Dec 29, 2010

Willim Petit Jr.: Person of the Year

While there is certainly no more deserving a man for this title, I personally feel that it might just be a bit of a misnomer. A very humble person who clearly carries himself as a bit of an every-man, William Petit was undoubtedly surprised to find himself thus honored by The New Haven Register this week.

From all appearances of the man however, he might be more apt to graciously accept the title of Most inspiring person of the year, as inspiring others would seem to be at the core of his life mission.

As far as I can see, William Petit. has achieved
something akin to miraculous within the three plus years following the murders of his wife and two daughters. He managed to take one unadulterated act of pure evil and turn it into thousands of waves of hope, and acts of ever-lasting good. And as with most good endeavours, it was a concert effort, with the hard work and support of many people and their efforts both within and outside of, The Petit Family Foundation, a non profit charity created in the wake of the murders. All donations and proceeds from events, such as the annual 5K Road Race IN Plainville, help others. Women who are affected by violent crime, others living with chronic illnesses such as Multiple sclerosis, and several other endeavours, all changing lives for the better.

Most astounding to most of us is that Dr. Petit managed to create and organize this extremely successful Foundation during a time when his own body and psyche were very much still in the process of healing; healing from injuries and post trauma inflicted within the same crimes that took the lives of his wife and daughters; Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit. Those injuries included severe head and brain trauma  and  blood loss that nearly cost him his life: He was hospitalized for five days before being discharged, only to attend the funerals and memorialize his family.


Since those dark days in the summer and fall of 2007, Bill Petit  has been through many, many challenges that would daunt even the most stalwart person of faith. And yet, he  managed to not simply survive a feat within itself, but bit by bit he mustered the strength to make the traverse from victim to survivor, and then purveyor of good, affecting a widespread charitable movement of sorts that began with a handful of words that he made to the crowd that gathered at his family's memorial.

"If there is anything to be gained by the senseless murders of my beautIful family, let it be for all of us to  go forward and embrace a faith that embodies action; help a neighbor, fight for a cause, love your family. Continue the kindness and idelaism that defined these three women's lives"

And the recounting of  eleven year old daughter Michaela's favorite quote on her facebook page:
"You must be the change that you wish to see in this world"  "Be the change" has become the watchword of The foundation and all of the allied community efforts,  to raise money always for those struggling, suffering and in need.


Clearly an exceptionally caring and thoughtful girl, when she chose those words of Mahatma Gandhi, Michaela unwittingly pre-destined the core mission of the future Petit Family Foundation, as well as becoming the spark to an en-masse good works movement that began in the wake of the crimes that stole her young life; Crimes that took place in the suburbs of Hartford but whose ripple effects were felt continents away.

And William Petit Jr.brought all of this to us. He was, and still is, the messenger.Not only a victim of severe brutality and violence, he lost his wife, his daughters and his home within this terrible set of crimes. He could have easily chosen to curl up in the fetal position and give up on life. Few would blame him, many would expect it. But he didn't. Instead, he carried his family forward into this world, by doing what they might do if they were still with us. And he asked us all to try to emulate the kind and giving qualities that these three  people graced this world with.

With Hayes, Here We Go Again



I found this article in my archives today of all places.

Having recalled that this Post generated a lot of controversial commenting,  I thought it  more deserving then residing in dusty old draftswille, in fact I don't know how it wound up there.

From today's vantage point, many months later, as we now enter the penalty phase of Steven Hayes trial, which commences tomorrow morning, the piece has an even bigger punch than it did when first written:

As much as this columnist expressed what seemed a genuine respect for veteran public defender Thomas Ullmann, by doing so within this frame of reference, she almost seemed to be willing him not to pull a redux of the Michael Ross debacle with Hayes ie When Ross, like Hayes, wished to take accountability for his crimes and Ross's over- zealous public defenders, simply and quite literally-would not allow it.

At the same time, the writer seemed resigned to the fact that, her admiration for Ullmann not withstanding, the Hayes case was already heading in the same direction at that very moment.

She was right of course.

Attorney Ullmann and Culligan and their team of tax paid minions, fought tooth and nail to disallow Hayes from doing what was his absolute right to do:plead guilty to the crimes that he was accused of AND INDEED committed.

