Feb 25, 2011

Judge, Defense Clash During Cheshire Trial Hearings

As usual, a great article from the Tribune. When will Jeremiah Donovan and co. learn that a little humility goes a long way? This willy-nilly pugnacious tact, first  trying to get rid of the presiding judge, verbally attacking the lone surviving victim, the media, and now- the families of the victims. This is really not the best stance to be taking under the circumstances, never mind professional or personal ethics.

But on second thought, all the better. Ultimately, they're only helping to get this guy the death penalty; by vilifying themselves and their client, even more than he already has done - via his own actions.

Perhaps Donovan is suffering from something akin to the Stockholm syndrome, you know, that altered mental state where a person starts to lose their entire sense of separateness and a sick symbiotic- like relationship develops, in this case with a criminal client Of course, that relationship is completely based upon a thick as bricks denial system and an almost Svengali-like hold that the perpetrator/psychopath has over his "subject", who in this case is his lawyer.

Hey I'm just incredulous at the level of "vigorous defense" that these state paid public defenders go to in order to try to rid their murderous clients of their accountability for taking three innocent lives. Never mind the amounts of state money being spent on some of these ridiculous barrage of motions. These attorneys should be getting fined for abusing this process and wasting tax payers money that pays their salaries. They actually came up with their own private team of investigative poll takers, to poll all four counties in Connecticut in order to determine which county is least likely to give the death penalty to their client Joshua Komisarjevsky.

This was done, believe it or not,to back up a motion for change of venue,to either Fairfield or Stamford Counties, because,as the lawyers cited freely to Judge Blue, those counties showed a distinct propensity for being more likely to not give their client the death penalty. Simply translated; the residents in these
regions know less about the details of the case, particularly that Komisrajevsky was in fact the ringleader, the brainchild and most importantly, if not for his desire to rape an 11 year old girl, none of these murders would have taken place.

Feb 22, 2011

Conn. Home Invasion Update: Judge Allows Dr. William Petit to Participate in Pretrial Sessions


I am thrilled that Judge Blue has decided to allow William Petit Jr. to be present while the attorneys and  prosecutors discuss and hash out major pretrial decisions regarding the case against  Joshua Komisarjevsky, ringleader of the Petit family rapes and murders.

 Komisarjevsky has long been recognized as the instigator of the 2007 crimes; a brutal home invasion that involved kidnapping, assault, multiple rapes and multiple murder.

 The Crimes, we have since learned, originated from a plan devised by Komisarjevsky himself, to break into the Petit's home and with the help of  accomplice Steven Hayes to take complete control of the house. With 44 year old Steven Hayes in tow and a fake 9mm gun, he planned to assault and maim the man of the house  and then easily restrain all the females, and personally rape 11 year old Michaela Petit,  whom he had spotted and stalked that very day at an area supermarket.


 Twelve hours later, Joshua Komisarjevsky  would be snapping cell phone pictures of a terrified and nude Michaelala, bound tightly to her bed, .amid  stuffed animals and Harry potter books. He repeatedly molested her throughout the evening, while her mother and sister were tied up in seperate rooms. Later in the morning while Hayes had been iinstructed to go to the bank with Mrs Petit, Komisrajevsky took nude cell photos of Hayely also, presumably in order to relive the sexual crimes over and over again in his head long after the girls were dead. Memento taking, including photos and videos is a sure sign of a full blown pyschopathic sexual predator.

Forensic evidence introduced during the Steven Hayes trial also proved that little Michaela had been fully raped by Komisarjevsky just minutes before dying a horrible death by being doused in gasoline and set on fire, tied helplessly to her bed.. The media reports often anesthetize the deaths by stating that " the girls died of "smoke inhalation'" After listening to the forensic testimony in court and seeing some of the crime scene photographs, one can see that both girls were on fire as an accelerant had liberally been poured directly on them tho less on Michaela, as the men admitted they had almost run out of gas after dousing Hayley and Jennifer Petit body, who had been strangled during her rape.

The forensic expert testified that the fire was like a "writhing violent snake, designed to consume only those in its path"-there was no escaping it. Hayley broke free of her restraints or they burned off of her and she ran on fire collapsing at the top of the stairs. Little Michaela in particular died a very painful death,  tied tightly to her headboard one could see that she struggled terribly to escape the ensuing flames.
Her partially burnt body was found with both arms still tied above her head.

Michaela was a  pretty, blond shy  girl with a sweet demeanor who looked a few years older than her actual age, and Joshua  komisarjevsky who happened to have pedophile preferences happened to lock onto her as she shopped at a local supermarket alongside her mom, just hours before the rapes and murders woud occurr, leaving everyone in the Petit family except father, William Petit Jr, dead.

Petit had broken through the plastic zip ties that had tied  his hands,to a pole in his basement.His feet still bound and half conscious from multiple head blows from komistraejsvskys bat,  he hopped up the bilco cellar steps, feet still tied, with  major blood loss, he managed to roll to a neighbors yard, yelling for help for his family.
As anyone can plainly see, Mr. Komisarjevsky did not commit these crimes spontaneously, nor was this "a robbery gone awry " as he and his lawyers have tried to ingrain into the minds of every Connecticut citizen who might be following the case  (and within the populus that contains the jury pool for their clients eventual trial.)

Mr. Komisarjevsky approached the Petit's modest ranch home that night with one thing in mind; Sexually assaulting Michaela Petit; He was wearing all black, including black skull cap; he carried with him a large knife, plastic zip-ties of the sort that Police use to handcuff suspects.,and he toted some makeshift face masks from ski caps with eyes cut out. And between the two men there was no question who was  the leaderr and who, the muscle between komisrajevsky and Hayes. The men also carried a very real looking
fake 9 mm handgun, which Dr.Petit later testified, looked exactly like the 9mm guns that he'd seen police officers wearing for years, when he treated them within his medical practice.
The gun was actually no more than an elaborate pellet gun, purchased that very day by komisarjevsksy'saccomplice, Steven Hayes, at komisarjevskys orders,.earllier in the evening when they met to discuss the plan for the home invasion.

Hayes was tried first for these crimes because he had one or two additional charges somehow. He was found guilty after an emotionally wrenching trial that literally traumatized the jury, the press and nedia who managed to get into the courtoom and basically everyone who heard the details of this case.
 It was as if we were all experiencing the crimes and the pain again through the hayes trial, Many of us in the community and state were markedly distressed  and suffered a type of post traumatic stress out of empathy for what the Petit girls were put through.

Hayes was finally sentenced to death after 5 long days of Jury deliberations. Although always gracious the Petit hawke chapman and Renn families were becoming drained and despondent as the trial seemed to unearth more and more awful details concerning the girls suffering, as well there was the media frenzy that followed them everywhere. CNN, CBS, ABC, HBO -  all the big media outlets were parked outside the New Haven courthouse every single day, and every single day the Petit Hawke and extended families drove in from Cheshire, Plainville, Pennsylvania and North Carolina to attend the days trial events.

Steven Hayes was a fellow burglar and recent parolee, both men had reunited after being released on what was retrospectively a terrible decision to grant komisarjevsky early release Parole, a plan originally designed  to ease prison overcrowding. This early release program was created and supported by then vice - chair of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee, Mike Lawlor, who has since been hired by Governor Dan Malloy.( I guess he felt that Lawlor should be rewarded for his resume of great decisions re the justice system)

In any event, Hayes was also a repeat offender, in and out of prison, just like Komisarjevsky He,was easily enlisted for the Petit rapes and robbery; komisarjevsky, who was the only one who had actually seen the attractive Mrs Petit and her adolescent daughter, explained to Hayes that both mother and daughter were extremely attractive and he later even admitted to using Jennifer Petit as a lure for Hayes to participate in the home invasion for selfish reasons; he needed a second guy. After following the pair back to their house after they'd shopped, Komisarjevsky decided that their house, although modest by Cheshire standards, would probably contain a fair amount of jewelry, electronics and possibly even cash. This would only be an added bonus to komisarjevsky whose sights remained fixed upon the pretty young MMichaela.

Komisarjevsky was a slight man, at 6 ft 1" and 126 lbs, he would need help pulling off the crimes that he had in mind for the Petit family. A then burly 230 lb Steven Hayes was the perfect solution. Hayes,although also a sociopath, was considerably less intelligent than komisarjevsky, and despite the age difference, Hayes 44,  Komisarjevsky 26, it was clear who the mastermind and the ring leader was.

