the Mcdonald, the writer in question states he"' guesses was " partly his fault" Why this matters at all is this: at that EXACT juncture, komisarjvskys lawyers JEREMIAH Donovan knew, They knew that their client met with a writer and that he'd been caught basically relaying details of the crimes-or at least a version that he and likely they, wanted to stand as unrefuted fact-
which now thanks to everyone involved with this book, it will to thousands of unsuspecting readers. The book reads as if the crimes happened this way and even goes as far as narrating from both murderers minds and not surprisingly Komisarjevsky tells the tale in such a way that he did not kill anyone- his accomplice was the killer even when evidence points to the contrary.

We are not told at the outset of the book look this is what one of the defendants said and one must take it with a grain of salt, because he is after all waiting to go to trial for these very crimes, and indeed has been a notorious liar and manipulator, not to mention his lawyers have been fighting tooth and nail to get him a life sentence, instead of the death penalty, which he clearly is afraid of.


This means that his lawyers will have to prove that he wasn't guilty of capital murder "only" felony murder -And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly how HIS VERSION OF THE CRIMES pan out He "didn't kill anyone" or so he contends.

Here's the thing decency aside, from a legal criminal standpoint This book should have been allowed to be written not certainly published. The writer shrugs and says hey I didn't know when it would be published, I just wrote it and the publisher chooses when to publish. I did my job." he met with the guy surreptitiously- he were aware that there was a gag order on the case. He recently stated that there is so much publicity about the case that the book wouldn't matter and That" the story needs to be told." It needs to be told"

He adds that he is doing a public service in effect by telling a cautionary tale insofar as the importance of crime and security in our homes, and what not to do because after all look who could be out there. Or words to that effect.

The book is beyond offensive, Komisarjevsky shares details that he almost seems to have to catch himself lest he gets giddy about them. He starts out with the motive of re-working the events of the crimes to reflect less involvement ( and thus culpability )with the actual murders, shifting all capital crime upon his co accomplice Steven Hayes. Even the details that he does share about his involvement, which at first might seem foolish for him to admit to- are subterfuge. They are facts that the police already know about, and some have been culled from his lengthy confession to police after he was caught fleeing the Petit home in the Petit family car.
He cites details about the victims and their reactions to the crimes which are heartbreaking. He has in effect re- traumatized all of us who have simply heard about those details via the news stations and the many online articles. No doubt the family has caught wind of some of these details. No one had to read the book- as the media grabbed the story and ran with the most coarse and cruel bits of information gleaned from the book. Many online newspapers used them as titles to their pieces hoping to draw in as many potential readers with overt sensational that bordered on Giddiness. And they all did exactly what komisarjevsky planned; they did a huge service to him and his case as they helped propel his version of these crimes through the world wide web and as they traveled they were magically transformed into "facts" .

Today I read that the author Brian Mcdonald is trying to encourage parallels between himself and Truman Capote IE In Cold Blood. Suffice to say this is ludicrous; Mcdonalds writing is awful It's sophomoric and pedestrian at best. I don't need to read more than a handful of excerpts in order to know this man cannot write. This is undoubtedly why chooses sensationalistic voyeuristic subject matter for his books, he can rely on the draw of true life sexual crime to sell his book- his writing is certainly not going to.

At the moment this book is being sold at AMAZON, BORDERS and BARNES AND NOBEL, among others. The very first thing that we can do as compassionate and responsible human beings is to not buy the book as well tell our Friends and loved ones to refrain from doing so.
Anyone who buys the book is lining the pockets of some very bad people, they are also helping a killer to perhaps avoid accountability for his part in three murders. no to mention giving him a voice and much desired attention. One of the hallmark of sociopathic personna is that they crave attention and need to stand out somehow. They also lack conscience, but they are usually cunning enough to .feign one if it will serve them.

Any buyers of the book would also be perpetuating a terrible pain to the families of the victims involved and Dr Petit himself, the sole survivor of this mans carnage. There is karmic turnabout for this kind of thing.