Every legal parlor trick in the book was brought out: first his competency was questioned, then when he was found to be competent, Ullmann and Culligan threatened that if need be, they would break the attorney/ client privilege and share information with the court that Hayes had made to them, within that pact, that would supposedly influence the court regarding the finding of his own ability to represent himself and declare himself guilty.

He gave in his lawyers in the end and reversed his plea back to Not Guilty and Ullmann got to walk away thinking himself a hero for refusing to" let Steven Hayes' commit state assisted suicide." This after he stated that a life in prison on death row is worse than the death penalty itself.


Which is it Mr Ullmann? Or are you suggesting he deserves worse than the Capital punishment that was in fact LAW when he and Komisarjevsky with full aforethought and Mal intent, set about breaking into the Petit household with their primary motive sexual assault


  ie  their phone texts prior to the crimes had Hayes chomping at the bit to start the evening's rape and carnage"Hold your horses dude:"   HAYES REPLIED Dude my horses are ready to bust out !!!"


This was a clear sexual reference and illustrates beyond a doubt that the two men had discussed raping Michaela and likely Hayley, according to Kmisarjevsky's interviews with writer Mike MacDonald who he surreptitiously met with in prison for "interviews" based on Komisarjevsky;s version of the crimes, he in effect sold Hayes on the home invasion cajoling him and titillating his evil side telling him how attractive the girls and Mrs Petit a young blond shapely mother of both teens. He'd spotted then stalked the family at an area supermarket and followed them home with his pedophilia lust trained upon Michaela only eleven years old.



Tragically all we are left with is a 20 20 hindsight and  a murdered mother and her two young daughters. We cannot continue to forget that Dr Petit was severely assaulted in this so called home invasion which is clearly a set of sex crimes whereupon the family member who poses the most threat is removed first Mr Petit was the only man of the house asleep on the sunporch when the men stalked the house intent upon their mission. Rape pillage and Burn the evidence.

Dec 27, 2010

Judge Blue denies Defense request for "reconsideration" motion to Re-try Hayes case

pdf of denial of motion

Judiciary Committee Co-Chairmen Both Tapped By Malloy

This ought to be interesting. At least Mike Lawlor will be off the Judiciary committee and out of the House of Representatives. For this, I am grateful.

Lets see if Mr. Lawlor has any skill with the practical implementation of the myriad of legislation, some of which he has the audacity to "lay claim to" after the political dust settles.. Translation: he has a habit of taking credit for popular new laws and reforms at voting time, when in fact, he, with his considerable influence over the weaker members in the House,(of which there are an abundance) usually crushed the very legislation that he later proclaims is his brain child within his election time advertising. This audacity seems to stem from a certainty that the majority of the CT residents a) don't know what is best for them, and b) don't pay attention to what is going on in the house and senate anyway. Ironically, this the has overtones of the BUSH-ESQUE "fodder units" referrals, and the mindset that accompanies such verbiage.

A classic example;  The hotly debated " three strikes law" that was demanded by the Connecticut public  in the wake of the Petit family murders. Lawlor, an attorney and former prosecutor, did all he could to fight the notion of a standardized sentencing law that would have greatly limited prosecutorial discretion. Instead, when the public temper increased, due to the release of even more details concerning the considerable criminal backgrounds of the two paroled men that killed three members of the Petit family members, emerged, Lawlor mocked the very concept of a three strikes law and stalemated the house on the vote. As a result the state wound up with some mishmash "persistent offender law" that is rarely if ever actually used.

And then to add insult to injury, many months later, Lawlor mendaciously claimed to be the "author of a new three strikes legislation" in his election pamphlet. He did not say "persistent offender law", he actually used the words Three Strike Law, hedging his bets that the average voter wouldn't know the difference anyway. This sneaky lowly maneuver typifies the man the legislator and the human being.

So we the people of Connecticut are left with a persistent offender law that has rarely, if ever since, been actually used in the courts. The only exception is  perhaps as a bargaining tool to encourage a defendant to take a plea for a lesser charge as an incentive to avoid a jury trial and wind up convicted and thus eligible for the already dusty "new" persistent offender sentencing law. Then techinally  the prosecutor or Judge  is alllowed to dole out a stricter sentence based upon a repeat offender status. However, this is only with certain crimes and not crimes that the defendant committed or was arrested. The record then only reflects "convictions" in the past a string of plea bargained down charges that reside on the OFFICIAL criminal record as a result of all of this nonsense.