In fact, the two men had been robbing houses together for two nights, as warm-ups for the big one-the Petit murders. Amazingly, the break-ins began the very day that Joshua Komisarjevky's GPS ankle monitoring bracelet was removed by the Connecticut Dept of Corrections.This somehow happened despite the original judges instructions that komisarjevsky serve six years of special monitored parole after his nine year prison sentence.

He served a year and a half in prison, from there he went to a Hartford area halfway house and from there he went home to live with his parents in their Cheshire home along with his 5 year old daughter, who he'd recently won main custody of! The GPS anklet was off in less than 6 months.

In any event, today's decision by Judge Blue is an important one, It could even turn out to be a landmark for victims rights in the State of Connecticut.

Or, it could turn out to be a one time fluke
.
But the good news is that when Judges make decisions like this, it is on the record, in the most formal of senses, it may be used in future cases ad infinitum..

One may always refer back to a judges particular decision, and the case in which it was confined to, when pleading their own case,( or their clients case.)Whether or not Judge Blue or Dr Petit is aware of it, by making this courageous and indeed morally correct decision today, Judge Blue has made an empowering statement to victims of violent crime. Remember, these victims, in the past, have been shut out, locked out of their own "cases. Violent criminal cases, in which they, as the victim, were in fact the very embodiment of!"
In the instance of violent crime - The victim is THE "CASE"

So: All pre-trial "discovery" and all communications that previously occurred solely between  the prosecutor-(who  acting on the victims behalf as the only official attorney the victim has!) and the defense attorney for the defendant or as I like to call them the perpetrator. Despite this fact however, in almost every criminal case, there is no communication between prosecutor and victim, and if there is, it is curt and perfunctory at best.

Since the state of  Connecticut relies so heavily upon plea deals for the resolution/adjudication of most of our violent crime cases (96 percent are resolved via plea deals), most of the talking that determines what direction the "case" goes, ie will it be plea dealed, will some charges be lowered and or dropped and if so-why?

What is the defense attorney conveying to the presiding prosecutor about the crime, that may, or may not affect his view of the crime or of the victim, And ultimately, how this " case" is resolved:  
Will Justice be served?
Will the offender serve ANY time in prison or
Simply receive a suspended sentence?
Will he have to pay medical restitution and or fines for injuring his/her victim,
And what about emotional and psychological assistance for the victim?
The effects of post traumatic stress can be life debilitating, Who is to speak for the victim if all of the speaking is being done behind closed doors?

And these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. Few people care to think about this nor do they have the energy to try to change it, but consider how you would feel if violent crime came visiting your home, your loved ones one night? If a person of so called " affluence " a term the defense attorneys bandy about a lot for their own self gain, but a misnomer and simply untrue, in reality.

If he has had to struggle as much as he has had to with the Connecticut Judicial system, what then of the average man or woman-what then of the victim/survivor who is so enmeshed in a state of post traumatic stress that they can barely put one foot in front of the other let alo0ne fight a system that seems intent upon doing the easiest thing and allowing a dangerous criminal to walk away with yet another slap on the wrist; a criminal record that defies the dangerousness that he she poses all of which will affect future victims, and there will be more. The Petit family murders are but one terrible example of the ticking time bomb that was/is Connecticut's criminal court systems.

Today, if a prosecutor decides that a case is "too weak" to convict and thus drops that charge down several notches or does away with a charge or two or three simply for the sake of wrapping up another case ...who protects the victim's interests?  What is being said by these attorneys which include the prosecutor who are not the hero type states attorneys that we see on law and order. They are generally committed to one thing accruing convictions no matter how small the charges IE encouraging deals involving serious felonies magically becoming misdemeanors-which the courts view as nothing.

And all of this is done again behind closed doors, in pre-trial meetings, over the course of months often exceeding a year even in the case of serious violent crime cases that involve maiming of the victim!
These "meetings" often have grave implications insofar as the outcome of every violent crime sentencing,that does not go to a trial-and that is most as we've established. What that rapist or assailant or kidnapper or stalker or even child molester rapist's sentence will be and how low the charges will be dropped is all decided behind closed doors, without the victim, nor even the judge present!

It is almost always between two men, a defense lawyer and a prosecutor who usually hasn't seen the inside of a trial-in decades. The men are usually of the same bar and often quite friendly with each other, in their dealings with each other. While there's nothing wrong with professional courtesy when it transcends courtesy and the prosecutor and the defense attorney dine together attend each others weddings christenings, are each others neighbors, do each others favors, give recommendations and job referrals, well now this has entered the arena of  old boy cronyism which you better believe is alive and well in "liberal Connecticut Courthouses.
There are many many situations where a prosecutor should be recusing himself from a case due to conflicts of interest, not to mention out and out palm greasing in some of our larger city courts especially one that is known for being generally corrupt in almost ever other government branch.

These attorneys and prosecutors travel in many of the same circles There is little to no adversarial atmosphere even with extremely violent crimes such as aggravated assaults where the victims are maimed or rape of a child or even manslaughter! It has escalated to the point where our courts have become little more than administrative back room deal making, "I owe ya one on this pal" should be certain city courts engraved motto's above the granite entryways.
Back slapping and cronyism rampant throughout.. Trials are almost non existent, except for the occasional high profile murder cases and/or sexual assaults and even then, many prosecutors waiting out their pensions would prefer to deal it out-they collect that same paycheck, why make all that extra work for themselves/

Kidnappings and severe aggravated assaults resulting in life long injuries are routinely plea bargained, often against the wishes of the victim or the victim's family- if he or she is no longer alive. And yet without a good high paid private attorney to help make certain that the judge knows what she or he needs to know about the severity of this case, that's being dealt away as if a bunch of cards, well, then you're out of luck--
And this beyond wrong, it is reprehensible, and it has been going on for a very  long time in our Connecticut Superior courts. Think of the motor vehicle dept overseeing life and death cases that involve rape and broken bones and brain damage from severe beatings.Roll that image over in your mind and that that is what our courts are actually like.

Hopefully, this decision of Judge Blue has set a precedent for more involvement for the victim of violent crime, for at present, all victims have had to rely on, is a state supplied victim's " advocate" who having to work directly for the state's attorneys office that she is usually housed with, has become literally no more than a symbolic hand holder to justify misused grant monies awarded certain state courts, Typically they have little to no legal knowledge and even when they are savvier than most, they are rendered powerless by the old" you scratch my back Ill scratch yours' network that has been running our courts for years.
In the meantime, our policemen and women put their lives on the line every day so that a solid case can be made against dangerous criminal  predators, men that rape children and elderly women, and they become completely despondent and hopeless when time and again they see the very same repeat offenders travel through the revolving doors of our courts plea mills -often with little or no prison time, and worse-no accurate criminal record to show the next police officer or the Parole Board, just how dangerous this criminal is.


But for this one thing today I am grateful, for Dr Petit and for all other victims of violent crime who perhaps cannot afford a private attorney to watch over their interests when the prosecutors so clearly are not.
 God willing these victims have the wherewithal to attend those formerly closed backdoor meetings that determine something as essential as whether the man that killed, maimed or sexually assaulted either them, or their loved one, is going to be sentenced according to the letter of the law. And if not, why not?

And this is where we must fight the next good fight; to lobby and organize political, public and private citizen action groups to subsidize legal assistance for victims of violent crime who are dissatisfied with the progression of the case of which they, as victim, are the very embodiment of.
The legal service must be completely separate from the State as well as the geographic superior court in which that criminal case is being heard; Otherwise, it too will become swallowed up by the states beurocracy, as the victims advocate's, who were once to be the battered women's saving grace in  domestic violence court dockets.

Komisarjevsky Defense Team - four more motions DENIED

Although the ultimate decisions re these motions were not tough to call, one can never become too presumptiveve when dealing with courts, Judges, lawyers and the sometimes whimsical nature of the judicial system

But that said, today's responses from Judge Blue,were in perfect accordance with his usual common sense approach to his career as a Judge and a meticululas adherence to the letter of the law, which he's been praised for for over 35 years now.

Just happy to see him make proper mincemeat of these gravy stain tied wearing lowlifes-lifes for all the world to see--or in this case, read.
See motions in thier entirety, and responses to older motions in the links below.