We can take this one step further amd assist in boycotting the book; let your voice be heard to the distributors and publishers. Unfortunately the book which is in paperback, has already gone to print and sold many copies. The goal now is to stop any more books from being published and sold.

The publishing contact information can be found below as well as the Appropriate contact information for Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Please take the time to write and/or call these distributors as well as the publisher themselves. Tell them how you feel about a man who murdered three people whos not been tried yet, being allowed to violate a gag order, write a book that brags of horrendous details of rapes assaults and murders. And now sits on thier shelves or

published by their publishing house or
sold in their stores.
Ask them how they might feel if this were their family, their children This question is pivotal and needs to be answered.

Information

'In the Middle of The night"
Brian Mcdonald
Jeff@amazon.com
cust.service03@amazon.com
... Read More
Amazon.com DIRECT Telephone
#1-800-201-7575

or write:
Amazon.com Headquarters
1200 12th Ave Ste 1200
Seattle, WA 98144
Phone : 206-266-1000
Fax : 206-622-2405
Telephone number for the Media department is 206-266-7180
open Monday

Macmillan (PUBLISHER)
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
646-307-5151

Note; ***The St. Martin Division published the book ****
St. Martin's Press; Publicity Department
175 5th Avenue NY, NY 10010
Fax: 212-674-6132


BARNES AND NOBLE
Ellen Fitzsimons Administrative Assistant Small Press Dept.
212-633-3399
CALL THEIR OFFICES 508-853-9661 ASK FOR BEV WILSON OR ELESA HUMPHREY
ALSO CALL 800-962-6177 ASK FOR JOANN CLARK & REFFERENCE CASE # 129340
617-901-3157 DISTRICT MGR. LYNN NYBO

WRITE TO: BARNES & NOBLE
PO BOX 111 LYNEHURST NJ 07071 ALSO REFERENCR CASE # 129340

Phone calls and letters are very helpful
Thank you.






Oct 3, 2009

Sage Opinion Piece Regarding The Petit Crimes

I found the two noteworthy Op-Ed pieces regarding the Petit family murders the one found in Thursdays Connecticut Post-linked at this Posts title header is particularly sage. The writer is most astute, as she expounds on the fact that these crimes had little to nothing to do with robbery nor should they be labeled home invasion:

This was a set of crimes that revolved around violence control and dominance primarily against women-and a girl entering puberty as well as her teen aged sister. Joshua Komisarjevskys attraction to 11 year old Michaela Petit began at an area supermarket; he had spotted pretty shy Michaela Petit earlier that summer evening whilst Michaela was shopping with her mom at an area supermarket

In Joshua komisarjevsky confessions to The Cheshire Police he admitted to spotting the Attractive Mrs Petit and her eleven year old daughter Michaela in the store parking lot, where he made his clandestine appraisal and proceeded to follow them home. They were driving in a Chrysler Pacifica and as Cheshire Connecticut was a upper middle class community, this was among the rows of BMW's,  Lexus's etc, a moderately priced car. It certainly did not scream money, nor did the Petit's relatively modest raised ranch home, where KOMISARJEVSKY the experienced stalker/ thief followed the unsuspecting pair, several miles from the supermarket where they shopped.

As a professional thief who had a lifelong habit of breaking into homes only at night when the homeowners were home sleeping (the opposite rule of standard theory- thus pointing to other issues littering this career criminals mind) he made a cursory examination of the house, its points of entry and drove off undetected. According to sources Steven Hayes met up with komisarjevsky at some point that evening.