I would say that Lawlor is the consummate politician, but he is actually more dangerous and morally flawed than that phrase implies. I am actually growing some respect for soon to be Governor Malloy, if in fact he made this move with Lawlor intelligently, with any of the aforementioned as considerations. We'll have to wait and see.

Dec 20, 2010

Madison spa founder holds fundraiser for Petit foundation

This is something I like to read about; especially near the holidays, people doing good things to help others in need.

Dec 15, 2010

The Crime Report » Archive » CT Gov.-Elect Vows To Fund Delayed Justice Reform Plans

I was quite heartened to read of this today and I can only hope that our new Governor is genuine regarding his commitment to seeing the long-delayed Judicial reforms that were passed by the Connecticut Legislature two years ago, finally become a reality. Those reforms, we were assured by Governor Rell , " were "just the beginning. " This, all in the wake of the Petit family murders and several other tragic sexual assaults and murders in the state, all committed by recently paroled career felons. Seven people were killed in three separate violent crime incidents, all occurring within months of each other in late 2007. The reforms hastily and in some cases, grudgingly passed by a somewhat reluctant and petulant house of representatives, and less so the State Senate.

I have asserted for quite some time that there is no more essresponsibilityesponsibility of our state government than to protect its
citizens from crime.And while this starts with our Police force, the bulk of our state's issues with crime do not exist within law enforcement; These men and women are on the lines doing their jobs and usually doing them well They are often frustrated by the same things that frustrate victims of crime, victims advocates, probation and parole officers and Activists for Domestic Violence and sexual assault.

The state has major issues with such important issues as bail, I recently posted an article about unscrupulous bail bondsmen, and completely inconsistent bail amounts for similar crimes, often leading to men being bonded out too easily and going right back out to commit immediate further violence upon whomever they were placed under arrest for attacking or stalking in the first place. Then there is the issue of our Parole system; inexperienced parole board members with insufficient training, no enough forensic psychologists to assess likelihood of re offending. We have one now on our entire Connecticut Parole board-we had none prior to 2008.

Communication between departments within the judicial arm of the government has been abysmal at best. The Petit murders brought to light an age old issue that unbenowst to the people of the state had been going on for years whiteout resolution, putting hundreds of innocent lives at risk and finally culminating in the perfect storm of one Steven Hayes, and one Joshua komisarjevsky, two recklessly paroled inmates who despite reams of criminal records showing both as high risks to the public were paroled anyway due to a common problem of a lack of complete criminal records that had been going on for years and paroles were still being granted left and right..

A lack of time limits for a violent crime case resolution always always benefits the defendant, and in turn always detracts from the victim's case and the victim them self..The inordinately high plea bargain percentage in Connecticut at 96-97% of all criminal cases

Dec 12, 2010

Man Charged With Killing Jasper Howard Scheduled For Trial In January

I am happy to see that the trial for this young man's accused murderer is moving
along so swiftly. What so many Connecticut resident's don't realize is that murder
trials generally don't begin for an average of  3-4 years from the time of the actual murder(s):

We are a state notorious for time- consumptive individual voire dire processes, (the jury selection process whereby the attorneys involved in a violent crime case question each potential juror separately, and ad nauseum, leading to a colossal waste of time, adding more motivation to the court to simply plea bargain a case in order to avoid a trial )Aswell as an over- liberalized system that has become hijacked by defense attorneys, thanks to a Judiciary committee  (comprised largely of attorneys themselves) and a state legislature,whose many members seem to suffer from a reflexive class-guilt that seems to compel them to empathize more easily with chronic offenders than with the victims and future victims of these offenders.

It has gotten to the point where even many Judges expect, and indeed, defend the "norm:" which appears to be a minimum of a three year wait from the date of a crime's commission to the advent of a jury selection. Case in point, Judge Damiani,  currently retired but presided over the early court machinations of the Petit murder case. More aptly, he presided over the barrage of continuances that served as "pre-trial hearings"  for the Petit case. This wait is not exclusive to that case, it is pretty much the norm for all violent crime cases in this state, including rape, murder and capital murder.