Defense in Conn. home invasion claims to be focusing on Jurors " emotion" via Motions

Actually, within the komisarjevsky's motion, a big part of the reasoning was that Mr Komisarjevsky, self admitted pedophile and rapist, considers it his right to ask the court to break all standard courtroom protocol, and use seating, typically reserved for the victims family, and in this case, also survivor and witness William Petit, in order to re-arrange a decades old protocol in order to be seated directly opposite Dr Petit and his family, in order to exercise his right to look his accusers eye to eye"

He might as well have said ' Man to man" so overt was the adversarial tone. This stance is classic sociopath; trying to regain the upper hand, even even in situations where he is clearly in the subservient - he is the one in chains, he is in prison, he was caught fleeing from a capital triple murder scene. And most markedly,by off erring to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for life sentence instead of the death penalty, he is clearly admitting guilt.

So what is all this nonsense about?

There was absolutely no mention within the Defense motion's entire document, which I personally read page by page, for moving the court's seating arrangements in hopes of humanizing Joshua Komisrajevsky in the eyes of the jury. this was the nucleus of the reasoning for this motion within the linked article above.

The defense team did claim however that Mr Komsiarjevsky WANTED to face his accusers and  he also resented the Jury being in such close proximity to Dr Petit the Petit hawke families... and the prosecutor as well-the latter, an age old tradition in almost every state superior courts in this country..

But Mr Komisarjevsky, instigator of the most brutal  set of crimes that this state has ever seen, wants this tradition changed---for him.

Now, while I don't believe he nor his lawyers will get very far with most of these motions that border on the ludicrous, it does give me pause; The scary thing here is that we don't know if these "ideas" are originating from komisarjevsky himself or his attorneys, or worse, a result of a meeting of the minds -  of all three men.. -IE Komisarjevsky and his two main attorneys. Somehow I can picture this very easily. Too easily in fact.

The reason this has any important at all is because this kind of manipulation points to a highly manipulative personae and most likely some kind of personality disorder, of which there are a multitude. Another very likely alternative is that these lawyers, like the author Brian MacDonald, who was admittedly hoodwinked into writing a book about the Petit crimes via meetings letters and journals sent by Joshua komiarjevsky, who at the time he believed, although since the Hayes trial bore out that so much of what komisarjevsky spoon fed MacDonald as "the "truth" was forensically impossible and indeed fraught with lie after self serving lie. After watching Jeremiah Donovan speak on behalf of his client " Josh" on the steps of the Hayes trial Media gathering, I wondered more than once or twice is this guy just your typical used car salesman public defender with gravy stain on his tie ET AL, trying to grab his moment of fame, or is he, like MacDonald truly caught up in his clients boyish looks and soft spoken intelligent demeanor? Indeed most human beings do not want to believe that another human being could do the things that Josh" has been accused of doing" Thus it would be much easier for Mr Donovan who also has a wife and two daughters, to believe that Steven Hayes was the real killer here and his client just got caught up in the mess so to speak. I fear I may be giving Jeremiah Donovan way too much moral and ethical credit.

For those interested in reading through any of the defense's Fodder Motions, as we like to call them, feel free to peruse the links in previous and ensuing posts, as the linked motions are released by the court.

Feb 11, 2011

The State responds to Komisarjevsksys motion to disqualify Judge Blue


That was pretty darn swift; IE an answer from the State regarding Joshua Komisarjevsky's motion to get rid of Judge Blue, the very same who presided over the Steven Hayes case. A very somewhat folksy type of judge... don't let the folksiness fool you; He knows his law, he takes no guff from either defense attorneys,nor state prosecutors,and from my vantage point he was extremely fair regarding his adjudication of the Hayes procedures, which had they been under another Judges rule,  may very well have turned into complete media mayhem...
thankfully did not.

 Although allowing the media access to the Internet by allowing the reporters to bring in laptops, I Phones, and other such devices whereby they could post in real time what was occurring within this Trial, including observations made re.the family's reactions to upsetting testimony,etc.  Blue drew the line at allowing anyone to use their devices to tape or videotape the proceedings, which many have speculated whether or not this took place.despite the prohibition  myself included.As this case involved sexual assault charges against a minor and a non minor, as law provides,no Television cameras are allowed in the courtroom itself.

However Judge Blue made it clear that with these new exceptional devices, came even more responsibility
than reporters had had in the past and this new privilege, came some equally sensible limits; After all, we were all  in uncharted territory, insofar as the by now infamous tweeting, which the judge decided to allow from the courtroom, allowing there reporters to report live in effect via statements(Tweets) 140 characters or less describing whats happening.

Apparently in Twitterland, as I joking dubbed it,there is in fact a limit on how many tweets a person can make in a day and at least one reporter was known to have exceeded  her daily limit;If I recall correctly it was Helen
Ubinas from the Courant,aka"Notesfromhe" IE her twitter moniker.

All of this silliness aside the main points is that the entire privilege these new media mediums were to be allowed according to Blue, as long as they did not disrupt proceedings.

That qualification was in fact the steadfast rule all electronic devices and even artist sketchers for that matter, throughout the Hayes trial Basically Blue seemed to be saying ' Keep it respectful,  remember that this is court of law, there is  a capital murder trial going on, three people have been murdered, a child among them, others has been raped, and one of the men accused has a life possibly hanging  the balance of this jury's ultimate decision.

It appears Blue walked this at -times- tightrope- of -sorts extremely well in fact. The news was reported
via this brand new medium. Few distractions occurred one was a reporter typing too loudly on her laptop-Judge blue admonished her and told her to be quieter or remove herself from the court.

The other distraction is rather ironic as it was a most bizarre and terribly timed cell phone going off in the middle of what was some awful graphic testimony about Michaela Petit' autopsy, and who was the culprit?   Why none other than Jeremiah Donovan---and it should be noted,that Donovan's cellphone was blaring three dog nights version of "joy to the world",as he scurried from the room to answer it.

Joy To The World.

Pretty amusing if not for the situation .

In any case if you read the  willy-nilly blather within the motion to disqualify Blue written- no doubtedly one of the  legal aid minions for Komsarjevsky(via Donovan and co.)  Its clear from the start although their aim is to disqualify Blue , you'd think that he behaved one step short of commitment to the nearest mental health facility.

As I stated in my prior posts,which addressed some of these time wasting motions, it is the defense aim to
throw enough junk at the wall hoping some of it might stick ( a fine lawyering maneuver )
When I was in court during the Hayes trial, Blue struck me as an impartial judge, who certainly was not taking sides, and in fact I distinctly noted that he gave a give a wink of two to a few of Hayes' defense team expert witnesses, a simplified but clear example that he impartial to these men insofar as professionally and personally/is not the type of man, nor judge, that 'judges' a person by which " side" they're on in this particular case even when that case involves the rape and murder of a child) and which side is in. And we don't have to even broach his impressive professional judicial resume.

  The point is that this motion,to replace Blue, like nearly every one of the ten motions that Jeremiah Donovan ET AL, has had his minions typing up earnestly, while his wife and grandchildren sleep peacefully,is nothing but a fishing expedition/ procrastination and  within this plethora of pointless paperwork which causes a waste of tax payers money money which could be used for any number of positive and worthy causes, including helping the victims of crimes that miraculously managed to survive against all odds and might need a assistance from society to get back on their feet;  this year likely they will get a door shut in their collective face.
In any event for those interested,  here is the state of Connecticut's response to Komisarjevsky motion to disqualify Judge Blue, among other things. Its really quite fascinating to read and there are two documents on Scribed that have similar language they are not duplicates-two separate documents.
Read on!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48660313

Stae vs Komisrajevsky memo re motion to disqualify Judge Blue et al

Feb 8, 2011

DiMeo convicted of killing Kim and Tim Donnelly

Well, we knew that the jury would find Dimeo guilty, there was just so much incriminating evidence against him, and Dimeo pretty much confessed to Connecticut State Police after he was arrested.

But the big question that has remained and hung over him for all of these years is; will he get the death penalty for killing this much beloved, kind hearted happily married couple, who were just then approaching what was supposed to be thier golden years, getting ready for early retirement

But as familiar as I am with Connecticut;s Justice system especially in capital crime cases, weve got a bit of a wait here; As is often customary, the judge gave the jury a short time off between the rendering of the verdict and the sentencing deliberations for the trial.

 The jury will return to court on February 28. May they use this time wisely to unwind, to begin to treat the trauma that they have unfortunately been exposed to through viewing the evidence of this  brutal double murder, and.hopefully, releive some of the heaviness in thier hearts and the innocence lost when one is forced to encounter the evil that propagtes such senseless and cruel acts of violence.