They hatched their plan which I am certain revolved around the sexual assaults ie control/power of the attractive Mrs Petit and her 11 year old daughter Michaela-

Komisarjevsky and Hayes met in a halfway house during their final stints serving drastically shortened sentences, care of The Connecticut Parole Board, who, despite the fact that each man had thus far accrued over 25 felony convictions each within their lifetimes, made the ill advised decisions to award them both with early release parole, a decision that in effect sealed the Petit family's fate. Komisrajevsky resumed his lifelong habit of robbing houses with homeowners sleeping upstairs, the very night that his correction dept tracking anklet was removed. This time however he had a  pal with him as his intentions were different. He needed a second man in order to tale control of a house filled with females--and likely at least one male head of household.
partner,-Jennifer Petit was sexually assaulted by Steven Hayes and 11 year old Michaela was sexually assaulted by Joshua Komisrajevsky, komisarjevsky actually took nude photos of the little girl tied up in compromised positions At the age of 28 he had a history of involvement with very young girls, in fact impregnating a fifteen yr old girl when he was 25 years of age himself. If only he had been charged with statutory rape at that time he would have had a record as a sex offender and by the time he'd committed the last slew of robberies that landed him in prison -he likely would have received a stiffer sentence than the nine years the judge gave him. But those nine years magically turned into three, with komisarjevsky out of prison itself and into a halfway house in less than two years!

From this retrospective vantage point it is safe to say that the sexual assaults, not robbery, were the actual motive for the entire nights crime spree and subsequent carnage. Once again it comes down to violence against women: As many people know, rape is not about sex, but about dominance control and power, which in my opinion is what lies behind these crimes.

There is usually at least one sociopath within a pair of murderer/rapists like these two men, and its safe to say that komisrarjevsky is the more intelligent and manipulative of the two men, but it appears as if Steven Hayes was at the very least a sexual sadist and possibly a sociopath himself who had misogynistic tendencies who likely shared a hatred of what both men saw as wealth, privilege and/or affluence- qualities and ways of life that as felons with extensive criminal records, they figured themselves on the outside looking in.

As the link above suggests, do not be fooled by the 15,000 extorted from Jennifer Hawke Petit, as this was truly incidental to this crime-icing on the cake if you will excuse such an awful metaphor. And as is always the case there were signs of a sexual criminal in the making in both Hayes and Komisrajevskys criminal development. Hayes was forever frequenting prostitutes and had had serious weapons charges dropped within the multiple plea bargains he'd received within the normal course of things down at the various area courthouses where each of his dozens of crimes were heard.

 I am certain if one were to dig just a little bit there would be other women whom he had sexually assaulted date raped or attempted such with. The fact that he relied heavily on prostitutes for his sexual and companionship needs, as well as being known as a "pervert" shows a severe dysfunction in relating to women in a healthy fashion.

Komsiarejevsky gave the system a plethora of warning signs re his development as a predator:
he was found to be stealing underwear and lingerie from teen aged girls he'd become infatuated with to the point of making the girls life's miserable, stalking them hiding in trees and watching them through windows- this As reported by a Cheshire policeman began when komisarjevsky was 15 .

Later on there were trophy's taken from homes that he was now breaking into on a regular basis, mostly for the "rush" as he typically took very small items of little value but bragged to his then girlfriend and now mother of his small daughter, that he could not get off, if the house was empty. This speaks loudly of a sexual predator not a true thief. In fact he usually stole small items of limited value His trophies did include however photos of some of the women that lived in the houses that he robbed, as well as articles of clothing that belonged to them.

Many of the sign posts of sociopathology were quite overt by the time Komsiarjevsky was arrested for his first set of serious felonies which involved a total of 20 houses he'd broken into.-Yet nobody, including the dept of corrections acted responsibly with this information.

In fact the state of Connecticut gave him a veritable break upon break setting him loose after merely a third of a sentence that his last judge clearly meant to be a strict 9 year stint, Recognizing Komisarjevskys predator like criminal behavior and the unique danger he posed to the people of Connecticut-this as per his admitted need for a "rush" only choosing to break into homes that were occupied at the time and this after stalking his victims from trees and such with night vision goggles and toting a knife presumably brought to cut screens, though possibly to be used for other purposes if the need arose or an opportunity presented.

Who knows how long Komisarjevsky was fantasizing about raping the women and.or children in the homes that he was breaking into compulsively? We do know that many many signposts were ignored by his family, the court system, the dept of corrections and the parole board.