This ever widening time berth between a crime's occurrence and its actual Judicial  resolution is one of the few things that is indeed color and class blind. The highly publicized Petit family capital murder case fell victim to it, in effect, a second victimization for William Petit and his family members, this time at the hands of the State's Judicial process,.

Two years after the murders of Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit, the presiding Judge appeared to take it as a personal affront when William Petit dared complain about the length of time that had passed between the crimes that left him with severe head injury and no wife, children nor home, and the slightest signs of a trial being scheduled. He was given what amounted to a tongue-lashing, in open court. This, when the State Victim's Advocate brought Petit's concerns to the Judge. As I recall, when admonishing Petit, the Judge cited that a three year wait for a trial was well within the" normal parameters for a capital murder case"
And, he added," he considered it an insult to both he and his court" that Petit had implied that this wait was ludicrous..

I'm not sure why the Jasper Howard case has moved so swiftly through our court's usually hapless pace.
It could be the young man's celebrity that has helped move our normally sluggish judicial system along faster than it's norm, or perhaps there is an unusually dedicated prosecutor and/or presiding judge involved in the case. Whatever the reason, I am glad to see that it is happening for any victim of violent crime for the sake of their family and thier legacy in this world. They need a voice, their voice has been silenced.
I recently wrote an article about the Connolly murders that took place in Fairfield Connecticut; my home town. The Connolly's were the much loved long-time.married owners of a local Jewelry store, they were shot to death by a repeat felon with his girlfriens acting as lookout. The murders occurred in 2005, the suspects were in custody within weeks, yet for some reason, November 2010 finally marked the completion of jury selection for the defendant in these murders.. Six years after a  brutal double murder, and the trial is just now being scheduled. for 2011.

Something is terribly wrong here.

The Connecticut Legislative body needs to roll up their collective sleeves, pass a crime bill that enforces clear time limits between a crime's occurrence and when it is tried, or resolved by plea bargain. The right to a speedy trial should not be an exclusive right of the defendant. I daresay that a victim of violent  crime and the family of victims murdered or surviving, have as much at stake as the defendant.

 It is time that a legitimate article of victims rights is created and those rights become as rigid and unwavering as the rights of defendants. 

Brett Bednarz "Person of Interest" in Triple Murders Thanksgiving Day East Hartford

I'm sorry to say that my supposition regarding the brutal murders of a 74 year old woman   Bernice Therrian and a couple who cared for her on Thanksgiving day, were correct: It does appear to be a Domestic Violence crime at this time.

The adult son, and possibly the adult daughter of one of the victims, the elderly woman homeowner who was bludgeoned to death, are both being investigated by Police as possible suspects in the slayings. 46 Year old Brett Bednarz had been arrested in October for assaulting his mother and thanks to Connecticuts automatic plea bargaining system he wound up with a a Breach of Peace charge instead of assault and thus did not have a criminal record that reflected the danger that he posed-to both his mother and any other person who he might predate upon.

A home in Manchester, where both Bednarz and his sister reportedly reside together, was served a bench warrant for criminal search and seizure in the days following these murders.Bednarz was subsequently atrrested for marijuana possession and was taken into custody where police said he was cooperating with the investigation.  Police have now informed the public that the Bednarz continues to be a person of interest in the murder of his mother and the two caretakers that were killed along with her in her home on thanksgiving day. All three were killed by severe blunt force trauma of the head with Mrs Therrien being the most severe assault, usually indicating a personal attack with associated rage.

Mr Bednarz has been arrested multiple times in the past, including charges of assault. Apparently the Police had been called to the East Hartford residence where these murders took place at least five times in the months before the murders occurred. I will update as more information becomes available. My guess is that an arrest is imminent.

Dec 7, 2010

Jury selection set for Joshua Komisarjevsky - Petit Family Murders

We finally have a date set for jury selection for the Komisarjevsky's trial. Truth be told, although both of these men are despicable and obviously guilty of these crimes, I am more emotionally invested in seeing Komisarjevsky prosecuted. Hayes was tried and recently convicted and sentenced to death after a long and emotionally draining trial..