It will be interesting as well as emotionally gripping for me personally to see which way this jury votes insofar s this man's sentence for taking these two beautiful lives ( there was yet another man that dimeo killed during a seperate robbery that occurred in New York prior to the murders of timee and kim. The death peanlty has been abolished in New York state for several years, and as such he tried to fight extradition to Connecticut to face his deeds here for literally three plus years, rememeber these murders occurred in 2005!

Date given to Hear Motion by Komisrajevskys lawyers disqualify Judge Blue from 2nd Petit family murder trial

Its amazing how fast our Connecticut courts can move when it comes to dealing with the  frivolous motions that defense attorneys for capital murder cases deluge the system with. Especially when compared to the painfully sluggish pace in which the victims and the  loved ones of victims must endure when it comes to the adjudication of these same crimes; IE The rendering of a verdict and the sentencing actually being passed, never mind actually carried out-thats another story...

The latter, a veritable tortoise pace that both victims and family members of victims alike, have been told over and over again, is simply the norm; standard practice for capital murder crime cases or any serious violent criminal case in this state to be exact.

 In fact,Dr Petit was once actually chastised by one Judge Damiani  the first of three judges who presided over the Petit murder cases since 2007 when they happened. It was back in 2009 when the sole survivor of his family's slaughter " had the nerve" to complain to the court via his states victims advocate regarding the fact that 2 plus years had passed since his family had been tortured raped and killed by fire, and yet there appeared to be no date even set for beginning a jury selection process--for either defendant..

Judge Damiani, now thankfully retired, informed Dr Petit, rather curtly and rudely,  that 2 plus years was well within the normal parameters for a capital crime case in this state and  he has seen three years as completely acceptable waiting period  considering a mans life was at stake after all.(THAT WAS THE MURDERS LIFE HE WAS SPEAKING OF)

 Furthermore,' he took it as a personal insult to both he and "his court" that Dr Petit would even raise this subject OR moreover likely manage to get a hearing sceduled to hear Dr Petit and family concerns-which admittedly in the state of Connecticut is not exactly the norm for victims nor families of victims. For some reason this state although it sees itself as progressive and liberal doesa not seem to take care of its traumatized vixtims of violent crime seriously.The message would seem to bw  time and time again
" be good little victim dont complain and be quiet,"  let the courts do what they do , on out time clock.
 Deal with it, and don't make any trouble.

Fast forward a couple of years,.and less than 23 hours after a motion was filed by the Joshua komisarjevsky's defense team" , just the first of ten motions  each one decidedly more outrageous and  insulting to : the victimSs the family of victims.and all victims of violence in general.
New Haven Superior court today announced that it will be hearing the first of those ten motions filed and would it be heard in a timely fashion, on February 15th at New Haven Superiro court see motion below.
Thus, proving that all matters can and should be dealt with in the same swift fashion. This  includes the Jury selection process for the komisarjevsky trial, which we have all been waiting for what seems eternity and quite predictably, Mr Donovan asked for, and was awarded, yet more time to prepare fo;( hes only had four years after all -well when he wasn't having to deal with that pesky contempt order thing for breaking that gag order re the Petit murder case. See attached link for the contempt order hearing request and all details contained therein)
So the bottom line  is that the new haven court will be hearing the first of komisarjesvky's extremely  unnecessary motions filed in regards to their clients trial, on Feb 15th. A trial that was supposed to be undergoing jury selection at this very moment,but as explained, due to the very same Donovaneque procrastination process, (you might say kind of a signature thing, along with that bad used car salesman demeanor of his) there is no such Jury selection beginning and wont be until at least April 20th-and my guess is that Attorney Donovan will come up with yet another reason for a continuation of onset of this Jury process, thereby stalling the entire trial yet again.

You should also be aware that  included in these motions was a request for not only a change of venue from New Haven to Stamford, due to pre-trial publicity, ahem never mind the book his client co wrote for national publication in 2009)  but also a motion to sequester this jury unlike the Hayes Jury who were allowed to go
home at the end of their arduous and draining days at court. The judge trusted the jury to abide by their oath and instructions not to read about the case nor watch any media coverage nor discuss it with any family members. From where I stand the Jury on the Hayes case took their responsibility's very seriously.
The fact alone that they Deliberated as long as they did on even the guilt phase of the trial, where the lawyers basically said he did it, were conceding that-not all but were conceding much. Even there they were meticulous re their duties and instructions insofar as determination of guilt on each and every count.

This was far from the slam dunk that everyone had predicted, as the protracted sentencing deliberations had frankly began to have me and many others, worried when as much time had gone by with only hand written  questioned being popped out of the door via the bailiff to judge blue, re details about specifics on certain charges and how unanimously the jury's  decisions needed to be in order to derive a sentence.

This led many a legal pundit to ponder that a mistrial might be in the making -  especially when that jury sent out a supposed mock note, describing a what if situation, comprised of a split jury whereby most jurors found the mitigating factors outweighing the jurors who did not believe any mitigating factors were present.

 Note; Mitigating factors are what are technically able to be used in order to help a man already found guilty of capital crimes, to be given mercy by a jury, rather than punished by the maximum as allowed by law such as the death penalty. These are opposed to aggravating factors which are the prosecutorial opposite, whereby the state (the prosecutors) must show that the defnedent committed the capital crimes in a particularly cruel or depraved manner which made them eligible for the maximum penalty allowed by that state's current law ie The death penalty is and was the law in place for capital murder in Connecticut when the Petit crimes were committed as well as when Steven Hayes was convicted.

It should be mentioned that one of the motions filed yesterday and the day prior by the defense asked for not only a change of venue for the tril from New Hven to Stamford, but also requested that the entire Jury chosen for Komisarjevsky;s trial be sequestered kept spearate and away from thier families and friends, usually in a motel nearby to the Courthouse that the criminal case is being heard in.

Although remember it was komisarjevsky who in fact was the mastermind the brainchild and the man who in fact put the crimes in motion made certain that they happened, this by spotting and stalking attractive Jenn  Petit and 11 year old Michaela, who were out shopping for that night's supper, at an area supermarket miles from both the komisarjevsky and Petit houses. The big difference is that Joshau Komisarjevsky was a predator and he was always always in the active state of predator---be it to rob someone or as in this case to set them up for a future rape and possible robbery.  I have strong suspicions, not only from words that have come out of Joshua komisrajevskys mouth regarding how to best render your victim hellpless, ie youve got to get them by complete surprise when they dont expect it al all and then once they feel the pain you own them they will be willing to tell you anything whatever it is you want to know" 

Then he went on within his journal to verbally desecrate poor Dr Petit for doing exacvtly what he expeceted and indeed planned on him doing by catching him off guard in whatrs called a blitz styled attack by the FBI and military, and taunted him for indeed muttering out the layout of the house to komisarjevsky who by now was joined by hayes who had a makeshifyt pistol in his hand and koomisrajevsky had purposely said put two in him if he moves" Thgis after he'd procured the layouts of the upstaitrs of the home from the barely conscious and bleedling profusely Bill Petit.

These words sum up all we need to know about this man. He is a consumate socioapth who not only kills maims and rapes but afterewards has the audacity to try and discredit and chatracter assinate. This likely because Dr Petit really foiled his plans by having the nerve to get away and survive. This wsnt part of his plan and indeed cauasses grave implications for Komisarjevskys trial and senetnce. He left a victim. And the only reason that victim managed to survive is because the women of the house were the main targets the main concern of the men, therefore they took thier eyes off of him for the longest time periods and had it not been for the taunting voice of either Hayes or Komisrajevsky saying" dont worry itll all be over soon..."
Bill Petit might not have had that burst of adrenelin that caused him to break those zipties Around his arms and the pole in his cellar. He thought the men were armed. It never occurred to him that theyd be setting the house on fire---I mean who thinks of things like that? Well, one joshua komisrajevsy did.

By his own words, he"liked the away the younger Petit girl looked" and he couldn't wait to tell his pal Hayes who was by now an accomplice too as they had both robbed two houses together in the nights before the Petit crimes) about the pretty blond tall young looking mom of Little Michaela-the pubescent girl that he,a pedophile had his eye on.