Hayes had a sizable criminal history as well, although it appeared to be that he was less organized in his robberies and assorted other crime,s many of which seemed to revolve around drugs; He was supposedly a crack addict at one time, although often drug addiction is used by offenders as fasle motives for crimes in an attempt to get lighter sentences and or drug rehab for first and second time offenders.

Interestingly, and important to note is that Neither man had any drugs in their systems on the night of the Petit murders. This might be because they had both been towing the line with their parole officers, knowing that regular drug testing mandatory with parolees in Connecticut. Both men had full time jobs as was also part of their parole requirements. Komisarjevsky in fact called his roofing employer from the Petit household in the early hours of the crimes, explaining that he wouldn't be coming into work, using the excuse that his then 2 year old daughter was "sick"

This image sickens me to no end. That this reprobate took time out of his busy morning ransacking a house, beating a father of two with a bat and sexually assaulting an 11 year old who he knew Hayes and he were going to kill along with the rest of this family. To calmly call his boss, making certain to keep his job and perhaps keep up appearances for the Parole board who required full time employment is a telling sign of utter detachment and calm while the gasoline was already purchased and the plan had been made to kill the family once the money was procured. Komisarjebslys DNA was everywhere in that home and especially in MIhcale's room and her little body.  As felon's both men had thier DNA on file, this was now additng up to a life sentence for the rape and kidnapping of a child, nebver mind the beating hed given the doctor father with a bat. For all he knew the man might die. No, theyd decided by the time they had Jennifer Petit untied long enough to call DrPetits office to tell him that he was ill and would be late"

The cell phone call would only give proof of his exact whereabouts at the time of the crimes due to the existence of cell phone towers this unless he used a throw-away phone with prepaid minutes. This simply astounds and disgusts me. Classic sociopath behavior-Zero conscience, with completely narcissistic motivation.

What happened here seems clear to me; these two men met at this halfway house, got to know each other a bit swapped some crime stories and broached the subject of their shared interest- tying up females rendering them helpless and at their mercy and raping them-- women and teens from affluent homes were probably seen as prize victims to these men as they both had deep senses of inferiority and likely hated what they perceived as the "other side". A life that they believed they would never live. They therefore struck a pact to own these people for at least the night and then destroy them at their will.

William Petit was attacked and beaten as he lay sleeping in his lightly lit sun room, where he'd fallen off reading as was often his habit. The men later admitted to clearly seeing Petit through a window as they first stalked the house at 3 am that morning. This puts an end to the whole accidental stumbling upon Dr Petit while just planning on robbing the house idea that was widely being speculated and indeed circulated as fact for months after the crimes occurred.

The men purposely with aforethought set about eliminating the biggest threat of the household Dr Petit who at 6 3 was a fairly imposing man albeit in a completely vulnerable somnolent state when the men attacked him with a baseball bat to his head-" I hit him as hard as I could as if chopping wood at least 10 times, komisarjevsky would later recount for author Brian McDonald, who rather sleazily encouraged komisarjevsky to break a court imposed gag order on the case that was in place at the time, in order to interview him for what turned out to be a hastily and poorly written paperback that managed to be published and distributed before anyone could stop it.

The book was based upon letters McDonald had exchanged with accused Petit family rapist/murderer and later, actual interviews, which McDonald somehow managed to procure, despite heavy security measures this he did purportedly by posing as an attorney with the corrections dept Guards and checkpoint employees. Once it was? discovered that he was a writer, his name was taken off komisarjevsksys visitor list and the Jig was officially up.

But not in time to prevent a book that was for all intents and purposes co-written by one of the killers of the Petit family in a transparent attempt to get his "version" of the crimes widely circulated to the public in order to influence the potential jury pool and play down his involvement with the capital murder charges(Which carry the death penalty) This via bookstore shelves amazon and even the local Cheshire library, the head of whom decided, despite angry protests from hoards of townspeople and Connecticut citizens alike enraged at the prospect of this Book being for sale let alone stocked in the very town's library where this family resided and died violently.