 Both men were complicit in the assaults and murders of  Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit, However, Joshua Komisarjevsky was the instigator of these crimes, it is he who made certain that the assaults and murders occurred. Because he is significantly younger than Hayes,  many people mistakenly assumed that Komisarjevsky was the proverbial second-hand guy- when in fact the opposite is true; He targeted this family for his own personal reasons, a pedophiles attraction to Michaela Petit. As well, this was Komisarjevsky turf,  He lived in Cheshire his entire life, when he wasn't in prison ie for setting fires (age 14) and breaking into houses where the homeowners were often sleeping in their beds. This was something that Hayes had never done prior to meeting Komisarjevsky. Komisarjevsky was out of prison and living in his parents home, less than 2 miles from the Petit's house at the time of the crimes.

The two men had met at a halfway house on their last leg of a shortened prison sentence, care of early release parole thanks to the Connecticut Parole board. The two men struck a "friendship" for what that is worth between two psychopaths, likely discovering their shared fantasies of sexual violence and their wanton disregard for the rights of others. It's clear that Komisrajevsky basically used Hayes,( as far as one can engage someone who is criminally-minded to begin with) for a night of sexual assault with robbery thrown in as a bonus of sorts.Robbery was not the main intention of these crimes.

In order to make the crime more appealing to Hayes, Komisarjevsky dangled the idea of raping  attractive Jennifer Hawke Petit, who at 48 was close to Hayes age, and reportedly described to Hayes as  " tall blond young- looking attractive Mom". That would be Mom to Michaela Petit, the eleven year old daughter of the Petit's,tragically the true prize that Joshua Komisarjevsky had set his sights on,  after spotting her with her mom at an area supermarket that very same day.

It was not a "chance intersection of three peoples lives" that sparked the beginning of one of the worst set of crimes that the state of Connecticut has ever seen" - as we have all heard over and over in the media..
It was rather one Joshua Komisarjevsky -  sociopath, pedophile, stalker, thief, who "sparked" these
crimes.

It  also drives me crazy when I see that the media and press still refer to the Petit crimes as  "robbery gone awry." One only need read the text messages sent between the men in the hours before the break-in, to see what was foremost on their minds.

Hayes:.'Hey, are we still on for tonight...?!
Komisarjevsky: " Yes definitely."
Hayes " I'm chomping at the bit to get started,  I need a Martguerita !."
Komisarjevsky:  " hold your horses, I'm putting the kid to Bed "
* Yes, this thug had a five year old daughter, who he had just won primary custody of no less. Again thanks to the state of Connecticut family court this time, this after  just getting out of prison for a string of 23 home break ins!

Hayes "Dude, the horses are dying to get loose lol...!

The sexual innuendo is obvious, this is not a reference to a robbery. The two men had been committing home- break ins together, for the prior two nights beginning the very first evening that the komisarjevsky had his Connecticut dept of corrections tracking anklet officially removed.  The decision regarding how long the anklet stayed on Komisarjevsky was determined by the Connecticut Parole board who as we now know were haphazardly paroling dangerous offenders for years. The pair had broken into a total of three houses, all while the homeowners were in bed asleep. But there were signs that the two had been discussing and thinking about going further with those crimes, in the direction of sexual assault and/or violence:

The last house to be robbed the night before the Petit home invasion, had had a butcher knife left stuck into the counter top in the kitchen, as well as several framed photographs of the family members stolen. Those photographs all included attractive women.  It was clear from the small amount of facts leaking out to various news sources before the gag order was placed on the case, that these crimes were motivated by sexual violence, which at its core is about dominance and control. The money that the men managed to procure from Mrs Petit, likely originated as a desperate offer by Mrs Petit, hoping and trying to buy the men's goodwill and get them out of the house, without her daughters being sexually assaulted or harmed.

 She had a lovely 17 tear old  daughter and a  pretty 11 year old girl in the middle of puberty. She may or may not have been aware of Joshua Komisarjevsky attraction to Michael as all three were tied up in separate rooms for the majority of the evening/morning hours. She may have been more worried about their intentions with her daughter Hayley, not knowing that Komisarjevsky was in fact a pedophile. Hayely, a strong athletic intelligent girl was way too much of a threat to Komisrajevsky's lightweight ego. He needed someone he could control emotionally.as well as physcially.