Yup this was a planned out crime with sexual assault at its root. The money was secondary and as Komisrajevsky illustrated time and again,Michaela and perhaps opportunistically Hayley,were the real prizes.
FOR HIM.  With Hayes being older at 46 he assumed the young looking and pretty Jen Petit would be handy bait for his emotionally stunted  sidekick who was only familiar with prostitutes for any connection with women and usually crack addicts at that. I'm certain that both men discussed feelings of rage and resentment and wrath towards what they perceived as upper class women in general women who they knew would have nothing to do with them. Rape as we know now is not about sex per se it may be fueled by lust partially but at its core is  control anger&domination

And what both men saw as a lifestyle that he could never achieve they'd likely fantasized about taking it

The supposed discussion that Komisrajevsky had with Hayes where he claimed Hayes asked him to do an armed robbery I believe was in fact a question re doing a home invasion and rape. Thus the zip ties that the men brought with them that night and no other nights when they broke into nearby houses. They brought air pistols designed to look like 9 mm guns in order to keep the house under control. In fact komisarjevsky enlisted Hayes only because he knew he needed a second man in order to contain an entire household where their would likely be a head of the family-a male and a questionable amount of children one or more possibly male-alt ho I think komisrajevsky a Cheshire native was more familiar with the Petit family than he let ON to police or anyone else.

In any event, the men went with special gear; gear that lent itself to tying up victims and disabling and intimidating victims as well as masks to hide their identities from said victims. I am certain from the texts between the men shortly before they met up for the home invasion that the plan between them circled largely upon raping whoever they found attractive in the house. What I think happened is Jennifer Petit offered money to keep the men away from her daughters. She was sharp despite komisrajevsky's uncanny ability to BS women and play the young boy who is just misunderstood but wont really hurt anyone. she likely smelled the fact that he seemed to be spending a lot of time near her 11 yr old daughters room.

 This would explain her offer ring the men breakfast at 645 or so as described by komisrajevsky to his then girlfriend who later recanted it to the media and police-hoping to keep them busy number one and two keep her girls safe. The plan was already in action that shed go to the bank to get the men money in order for them to leave the family in peace and I am sure she promised not to give description's, if at any point either man had removed his mask-which I think was the case because komisarjevsky even said in his Book I'm not sure when He took off the masks but at some point the whole plan changed, He also ruminated that he shouldn't have talked to Mrs Petits so much that he in fact liked her and how she had even empathized with his plight of not having enough money tofly his girlfriend back to Conn from down south where her parents had wisely absconded with her. Again this was probably Jen being diplomatic but also from everyones testimony that knew her it was her nature to be compassionate and trusting and in this case I fear it might have gotten her killed.

Now,this motion in particular would seem to be rather important as it is a motion that Jeremiah Donovan Esq.filed requesting the disqualification of Judge Blue from presiding over the "State of Connecticut vs.Joshua Komisarjevsky."  You ll recall that the rather eccentric but always fair and a thorough professional Blue presided over the trial for komisarjevsksy' accomplice,Steven Hayes. Hayes was found Guilty and given the Death Penalty after the Jury deliberated for several days,and word has it that there was a great deal of hand wringing,soul searching and  divisiveness at first over the decision of whether he should get death or not. You'll recall the jurors had easily found Hayes guilty of all charges,other than arson(which interestingly  prosecutor Dearington-allowed, albeit with a plan in mind for the upcoming trial of his cohort komisarjevsky.of this I am certain) In the end the jury came together after several trips out to the judge stating they couldn't come to one agreement re the verdict Blue informed them a few times to go back and try again, in which they did and finally managed to come to a unanimous vote to put Mr Hayes to death, a verdict he claimed via his attorney Thomas Ullmann, that he was happy with-reportedly he wanted to take responsibility for his crimes and felt that his life might be a small measure of solace to the victims families.

Well it sounded good anyway, but lawyers being lawyers the auto-appeals began anyway and Ullmann and co rolled up their collective sleeves and began sending forth their own motions trying to basically have the jury reconsider or the judge or anyone for that matter and when that didn't work plan b and so on and so forth. Where the unending supply of money to propagate these public defenders ability to proffer a never ending supply of legal arguments and briefs and cases pulled out of law libraries from books covered with dust...is beyond me, but simply knowing that it is fed largely by our tax paying dollars, really irks me in a big way.

But back to Komisrajevsky
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February 15th is the day that a different Judge apparently will hear the motion from komisarjevskys attorneys regarding why they feel Judge Blue ought be disqualified from presiding over their clients trial, other than the real reason, which is 'we don't think he's easy enough to manipulate and we think he is too staunch when it comes to sticking to the letter of the law, and we suspect that he has too much compassion for the murdered victims as well the surviving ones...Why just look at how many seats he let their family have, and then there's that matter of the pin wearing--what kind of judge allows the family members of slain murder victims  to come to court donning pins that are shaped like doves for crying out loud?!

Not only that... but he's shown his preference for the prosecution because he let a juror go, who by his own admission would not fulfill his jury duty as promised when he took his oath as a juror.( I was there folks- he was asked three times at least could he or could he not perform his duties as a juror on this case, with no uncertainty, Their was much waffling and then a final No, at which point Judge Blue dismissed him and thanked him for his service thus far.) But somehow this was construed as an unfiar dismissal by both the Hayues defense team-he was thier top voire dire pick and they were banking on him for jury foreman in fact, and as such Donovan Komisarjevsky's attorney figured hed probably wouldve been a show in for a nor guilty vote or at least a feusal to give the DP to Hayes, as it SEEMED mind you, that this man might have been a bit predudiced insodfar as the state of Connectuct and its bungling about when it comes to crime, trials and preparation; welcome to the real world buddy-you were still a bit premature in making a statement Mr Lively, thats all Im sayin...)

Then there was an issue regarding seating in the courtroom which now it seems has become an even bigger issue because unlike Stevena Hayes whose brother was the only member of his family or friends to attend court and at that only the sentencing days, in order to insure that his brother get what he had coming to him, komisrajevsky's lawyers claim that they object straight out that the Petit/Hawk/Chapman/Rene families were given so many seats within the Hayes trial and between that and the Pins, feel they are at an unfair advantage with the jury. Well here is where reality creeps in fellas. The reason they might have a slight advantage with
the jury would be because they are the victims family and they lost three of their loved ones who were in the prime of their lives, as well they lost the s=surviving loved one William Petit who although made it through a baseball bashing of his skull which would've killed many another man, was still left with survivor grief Post traumatic stress and damage from TBI, causing vertigo, concentration, sleep problems, among many other physical and psychological symptomlology all a direct result of the crimes that were a committed directly by Josh komisrajevsky or put in motion by komisrajevsky, begginning  when he spotted Michaela petit 11, and her mother Jennifer at an area stop and shop, the same evening that he followed them home, cased their house, planning a robbery- sexual assault extravaganza.

Something he'd  undoubtedly always wanted to do, if not had done already, within his alresady lenghty career of house break ins, perhaps he'd just not yet been caught by the authorities for any sexual assaults or even rapes and murders. There are a good deal of unsolved murders of women including prostitutes in the adjoinng hartford cheshire Massachussetts area. And this guy has spoken in manners that indicate far too much of an intimacy in physcically restraining vioctims and getting them to do his bidding. I certainly hope that the Connecticut state police are looking into the possibility of this mans involvement with mssing girls or young women or murdered young girls or women whose cases remained cold.

in the meantime...

See all ten motions filed by komisarjevsky defense in yesterdays post above. I only had the energy thus far to give a synopsis of about half of them, You can be certain that I'll be posting on the remainder shortly.
Here is a link to the Courts response to the Disqua;lification of Judge Blue motion including the date that the motion will be heard and the possible outcomes in the event that it is decided that Judge Blue will stay and preside over the case, or the highly unlikely outcome if it is decided that Judge Blue will be recused

Feb 7, 2011

Pearce testify's in Dimeo Trial from Hospital/Trial goes to Jury




The Trial for Chris Dimeo, admitted murderer of Kim and Tim Donnelly of Fairfield Connecticut has gone to the Jury.

The 2005 murders of the married jewelry store owners has taken years to get to this point, this largely due to Dimeo fighting extradition from New york, where he was in prison for yet another murder of a jewelry store manager, whom he shot in cold blood, trying to  procure jewelry during a hold up, presumably in order to buy heroin.

The trial closed out with testimony from Dimeo's former girlfriend Nicole Pierce who was convicted for her part in several of the robberies, including the one in which the Donnellys were murdered. She however mapped out the floor plans and adjacent areas for Dimeo as opposed o actually shooting or aiding in the murders themselves. She too was addicted to heroin which purportedly fueled her in her reason for assisting then boyfriends and companion Chris Dimeo.