Despite reams of Petitions from enraged and disgusted town members the Cheshire library continued to cite the first amendment as its reason for choosing to stock this illegal (IE gag order broken) poorly written and obvious attempt by komisarjevsky to try to inject his version of the crimes which naturally shifted blame for the capital crimes to Hayes and gain sympathy from the prospective jury pool ; The book clearly tried desperately to humanize him, regaling the reader with a history of "childhood molestation" which among other things were elaborated upon by the author of Joshua's "surprising likable and soft spoken nature"

 That very same manipulative nature and boyish countenence convinced Jennifer Hawke Petit that he wouldn't hurt her or her girls, as long as she got the men the money that they asked for, and did not call the Police.  Tragically she was mistaken, led down that path by the smooth talking fresh faced younger man who did all the talking..

An Oasis in the Middle of a Difficult Time...

In the middle of all the recent ugliness and pain caused by the recent publication of a book that was co-written by one of the men that killed Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit, I thought to visit one of the good things that have sprung from this terrible tragedy.

This video made me cry when I first saw it last year, as did the very first plain photos of the heart shaped plot in its naked bare form, prior to any plantings, soil lovingly tilled unearthed and waiting expectantly

I could see and feel the care and love in that tilled expanse of earth where the Petit home once stood. And as the flowers and the plants began to fill the heart shaped patch, I saw and felt the spirit of the Petit girls right there, amid all of that new life and growth.

I needed to see this again today.

Sep 30, 2009

Man charged in Connecticut home invasion wants co-defendant prosecuted for talking to writer

I never thought I'd agree with one of the defense attorneys for these two men, but regarding
this one issue, I am in absolute agreement, although clearly for very different reasons.
Komisarjevsky should be held in contempt of court for breaking the gag order on this case, but more importantly his attorneys should also be held accountable-a notion that is fast becoming extinct in our Connecticut judicial system-accountability.
The attorneys for komsiarjevsky were, according to the author, Brian Mcdonald, aware of the book and the meetings and letters he was exchanging with their client for the purposes of the book.
And The reasons that I was already convinced that they knew about this book are multifold;
About a month ago there was an article in the Hartford Courant about this VERY Book coming up for publication in late September. The article and the proposed book had people in an uproar--and there was a great deal of attention given the fact that it was based on one josh komisarjevsky's versions of the events of this horrible night.

I remember my interest being quite piqued by the "coincidence" that here was a book from the narrative of komisarjevsky and just weeks ago this same defendant"s attorneys were trying to get segments of his "confession" read at a recent hearing re the Petit crimes. The judge saw fit to seal the confession" as he undoubtedly saw through the attorneys true motivation,which was to get testimony proclaiming his clients innocence without his client actually testifying and injecting this all into the court of public opinion before this guys trial or jury selection.

In fact I distinctly recall hearing komisarjevskys lawyer recently saying if "josh'confession is to be believed, he is guilty of felony murder but not capital murder(the distinction of course matters a great deal as only capital murder may carry a death penalty sentence.They have been reiterating from the start that their client, although guilty of many things, did not kill any of the Petit family members.

Now if the attorneys for JK truly knew nothing prior to the article in the courant, (which I don't believe for a moment) they certainly had ample enough time to investigate the book at that point which was then slated for a Sept 29th publication-a month from the date of this article-And they most certainly could have tried to take some kind of legal action halting its publication pending an investigation into a violation of a court ordered gag concerning the case.

Of course they did no such thing. I contend it was because they knew about the book and they knew that it was in fact a version of their clients "confession" which in effect discounted all responsibility for the murders themselves not to mention the added bonus of supplying plenty of sympathetic background on komisarjevskys childhood in order to lay the foundation for the tired old 'sexually abused found out hes adopted becomes drug addicted teen then disturbed young adult defense. In other words ... "of course this guy wound up breaking into homes look at what a terrible childhood he had" yada yada ya.
.
You'll recall that komsiarjevsky had no drugs in his system the night of the murders, this means that this guy was probably staying clean for his parole urine tests because he could be violated and sent back to prison if he was caught using drugs. This means that these crimes were fueled by nothing but a despicable desire to control and exert power over defenseless women-and children as poor little Michaela Petit-the object of komisarjevskys lust and domination- was only 11 years old.