It should be mentioned that all of Joshau komisarjevsky's girlfriends, as well the mother of his then 5 year old daughter, were a maximum of 15 years old when he became sexually involved with them, this meant a 11 year difference with the girlfriend he had at the time of the Petit crimes. This speaks volumes about the guy.Unfortunately, Michaela Petit was tall for her age and appeared  a bit older than her 11 years, perhaps 14 or so,

I do not believe that the men were overt in their sexual molestations or assaults of  the Petit girls prior to Hayes leaving for the bank with Mrs Petit in tow As we know from the Hayes trial evidence, Joshua Komisarjevsky took a series of  nude photos of Michaela at approximately 7 am that morning around the time when Hayes was believed to be at a gas station, filling multiple containers with gasoline, thus a plan was already hatched to burn the entire house down with all of the family members tied up in the house -including the injured Dr Petit, who lay bleeding from his severe head wounds tied to a pole in his basement.

The Photos were taken on komisarjevsky's cell phone and showed Michaela in various outfits, including a school girl outfit consisting of a plaid skirt and a white sleeveless top. She had been taken out of her pajama's that she had been wearing in order to pose her tied in various outfits and stages of undress. The plaid skirt is classic pedophile behavior and it makes me livid that this guy targeted the youngest, most vulnerable person in the house. But this is exactly why she was targeted.

I have speculated that the money that Mrs Petit got from the bank may very well have been a bribe of sorts, and the men pretended to be as harmless as they could up until the point where they received the money. As well we discovered via the Hayes trial, the moment that Mrs Petit left for the bank with Hayes was when Joshua Komisarjevsky chose to fully sexually assault Michaela Petit.

 He had likely been trying to gain the trust and compliance of Jennifer Hawke Petit up until he point where the money was in hand. And  unfortunately that is exactly when both men turned on her, the moment she returned from the bank into her home. As a woman and a survivor of violent crime,it is this moment that I cannot help but imagine and re-live as Jennifer Petit must have.  The thoughts running through her mind, the terror for her family, the fear the shock.  Both men tied her up,including a noose around her neck. She was raped and strangled by Steven Hayes, while Komisarjevsky walked in and out of the room.
This was testimony of Hayes's, which in this particular case, sounds believable. Hayes admits to killing Mrs Petit, although at various times, he gave different reasons for doing so, one of which was at the provocation of Komsarjevsky who said to "get rid of her" I believe that once they broke in and were facing serious charges they soon planned to kill all of the members of the Petit household. Only after sexually assaulting the Mrs Petit adnd the girls. They assumed by burning down the home with the Petit's tied up inside that this  would be rid of all DNA evidence as well as witnesses.

Mrs Petit might have began screaming when she realized the men were going to kill her and her family and Hayes either reacted by choking her to death, or Komisarjevsky  ordered him " to "get rid of her" as Hayes had originally claimed. We will probably never know the entire truth unless Steven Hayes chooses to finally come completely clean now that he has been found guilty and sentenced. This he could do for the sake of the Petit Hawke families and for the successful prosecution of Joshua komisarjevsky
Until now, his attorneys would not allow him to tell the truth just as they wouldnt allow him to plead guilty months before the trial.

Joshau Komisarjevsky, in classic sociopath form, will assuredly never tell the truth regarding these crimes. He is a textbook sociopath,  deceitful manipulative and lacking in any real human conscience. He will do anything to avoid being exposed for what he truly is,.and he will avail himself of whatever and whomever is handy in doing so. In his criminal case, public defender Jeremiah Donovan, has already taken unusually big risks as an attorney for this guy, ie breaking a Court imposed Gag order trying to deflect guilt derived from fiorensic evidence showq during the hayes trial He would have us believe is this is some baby faced kid who simply got caught up in Steven Hayes murderous acts.. The forensic evidence has already shown that this is clearly not the case and that of the two men, komisarjevsky was a further evolved sexual predator.

It is my fervent desire and belief that in 2011, a Jury of twelve of Mr. Komsitrajevsky's peers will find him guilty of Kidnapping, Arson, Murder, Assault, and Sexual assault of a minor child, and sentence him to death. Until then, we will continue carrying on the spirit of the Petit women, by helping others in need through the Foundation that William Petit Jr founded in the wake of this tragedy.
The Petit Family Foundation .

Cheshire Killer Steven Hayes Talks at Sentencing

Dec 5, 2010

Motion to "reconsider motion for a New Trial" filed by Hayes Defense Team

Another motion was filed in New Haven Superior Court on Thursday by Steven Hayes Defense Team; The motion requested a recosideration" of  a former motion filed by said defense, last week
requesting a new trial for Mr Hayes. That motion cited multiple factors that the defense claimed caused the Hayes Jury to become biased,
distracted and unduly influenced  by the unusually large media presence among other things.