Peirce who did not accompany Dimeo to the Donnelly robbery and murders, said that she had a feeling he would kill someone and took a train back to NY city motel although they were both wanted in the city for the death of another Jewelry store manager. In that hold up, Ms Pearce was apparently present. There were also four other robberies in which Dimeo managed to rob the stores yet no murders took place.

Nicole pierce received 20 years for her part in the crimes, this decided within a plea deal that her attorneys accepted. She is currently dying of stage four cervical cancer, and yet abided by her agreement to testify against Dimeo in this capital murder case. As she was too ill to attendcourt she had to testify from a live video feed from the University of Connecticut Health center where she is being treated for her cancer. Shortly after her testimony both sides rested and the Jury was charged with the decision of whether Dimeo is guilty of capital murder in the deaths of Kim and Tim Donnelly. It is pretty much a no brainer that he will be found guilty what remains to be seen is whether this same jury will give him the death penalty during the penalty phase, which will not occur until likely a short break fallowing the verdict being read. His attorneys will undoubtedly put on an aggressive defense citing mitigating factors such as heavy drug addiction which fueled the murders.

Dimeo was already serving a life sentence in New York for the murder of jewelery store manager however as New York has abolished the death penalty, he fought being extradited to Connecticut for over 2 years.

Feb 4, 2011

Komisarjevsky Lawyers file deluge of baseless motions pertaining to Petit murder trial



Hayely's Bedroom









Michaela Petit A month before she was murdered

Michaela bed after her body was removed


Hayley and Michaela Summer that they were murdered

Jennifer Petit and Daughter Michaela month before Murders

I don't know where to begin.

All of these motions by the defense are all so painfully ludicrous, with the exception of the change of venue, which was to be expected - thats pretty much criminal law/capital crime 101. But changes of venue rarely ever get granted. Suffice to say, that a flurry of motions does not begin the describe what was filed today in New Haven Superior Court, as you can discern for yourselves from the links to the actual motions listed at the bottom of this post.
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The motions, most of which were either ridiculous or outright outrageous, were filed by none other than self admitted pedophile and rapist, Joshua Komisarjevsky, via his ethically defunct tax- paid mouthpiece, Jeremiah Donovan.

Donovan,  a public defender whose name you might be familiar with, for recently being hauled before a Judge for a contempt hearing to determine whether he should  be thus charged for of all things, violating a gag order that was placed upon the Petit murder cases several months after they occurred in July 2007. The contempt charge originated from a reprehensible stunt that Donovan pulled, calling an impromptu press conference on the courthouse steps of the Steven Hayes murder trial, his clients accomplice who was tried separately when it was clear they had adversarial defenses.
This mini press conference that attorney Donovan easily cultivated at a time when the courthouse was literally swarming with TV cameras and all kinds of media big-wigs, guaranteeing it's broadcast in the evening news.
This was clearly the motivation, despite Donovan's fluctuating claims regarding why he did such an unprofessional-- and lets face it-sleazy maneuver.
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Donovan decided that the Hayes trial media gathering would be a perfect opportunity for him to address some very damning testimony against his client Joshua komisarjevsky, that had just been revealed that very day in court. The highly disturbing evidence was  revealed within the testimony of the lead pathologist who was being questioned for a long period of time regarding the autopsies of the victims, Jennifer Hayley and Michaela Petit.

The sensitive testimony involved forensic evidence found proving the sexual assault of a minor, Michaela Petit, which is one of the main  reason that television cameras were not allowed inside of the courtroom.

Anytime there is a sexual assault charge, the victims anonymity is supposed to be protected from the media. Due to a fair amount of pre-trial publicity, word of mouth , many people knew that Michaela and Jennifer Petit had been sexually assaulted within the home invasion/ murders, either from the news reported before the gag order was imposed, or possibly from reading excerpts from a book that komisarjevsky himself collaborated on - ie a self serving litany of lies trying to foist all blame for the murders on his accomplice and down playing his sexual assault on 11 year old Michaela, who his earlier sighting and attraction to was in fact at the nucleus of the entire set of crimes.
The book also violated the gag order, but likely Komisarjevsky cared more about trying to influence the public and therefore potential jury pool, than he cared about a contempt of court charge added to his plethora of capital murder charges.

As a practical necessity, there were evidenciary findings regarding these assaults that needed to be discussed within the framework of the criminal case against Hayes. Thus, it came out through certain scientific testimony that 11 year old Michaela appeared to have been sodomized before her murder,  as the forensic evidence showed semen and saliva was found inside her rectum, as well as other correlating autopsy findings, that were not elaborated upon within that context of that particular testimony.

Donovan, who had been attending every day of the Hayes trial, practically scurried to contain damage control-after all, the whole world just found out that not only had this little girl been molested as we'd all suspected,and komisarjevsky himself admitted to within his statement to police and said book albeit denying penetration and doing his best to portray the assault as a minor accidental molestation, when as in fact evidence proved she was actually raped in the most horrific manner possible. A manner that incidentally speaks loudly of a sadistic control mongering pedophile sociopath.

Donovan literally gathered the press and the cameras around him in order to make a statement outside the courthouse stating that he wanted to assuage the Petit family immediately, and as he was not allowed to speak to them directly-this as there was actually a restraining order filed against him by the Petit and extended families, this due to an earlier also sleazy maneuver a year prior, where the lawyers tryed\the old soft pedal approach, trying to contact the victims family via a "restorative justice" service hired by his firm,although that was not made clear at all to the Petit Hawks or anyone else- This in hopes of everyone forgiving Joshua, and holding hands ,and you know, dropping that whole death penalty thing.

The family was understandably outraged and when told within the letter that they hoped to answer any questions that the Petit's might have about the crimes etc. Dr Petit quite plainly said " Id like to ask them why they raped and killed an 11 year old child and a 17 year old teenager who never hurt anyone in their lives and why they raped  my wife Jennifer who had complied completely  by giving them 15,000 from the bank where they'd driven her, promising they'd leave as long as they got the money and the police stayed away)
Mr. Petit also said that he would  ask 'why their clients felt the need to tie his two girls to their beds splashed and poured gasoline all over them ( and bleach on Michaela to remove DNA evidence of Komisarjevsky's rape)

 After pouring a path of gasoline that Komisarevsky had ordered ayes to go out and buy at 6 am that morning, the path they both created led from his en Petit's now dead body straight up the stairs into each of the girls beds, and their bodies as well as they lay knowing their fate struggling against bonds but helpless tied tightly to their beds with ropes.

The medical examiner later shared that the girls had been burnt while dying of smoke inhalation Hayley's ties had actually burned through and she tried to run in the acrid smoke filled upper floor managing to reach the top step where she collapsed the pain and the smoke being too much for her despite her athletic strength and what likely was an attempt to save her sister Michaela.

Both girls died a terrible death a death that I and many other people across the nation cannot get out of our minds putting ourselves in the Petit family's place and simply heart sick with the sadistic cruelty that Joshua komisarevsky wrought upon this family simply because he'd spotted 11 year old Michaela shopping with her mother that very day and decided he would follow the attractive child and mother home with plans of breaking in later that night raping Michaela and stealing whatever could be stolen. He simply used Steven Hayes as necessary brawn knowing there would be a father who would have to be over powered in order to take full control of the house. 


That's not the kind of question I think the restorative justice folks had in mind. More about restorative justice later, its the latest tool amongst defense attorneys especially those with very very difficult cases such as Donovan is presented with.

Anyway, Donovan actually deliberately broke the gag order on the case, prohibiting he and all attorneys judges, defendants etc from discussing details of the case, and using the media as his medium, claimed to the cameras that despite what forensic evidence showed today in court, his client want the Petit family to know that Michaela was never sodomized, as "josh would never sodomize an 11 year old child"!
And, he continued, " he didn't want the Petit's living with this awful belief all the way until komisrajevsky's trial, which would likely be another year or so, if one were to go by the general pace of the Connecticut court system.

 I was in court this painful day and it seemed as if the Petit, Hawke, Renn, and Chapman  family members were finding out this very specific and disturbing information concerning the sexual assault of their beloved Michaela for the very first time - right along with  the rest of us.

As such, it was a particularly upsetting and heart wrenching day; hence, it stood out in memory, as did the utterly inappropriate maneuver that Donovan pulled out of his bag of tricks next:

No sooner did The Petits and  the other court goers have time to digest the awful revelation that this 11 year old terrified little girl spent the last minutes of her life being sodomized - then news of Attorney Donovan's statements to the "Petit family" via the press broke, and clips of it were everywhere - which is of course was exactly what he wanted.