Komisarjevskys attorney had the nerve to say, a day or so ago I've never SPOKEN
with Mcdonald ..l guess I'm gonna have to read this book now" Absolute BS and typical lawyer-speak-to boot. You ll note that he doesn't say anything really when stating that he's never spoken to the author- This doesn't mean anything at all yet it could sound as if he didn't know of McDonald's existence-which he didn't say-because it isn't true.

The author shared in interviews with the media recently that once the dept of corrections learned he was a writer-writing a book on the crimes with komisarjevskys help-they took him off the visiting list at the prison. He added that they took komisarjevskys parents off the list at that same time, presumably as a punishment and or because they couldn't trust that his parents wouldn't act as a go between for the author and komisarjevsky. The author adds that he felt it was probably"his fault" that Komisarjevskys parents were taken off the list.

Obviously komisarjevskys lawyers knew about his visitor list being restricted -especially as they were probably the only ones allowed to visit after these episodes with the violations.
This happened many many months prior to the book being published and again that left plenty of time for his lawyers to take action preventing this book from being published.
But they did nothing of the kind-in fact they acted as if there were no book and indeed when the book was released they insulted all of our intelligences by in effect saying"huh what book?
Why would we allow our client to help co author a book when his trial hasn't even come up?"
Why indeed.

I am thoroughly disgusted as a human being and a writer by this book. I find it particularly offensive that the author-and I use that term loosely as the book is written poorly and even edited badly, knew what he was dealing with and knew how painful this would be to the surviving victim and the families-and he did it anyway.
You can see that it was a rush job with little concern for truth or quality. The publisher and writer were trying to make a fast buck off senstationalizing a vicious crime that left two girls and their mother dead and a state traumatized and heartbroken. We've had two years to heal and this book has ripped the scab right off our collective wound. And the crimes haven't even been tried in a court of law yet. There has been no justice to help ameliorate the pain, not even a date set for a trial for either defendant.

The authors recent assertions that he had no idea when the case would be tried and just
did his job and "wrote the book"and the rest was the publishers problem"-doesn't hold water.

As a writer of this kind of content-true crime-you have a responsibility to both the deceased victims and especially any surviving victims. And you most certainly do not ever hamper the judicial proceedings for any murder case that has not yet been resolved criminally. Period.
It's called human decency-professional and personal integrity. This man has shown none and may it sit on his soul for eternity along with the attorneys in this case who have behaved so badly.

The writer and publisher of this book have not only compromised the outcome of the trials and quite possibly whether or not justice will be served in this case- they have given a forum to a socipath and a murderer. Within this they have gifted the notoriety that he craves and the ability to reach out to an unlimited amount of people who are not able to discern truth from lies-who are not savvy to the manipulativeness and easy deciet akin to sociopaths, and therefore allow his version" to stand as truth to the masses .

As someone who has studied sociopaths ad nauseum It is easy for me to see through this book
to see through Joshua komisarjevsksys motivations and his seemingly random descriptions- within the story of"his life"as well as the events surrounding the crimes against the Petit family. Nothing is random in what this man chose to "share" with the author and the readers of this book who remember encompass his ultimate jury pool. The same jury who will decide his fate. Each and every nuance used to describe happenings of the evening and morning of July 23rd 2007 were so used for a specific reason and a desired effect.

One cannot help but notice that every piece of information that Komisarjevsky chose to "share"
bout these crimes were connected to pre-existing key evidence that was of the most damning nature towards him. Many of these things were already known by the general public via the introduction of heavily redacted warrants that were published in the local newspapers -others were heard about through law enforcement testimony/leaks and via other evidenciary findings In other words Komisajevsky knew these things were out there and really making him look bad and so he sought to "explain"them away through this book.