It should be noted that the defense never objected, formally or otherwise,to the media presence during the entire trial proceedings,themself, nor did they object verbally,or in writing, to the judge or prosecutor, regarding the seating arrangements for the Petit/ Hawke families,an issue that is believe it or not, shamelessly being cited as a reason for the need for a new trial, both within the first and 2nd motion filed by hayes's attorneys. 

The original motion for a new trial was officially denied by Judge Blue six days after it was received by the court. Blue clearly gave the motion due diligence, he offered  extremely succinct counter-arguments for each and every defende claim re how Hayes right to a fair trial was infringed upon ie  by;the media presence, the presence of the Petit's extended family in the Jury's presence, and a host of other objections, many of which bordered on just plain ludicrous..


In the original motion, the defense used the heavy media presence and the "distraction" that it\ had on the Jury, claiming it ultimately affected the verdict,as well as the sentencing during the sentencing phase.
This argument was once again at the nucleus of the motion to "reconsider" The defense team essentially said that Judge Blue's decision regarding the original motion was based upon unsound legal reasoning, and they basically tried to dismantle each point that the Judge carefully laid out in his brief.

This succession of motions is perfect example of why our courts need to begin setting limits on what is clearly abuse of the system by defense attorneys -  public defenders or otherwise.It almost becomes a form of
blackmail, holding the process hostage as it were, which is how our courts got into this mess to begin with.
It is clear that Mr.Ullmann, being an avid anti death penalty propagandist, simply will not let any defeat" stand in any Death Penalty case where he is the defense attorney.

It certainly cheapens Ulmann's vociferous stance when he dons the same  arrogant indigence  over every single case, no matter the brutality of the crimes that his client commits, how many victims lay in his wake and whether they include children, etc..

 In Ullmanns world,  the moral "wrngness of the death penalty" transcends all of these small
insignificant  facts like actual guilt -  the law- how many people suffered as a result of the violence and death..
The contention surrounding the death penalty  gives Attorneys like Thomas Ullmann permission to throw all  considerations out the window;The state is trying to kill his client-that's all he needs,or cares to know; he is thus transformed from a public defender who will defend anyone for anyhting into a self appointed hero for the "underdog."
Never mind that the Dog is rabid.

According to statement made in court during last weeks sentencing, Steven Hayes said that he was glad to receive the death Penalty by the Jury. Indeed he claimed that he" is  tortured by the crimes that he has committed, and that death will be a welcome relief when it comes. He added that he hopes his death will bring some comfort and peace to Dr Petit and the other family members of those he hurt.

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Dec 1, 2010

Family speaks at Steven Hayes official sentencing

The formal sentencing of  Steven J Hayes took place in New Haven Superior Court this morning. The courtroom was packed with the usual considerable media presence, as well as members of the general public fortunate enough to make it into the courtroom, which quickly became standing room only.

All were gathered to witness the official meting out of justice to the man convicted of murdering Jennifer, Michaela and Hayley Petit, and severely injuring sole survivor, Wilium Petit Jr..


Various members of the victim's family spoke prior to the sentencing, some directly addressing the man convicted of murdering their family members. Each statement was filled with emotion packed descriptions of  loss, grief, and anger,  pulling back the curtain in effect on the true devastation caused by this set of violent crimes.

A lengthy video-taped statement made by Jennifer Petit's sister, Cindy Renn, was also played in the courtroom. As Renn pointedly addressed her sister's killer; she described, in vivid detail the life destruction that began in the wake of the murders and continues to this day.

It was within the biggest and the smallest details that Renn shares that the enormity of the consequences of the crimes became wholly appreciated.. Generally speaking , very few family member's of victims of violent crime get the chance to make public the depth and breadth of  the trauma and hardship caused by violent crime such as these; except perhaps within the rooms of crime survivor support groups, that a fortunate few might find refuge in. To me, the words of Cindy Renn and the rest of Petit Hawke family members are the most important ones spoken since the advent of this trial.

.The following is a link to the transcript of  Cindy Renn's videotaped statement.

 renn's statement