When the press asked him well how do you explain what was found in the autopsy ie re his clients semen in Michaela's anal area, Donovan became a bit uncomfortable, stammering a bit and said I cannot elaborate on that right now but we will.
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He should have said "anyone that read " the book"( ie the "book" that Komisarjevsky in effect ghost wrote to author Brian McDonald while he was in prison awaiting his trial had hm claiming among other things that " his demons got the better of him and he ejaculated on this Michaela  -- this Was so much less awful/evil than a full fledged penetration after all.} Sarcasm for those who were unsure.

Anyone close to the case knew/guessed that the girls had experienced very unpleasant things; we'd heard about pornographic cell phone photos taken from komisarjevsky's phone,  he'd even discussed the photos in the book" a book that turned out to be full of self serving lies designed to humanizer himself  and cast nearly all of the culpability for the crimes upon his accomplice Steven Hayes!

Naturally.


In the end the poorly written and sloppily edited book based entirely on komisarevskys claims rather than factual evidence, became a terrible re-traumatization to the community, to the families, as well as people from all over the state and well beyond.

These crimes had gripped the hearts and souls of people in other countries so horrific and random they touched the deepest part of us -  innocent good people there home their lives randomly invaded offered and destroyed all because of evil sexually motivated crimes greed and what I personally believe was a hatred or jealousy of what they viewed as the haves and have not's ie classicism. The irony was that the Petit family was as down to earth as imaginable simple living relatively low key lives with charitable and community involvement at the core of their daily lives.

 But to Hayes, a career criminal  just months out of prison living in a run down condominium with his mother and two adult  brothersin Winsted and Komisarjevsky who despite living in Cheshire for most of his life had always felt different from the other Cheshire families.His family stood out among the expensive homes with perfectly tended lawns it was a broken down farm house poorly maintained, his father an electrician often had trouble finding work and both of his parents had an a bizarre  attachment to a local church that was evangelical and komisarjevsky became home schooled at his parents discretion when he began to get in trouble in the local public school.

He began robbing houses in his neighborhood and once he began he wouldn't stop.


In court we'd heard testimony from Hayes who having openly admitted to raping Jennifer Petit, had no reason whatsoever to lie about what his accomplice did or did not do with Michaela or Hayley Petit.

In court we'd learned from prison guard testimony, that Hayes confided to a cellmate that Komisarjevsky had sodomized Michaela and that if police were to take DNA samples from Komisarjevsky before he had a chance to shower, that they'd find traces of Michaela's DNA on his penis. This was spoken by Hayes within 24 hours of his original lock-up.

Yet still years later,  finding out through irrefutable forensic evidence that Michaela indeed had been fully sexually assaulted penetrated sodomized, well  it pained anyone who imagined the girls terror and it was obviously very damning stuff..

Of course in the "book" that komisrajevsky agreed to help write in 2009, he tried to nip this damning evidence in the bud by claiming that a he took nude and pornographic cellphone pics of Michaela only in an attempt to "blackmail Dr Petit"  (how ridiculous is this)? and then,oops, he inadvertently saw how surprisingly developed she was for an 11 year old, and lust got the better of him and he simply masturbated in front of her as she turned away and looked at the wall" Classic rationalization, deceit and manipulation again-hallmarks of the sociopath. Giving any of this information in the book had a very specific motivation; it was all a set up for the discovery of any semen that would surely be discovered in the girl, despite his making her to take a shower and change into another outfit (he'd been making her wear different schoolgirl type outfits for his various /half nude cellphone pics) right after the molestations and rape.

Komisarjevsky even had an excuse ready made for the shower, which Hayes had told police about as well as cell phone photos showed, it was obviously an attempt to get rid of as much DNA as possible that might remain in or on her, despite knowing the men would be burning down the house and the girls after pouring gasoline on them in order to better insure destruction of that DNA.

 According to Hayes, he said that komisarjevsky claimed that  "fire destroys everything, even DNA."
 And since komisarjevsky was the first and most active sexual assailant, as proven by his cellphone photos and time stamps, we have every reason to believe that it was he, not Hayes who came up with the idea of burning down the Petit home,with the Petit family tied up in it, in one fell swoop- getting rid of the DNA, Hayes pesky fingerprints, and witnesses-because by now he'd had lengthy conversations with Mrs Petit by his own admission, protracted ones,,thus even if he kept his mask on, it would be very easy to pull him from a book of mugshots, and we know that he would be on top on the Cheshire Police suspect list with his history, if this had merely ended as a home invasion, sexual assault and aggravated assault on Dr Petit via the Bat at the outset of the crimes. No, komisarjevsky set the tone for these crimes right from the start, he made them happen.

In fact he had a history of setting fires; at 15 he set an abandoned gas station on fire, as well committing an elaborate amount of home invasions, although they incorrectly termed house robberies back then,
 But in almost every case ( and there were over 27 in the last batch alone that police knew of)  the occupants of the house, were home, sleeping usually, with komisarjevsaky relishing the fact that he could get in and prowl about undetected. He brought night vision goggles and stole Trophies-sometimes panties from the women that lived in the homes, sometimes photographs, always with attractive women in them.

It gave him a "high" he told Friends, galpals and even the police.. This was a FLASHING  neon warning sign, and although a judge caught the scent of how dangerous this made him, his intentions to put komisrajevsky away for 9 plus years and 6 of special parole never became a reality, supposedly due to interdepartmental lack of communication re criminal records.


He was given early release parole after serving one plus actual years in prison in solitary confinement-as he was so intimidated by the other inmates. The rest of his time he spent in a halfway house until his release with an ankle tracking device which had just been removed by the doc the weekend that he broken the Petit's home after spotting Michale and her mom and following them home.

 His explanation for Michaela's shower trumped all; he had the audacity to tell author Brian MacDonald, as he'd also wrote in his "journals" journals which are linked in a prior post here, were to be used for the book, He writes; " I even felt like such an a-- hole, I even let her shower so she could get  herself clean and get me off of her".

I have noted this time and again with classic sociopaths;. Komisarjevsky takes something that he did to cover a  sadistic act, something he knows others are already aware of; (there are cellphone photo's there is testimony from Hayes, and forensic evidence that the girls hair was wet or just shampooed-IE Hayes had noticed this right away upon returning back to the house with Mrs Petit from the bank.)  He stated that komisarjevsky told him he made the little girl  shower, to better ensure he would not be caught for raping or killing her, which he knew he was going to do, as it was 9; 55 or so and he'd sent Hayes out to purchase large quantities of gas at 6;40 ,  talking Hayes back to the house on the cell phone when Hayes got lost coming home from a far away gas station, purposely chosen for its geographic distance from the Cheshire home IE komisarjevsky anticipated the police would be looking at gas station tapes once the arson/murder was discovered.

This was a guy thinking ahead. And yet here he is with months in prison to come up with plausible alter-scenarios that could explain away these most damning pieces of evidence and facts. In every instance he covers his own ass, never mind Hayes. I believe he'd fully intended on killing Hayes- he admitted this plan in the book,  but of course for different reasons, once again:

Not the noble sounding version, that he was angry that Hayes screwed up by leaving his fingerprints all over the house, after taking off his gloves when komisarjevsky ever the professional had instructed him not to--- also he'd alluded to the fact that because Hayes supposedly lost it and strangled Mrs Petite, they now had to kill everyone. This was inferred rather than said specifically, but its just semantics; This guy is a consummate liar and manipulator and as one can see by the plethora of motions filed today, a week prior to the scheduled onset of jury selection for his trial, he is going to be a far more cunning sleazy opportunistic and cowardly defendant than his accomplice was.

Here is a break down of some of the motions filed today by komisarjevsky's lawyers. I'e read the motions but I'd like a little time to break them down for y'all , I'll hit upon a few and tackle the rest in the days to come. My belief is that most of them are going to be tossed as they are baseless and even frivolous and many insulting.

 One or two might be given some credence, such as the tweeting issue and they' ll at least have to consider a change of venue. but as I said, change of venues are very rare,hard to obtain, and this case is one that is known nationwide, thus the concept of placing the trial in Stamford because it is farther away from New Haven, which is already far enough away from Cheshire in the first place, is all moot.


It will be impossible to find 18 people that don't know a thing about these crimes, thus just like Hayes trial, the instructions to the jury re ignoring what they have read or heard, will have to suffice; This guy writes a book about the crimes he committed and then he asks for a change in venue to escape the fact that too many people know about the crimes?!

This would be hilarious if the subject matter were not so serious.