An example is that we knew that the Petits 17 year old daughter Hayely was beaten during the crimes, Dr Petit has made mention of this within a statement to the press; komisajevskys just happens to relate a scene in the book where Hayley has gotten to her cell phone and tries to call 911 (heartbreaking to read ) and he is "forced"to call Hayes in to wrestle her back onto the bed.

This is an obvious attempt to make some kind of excuse for beating and torturing Hayley Petit, as otherwise he would seem a simply despicable sadist -something he is trying like hell to avoid and indeed instead pin that persona on his co-accomplice Steven Hayes who is frequently described by komisarjevsky as the more violent and evil of the two,
(If there could be such a distinction in the first place.)

Another example is a vivid description he gives of his co accomplice hayes maniacly laughing as he existed the flaming home on sorghum.Drive. We had all read police eyewitness testimoney that said that both men were laughing as they ran out of the burning house. I remember this well as it was yet another piece of evidence that proved these men were utterly despicable and callous towards their victims, who they'd just left to die tied to thier beds in the fire.

Komisarjevsky thought he'd get rid of that picture of him that the public had in one fell swoop by simply rewriting history;hed paint himself as "horrified" by his co- accomplice's maniacal laughter as he ran out of the house thereby " explaining" that it wasnt him that was laughing--it was hayes-he was"the bad one".komisarjevsky was just there.

The Trouble with komisarjevsky is that he is a sociopath after all and as such, he gives himself away despite himself- sharing things like " Hayley looked at him with defiance throughout the entire ordeal" I believe that this is why he likely got violent with Hayley-she wouldn't submit and was obvious with her disgust and loathing of him. This infuriated him as the entire set of crimes was about him feeling power and control,which he also gives away despite himself early on in the book when he states that right before hitting poor Dr Petit with the bat as he slept, he couldn't wait to " be in control of the entire domicile"

I simply cannot wait until these men get their due.

Man charged in Connecticut home invasion wants co-defendant prosecuted for talking to writer



For more information about this book see yesterdays post.

Sep 26, 2009

Book That Gives One Defendant's Version Of Cheshire Killings Coming Out Before Trials -- Courant.com

Ok,,the time has come where I must weigh in on this despicable book that has been released concerning the Petit family murders. The book, simply put, is nothing but subterfuge.
An orchestrated attempt by a textbook sociopath, undoubtedly with complete aforeknowledge and blessing of his attorney(s)-to get his "version" of this set of brutal violent crimes out to the potential jury pool and softening up public sentiment for this reprobate via the ole abused childhood defense The ultimate goal... avoiding a death penalty conviction.

Its a fairly clever attempt; Komisarjevsky clearly thinks that because he shares with the reader what seems like a multitude of self incriminating details about the crimes, he is thus likely to be believed regarding the rest of his story- because after all, why tell the truth about some things and lie about the rest? Why indeed.
When dealing with sociopaths, nothing is ever what it seems.

The book was a tool, an opportunity for this defendant to re-work and tweak, if you will, much of the worst of the incriminating evidence against him. Some of this evidence we the public already heard about, and the rest, we would hear soon enough once his accomplice Steven Hayes- trial was underway. In this tweaking, Komisarejvsky predictably lays all technical capital murder culpability at his accomplices feet, albeit, his assertions easily contradicted by police accounts and key evidence when one bothers to look closely.

An example of one of these lies would be jK's claim that Hayes ran out of the burning house "maniacally laughing." A piece of information that might appear on its surface to be almost moot from a criminal/ legal standpoint, yet it is very important in the overall scheme of things; komisarjevsky and his lawyers knew this and this is likely why it was selected as something he elaborated about or as the case is-explained away anecdotally via a literal re-creation if you will of those circumstances; Of course, komisarjevsky does so without ever addressing the fact that police reports said both men were laughing as they ran from the burning house, which at that point held the two Petit children still alive and tied to thier beds, left to burn to death in the inferno started by the two men. The two laughing men. You see, with that laughter went up in smoke the notion that either man was being cajoled or forced by the other to commit these heinous murders. Neither man was apparently stressed enough by what they were doing to simply remain somber while they knew two human beings were about to die in a horrible fashion.
Komisarejvsky and his attorneys knew that this piece of testimony by the police at the scene, was out there and was very damning indeed to their client. It was for this reason it was chosen for inclusion in the "story" that Komisarejvsky dictated to Brian Mcdonald.