.For one the defense  asked for  all capital charges to be dropped against komisrajevsky.

Yes you read it correctly.

The motion rationale is that since Steven Hayes was found guilty of murdering Jennifer Petit and at some point purportedly admitted to pouring gasoline on the stairs, as well the prosecutor in the case accused him of lighting the fire,because he was the last one to run out of the house according to police testimony, Thus they claim that say their client can't be guilty of the arson deaths of the two Petit children
.
Remember Hayes has openly admitted to murdering Jennifer Petit and no one contested that, so in effect, never mind the rules of felony murder, by god that charge of murder should also be trashed.

And so on and so forth.

Then they asked for a new Judge,

They want Judge Blue out and they claim he has shown inordinate preferential treatment and consideration to the state IE prosecution in the Hayes trial which i personally was
appalled that their attorneys were even allowed to attend and study with pen in hand and probably Mini recorder device on. Unfair advantage.

These attorneys hemmed and hawed at the prospect of one trial let alone two simultaneous trials, and thus when they were relented to because the family was afraid of giving any reasonable basis for a mistrial, they decided to give up the simultaneous idea bite the bullet and wait out two very long painful trials for the very same crimes


In any event the idea was that Judge Blue was unfair to Hayes and not impartial and thus he should rec use himself was patently absurd. If anything I saw a udge that was trying too hard to appear not partial to the prosecution and in doing gave them and unfair advantage which was clea in many of his rulings and decisions.

oh yeah and there was something about him giving out cookies to members of the press and telling the jurors they could all hug eachother after a particularly upsetting day where they were asked to look at crime scene photos and autopsy photos.


Then there'was several   objections to the seating arrangements-and this one is really a doozy.
and this comprised two of the total ten motions filed by the Defense.

I don't even want to begin to elaborate on it, the audacity of Komisarjevsky, who I know was involved with this request,as a typical sociopath and the obvious ringleader here the workings of his mind are becoming easier and easier to discern.

Suffice to say that this cretin is actually asking to be seated directly opposite his "accusers
IE William Petit and the extended  Hawke Petit families" so that he may look his accusers eye to eye"

Right off the bat he is trying to take the upper hand. although he is the one in the chains, he will still be in control. Just as had the audacity to call Dr petit a coward and indeed blame him for allowing him to kill his family, along the same personality disorder vein he's starting off with an adversarial stance which he has actually carried from the start;shortly after his arrest when his lawyers sent an offer to Dr Petit via some Restorative justice representatives-who were in fact hired by komisrajevsky's attorneys to lure Dr Petit and his sister and his parents to meet with and discuss amiably the case and perhaps answer any questions they might have, that Joshua could help ease their minds about. It was a bad roll of the dice of behalf of Donovan once again showing his cluelessness in regards to the sensitivity training he clearly missed out on in law school when dealing with sole survivors of your clients would be famicide.

Needless to say this part of the motions request was  not a traditional seating arrangement by a long shot and this they claim is the problem also with the seating for the prosecution who traditionally has always sat across from the jury-

Then Donovan and co make an elaborate theorem that whoever sits closest to the jury-or anyone for that matter according to their general theory, has the closeness advantage: something akin to I tend to identify most with whomever I am physically in closet proximity to, especially day after day in confined spaces such as courtrooms and trial situations. As such komisarjevskys layers claim that the state has always had an unfair advantage getting to sit closest to the jury and they would like to remove that advantage and in fact assume the advantage for themselves.

It also should be mentioned that buried within this motion there was a decidedly not so subtle challenge and  thumbing of the nose ( an obscene gesture would actually be closer to what this resembled-  this from komisarjevsky towards the man whose family he slaughtered and whom he almost killed in the process. This is the main reason it rankled me as it did.

 I simply cannot believe that this twerp has the nerve and his attorneys comply and enable it, as if to say: " I'm calling you out, I'm not gonna hide or hang my head like Hayes, I have zero conscience.

He is making a statement within this motion and  I believe that it is in fact very personal. Just as komisarjevskys attacks upon Dr Petit have been within his journals, his novel, technically written by Brian MacDonald but in fact spoon fed by komisrajevsky. More than once this cowardly little punk bragged that beat a man who lay sleeping on his sun porch couch, beat him almost to death with a bat," because he was a big guy..." His ex girlfriends said that during a phone conversation komisarjevsky made to her from jail shortly after the murders, his mood was inappropriately boisterous, proud, and he indeed bragged about his assault upon the slumbering Bill Petit, (this while he had the 230 lb Hayes 4 feet away to back him up.)

In fact we have heard a good deal of verbal assaults upon sole survivor Dr. Petit's character since this komisarjevsky's been locked up. He has such a driving need for attention that he could not be intelligent enough to remain mum until his trial was over.
As with all lies however, those lies caught up with Mr Komisrajevsky very swiftly; his claims were already beginning to unravel prior to the advent of Mr Hayes trial and from there it only got worse. Forensic evidence sealed the deal and the light was shined heavily upon this guys manipulation and mendacity.
The writer of the jailhouse book  has since even stepped back and admitted that he'd been duped and added that joshua komisarjevsky is one of the most manipulative criminals he has interviewed.

The next motion may seem rather frivolous considering the gravity of what most of the other motions contained,but I think it is extremely disturbing as it really shows the utter lack of remorse and again the adversarial stance that this murderer and his minions have the audacity to pose against the sole survivor of a series of crimes which at the very least joshau komisarjevsky  is responsible for putting into action, first by targeting Jen Petit and 11 year old Michaela at that Cheshire Stop and Shop, then following them home and stalking their house and then later bringing Hayes into the invasion rape plan because he needed some muscle to contain a house that likely had a male father husband within it.

But such is the mind of a psychopath. They are all very much the same.
There is a great essay entitled the"Banality of evil" In it one sees that these predators all follow a very predictable pattern of self absorbed, ego-driven, conscience-less, and almost always - parasitic existences, existences that suck the life out of everyone in the periphery of their lives.

Steven Hayes brother, Matthew Hayes, described in a letter to the court, his brothers life, even before he raped and murdered, as someone who refused to ever take accountability for his actions and inaction, and a man who was rife with a manipulative, deceptive personality throughout his entire adult life.
Hopefully, in the future we will be able to lock them up upon their very first infraction against another human being, and throw away the key. There is no treatment for the sociopath and they always escalate.

This  motion was actually a motion to disallow the wearing of Pins and or other jewelry that were shown to support the Petit family Foundation, a local non profit formed in the wake of the murders by Bill Petit that gives money to protect victims of violence chronic illness and other endeavors. A large clutch of people attending the Hayes trial were donning such pins and bracelets that were also sold to support one of the Petit family Charity's. The Petit Hawke Chapman and Renn families all wore the pins as did many friends neighbors and supporters that managed to get into the court as seats were very much a commodity due to the hi profile nature of the case and the expected public interest in the outcome.

Which leads us to the next motion to prohibit all electronic updating by reporters such as tweeting and other such "new tech" immediate coverage of trial goings-ons. There was a great deal of information about how they perceived this negatively impacted Hayes in his trial and even affected komisarjevsky in Hayes trial and as such they don't want it in their trial.

Ironically, The very next motion had them asking for a recording device that would record every solitary word spoken within the courtroom during the trial, even the attorney judge sidebars, which once again, traditionally have been recorded verbatim by the court stenographer, whose job it is to write down pretty much everything that gets said within the proceedings. The defense was actually putting it out there that they intended in advance to use whatever was said or wasn't said within appeals which they were presumptively intending to file. In effect planning a strategy to claim that anything said, or done or not said or not done,  might become appeal worthy, could be used more readily, especially if they can simply play it over and over again.

 Also, it should be noted almost as an aside, that Jury selection for the State of Connecticut Vs Komisarjevsky has also been delayed for no apparent reason other than the usual signature Donovan stalling tactics. The Lawyers were supposed to start voire dire mid February, but I called this one months ago, guessing that  it would be closer to end of April, knowing Donovan and his propensity for procrastination for procrastination sake.

Apparently,Judge Blue granted the delay, possibly already affected by the motion to replace Blue, citing accusations of partial treatment with obvious preferential treatment given the State; Now at the very least they've put Judge Blue on the defensive having to "prove that he's impartial. And you better believe that this is exactly the outcome that Donovan hoped for when he he had his minions write up this particular motion.

More later regarding descriptions of and the real motivations for the rest of these Motions. Until then, please feel free to read through them yourselves.