He figured by talking about Hayes and his maniacal shriek of laughter as he left the crime scene he would work to have us focus on Hayes- and reinvent what really happened.
Lest we forget; They both were laughing.

In fact, all of the "important" details that Komisarjevsky " shares" or rather feeds the author of this book, were procured from either testimony of attending law enforcement , or actual evidence from his and Hayes's arrest ie they were caught fleeing from the scene with a ton of incriminating evidence on both of them not to mention a lengthy confession komisarjevsky made to police. That confession incidentally, his attorneys have tried in every underhanded way possible to leak into the public domain, the latest attempt being a request to read parts of the komisarjevsky confession" at a recent hearing where Dr Petit and family were attending, as was the press.
The judge wisely put the kbosh on that and instead put a seal on the statement, undoubtedly smelling the defenses ulterior motive. ( ie to lead the jury pool via public sentiment to "know" komisarjevsky wasn't the one that killed the Petits. As the press are attending these hearings if this statement had been allowed to be read even in part, at the hearing, the press would then convey this information to its readership/viewership .

The bottom line is that every single " revelation" "'shared" in this book would be coming out in court in good time. komisarjevsky would not have control over putting his spin on these in court, his attorneys are certainly not going to allow him to testify.
There are other ulterior motives for this book at this time; Komisarevsky likely craves the attention that the book and even the interviewing process, brought him. He couldn't resist. In fact he likely had been upset that he'd faded so quicxkly into relative obscurity in a tiny prison cell 6 months after the crimes happened. Sociopaths are notoriously narcissistic and egocentric-
So much so that they will often sabotage themselves in criminal proceedings because they just cant help talking about themselves and being in the 'limelight"-- albeit for their twelve seconds of fame. (think Ted Bundy and Dr. MacDonald)

Sociopaths also like the notion of being "feared", ie really bad guys". It makes them feel they have power. Being feared and committing outrageous criminal acts are the only way that they can"stand out" in their paltry existences; they are typically failures at achieving anything positive or productive.

komisarjevsky uses this book to throw out many other ugly details regarding how the crimes unfolded-almost all designed in one way or another to subtly and not so subtly- manipulate the reader, sway public opinion and the potential jury pool, into believing that his accomplice, Steven Hayes, was the really "bad" one, the one who elevated the crimes to murder.

Komsarjevskt claims that Hayes insisted the Petit women be killed, he was the reason that the family is now dead. In truth, it was the other way around; Komisarjevsky was the one who spotted the women and chose them as his victims. He plotted these crimes and in doing so was fulfilling his own personal agenda; the exertion of Control and power over a house full of women-or in this case children including an 11 year old girl Michaela Petit.

Komisarejvsky made these crimes happen and Hayes, he was almost used as merely"brawn" In fact komisarjevsky later in the book admits to planning to kill hayes after leaving the house, supposedly because he flubbed up leaving fingerprints and other evidence. Again this is a socio's classic manipulation and deception at work; He thought to kill hayes undoubtedly a in order to silence him- after all Hayes could finger him and almost as importantly it was an issue of greed Hayes dead he would keep all of the 15,000.00 that they extorted from Jennifer hawk Petit who I am sure was trying to buy her family's safety-and was cruelly double crossed.

Fortunately, in the end, by being true to his nature, Komsrajevsky predictably trips himself up within " admissions"made to the author Brian McDonald. While his main motivation was clearly to shift blame to Hayes for the worst of the crimes, he just couldn't help himself it seems allowing his ego to take over and as a result look close and pieces of the truth have a way of seeping through the detritus.