Apr 28, 2011

Ninth Juror picked in Komisarjevsky Trial


One more juror chosen today and thus, nine more to go, including six alternates; Four alternates are the standard for most Jury's , but capital cases might call for additional alternates, as was done during the Hayes trial, (Komisarjevsky's accomplice in the Petit murders -  he was tried first and given the Death Penalty after long deliberation)

It should be noted that it was indeed an intelligent decision to have extra alternates during Hayes' trial, as with very violent and emotional crimes such as the Petit assaults and murders, jurors seem to  "quit" more often, citing that they can't handle the evidence emotionally or sometimes they will use other family hardship reasons for not being able to live out their commitment. This happened quite frequently within the Hayes Trial, with jurors and alternates both asking to leave well into the trial and others being dismissed by the Judge for various breaches in the jurors sworn oaths.

In any event,each one of the additional alternates during Hayes trial almost became acting jurors as the original twelve juror panel began to steadily dwindle starting the second day of proceedings when a juror asked to speak with Judge Blue regarding some concerns he had about the States presentation of the case..

The Juror somewhat nervously found himself addressing the entire courtroom, media and all, when I believe he'd expected to speak alone with the judge. The Jury however, was removed from the courtroom for the duration of what turned out to be a loquacious and stinging diatribe re the States" haphazard presentation of evidence thus far", which had been circulated to the Jury at that early point in the trial process.

While his sentiments might have had some validity, they were clearly over-zealous and  premature, and his decision to elaborate ad nauseamover the states failings at such an early juncture, gave the court a birds
eye view of both his lack of judgement and a clear prejudice against the State at a very early point in the
proceedings,

Within his response to the Jurors litany of complaints and concerns which he  read from a sheef of paper that he had clearly spent some time preparing.

Judge Blue had given the juror some paternal sounding advice regarding his concerns, explaining that it was very early in the trial process  to make any sweeping judgementsregarding the States handling of the case, specifically taking issue with a lack of prompt explanations to the Jury regarding evidence that had been distributed to them early in the trial process.
At the end of the judges 
advice to the juror which consisted mostly of give this a bit more time and the pieces of evidence will be explained and tied together by the State,  He was asked several times by Judge Blue, if he could uphold his duties as a juror, as promised at the outsetof the Jury instructions;

The Juror John Lively,said as things stood " he could not."  The prosecution moved to have Lively dismissed. The Defense objected and elaborated on the reasons for their objections - Lively had been one of their picks and it was clear they wanted him on the Jury. Judge Blue heard Ulmann's objections out and moved to dismiss the Juror again,citing concerns regarding what he considered unreasonable behavior for a juror the bottom line fact that the juror was asked twice if he could perform his duties as sworn under oath and he said he could not. There was a parallel issue that Lively would contaminate the other members of the jury with his
 probable ongoing dissection of the States presentation of their case.

That was the the first Juror to be dismissed, albeit by his own provocation.
A good number would follow, either of their own accord, asking to step down,one having practical issuesregarding family matter,while others had emotional reaction to the crimes and evidence.

 But none left as unexpectedly and colorfully as that first very eccentric,articulate juror who apparently expected  perfectionism from the State, and within a few days into the trial,realized that this wasn't
going to be Law and order.

Apr 24, 2011

Eight Jurors Chosen so far For Komisarjevsky Jury


Eight Jurors have managed to be chosen thus far for the State of Connecticut vs Joshua Komisarjevsky Jury trial,  one of the longer voire dire processes that the State has ever seen, capital murder crimes notwithstanding, (as well multiple sexual assault, torture of a minor, kidnapping, assault in the first degree, arson, larceny, and  various other violent crimes, or as they are more commonly referred to, as " charges".

This, is what acts of brutality, torture and terror have become watered down to, within the courtroom anesthetizing process, and the men that commit these acts, sit years later, the time lapse between their acts of butchery and the formal judicial remedy for them serving it's purpose; a natural lessening of the initial grief and horor felt by the family and community.
The murderer now sits, years later, in their Sunday best, sporting new haircuts and chatting with their lawyers, as if they were regular human beings, not someone who maimed raped and murdered.

And such is our system.

And within the hushed whispers between attorneys and defendant, the strategy for outing the potential juror that might be too tough, or one that just doesn't sit right with their by now well honed instincts regarding who is the most likely to empathize with their client, a sociopath a child-killer, who happens to have a boyish face.

 One of the worst parts in this  obscene charade is watching self described killers and rapists effusively shake hands with their state paid lawyers at the end of this trial, as if to say if not for the lives I terrorized and stole, we might very well  be pals.  Of course not true, but the mere appearance of this ordinary display of mutual respect and other niceties extended to self admitted rapists and murderers, only adds more of a surreal quality to the whole teeth gnashing process, as if one is having a nightmare and open their mouths and cannot form a scream despite the overwhelming need to do so.

To those of us present or even watching the case via televised trials, become sick with the backwardness of all if this agreed upon en masse denial.
 But nevertheless we must  play along with the insanity of it all, because there is nothing else, no other remedy for resolving brutal murders of our brethren in this country.

And most ironic, much later, down the line, if and when this "process" actually manages to yield a tiny measure of arduously dragged out "justice", a sentence reached within the confines of what the law dictates, after sitting through all of the painful details of violence, like civilized human beings, showing immense self restraint, we can then expect to be chastised and accused of being "bloodthirsty" for breathing the tiniest breath of relief that something  vaguely resembling justice rose from all of this.

Apr 15, 2011

No additional jurors chosen this week in Komisarjevsky trial

Six Jurors total are all that have been chosen thus far for the highly publicized Joshua Komisarjevsky Jury. Komisarjevsky is the second man to be tried for the Petit family crimes which happened in July 2007 he is believed  to be the instigator of the home invasion which ended in 3 capital murders and other charges including rape of a minor child, Michaela Petit, only 11 years old.


The Komisarjevsky lawyers have been aggressive and particularly immoral in their approach to this case especially considering Jeremiah Donovan lead attorney made a point to mention that he himself has a beloved wife and two daughters at the onset of the crimes aftermath when he was assigned the case.

There has been an ever widening berth re what the difference between being entitled to a fair defense and a vigorous defense, the latter a term the public has been hearing from the killer's lawyer's as a broad stroke excuse for all behaviors, motions and indeed outright breaking of court law and procedure, in one case Donovan broke a court gag order during the Hayes case first citing he wanted to ameliorate any unnecessary pain the Petit family might endure after hearing forensic evidence that day that proved that their daughter Michaela had indeed been sodomized by Komisarjevsky.

When it became clear that no one was buying that and in fact the Petits along with every intelligent and informed member of the public, Donovan quickly shifted gears, something his client is known for when boxed in by his own dishonesty, and now the attorney claimed that he'd announced this information re Michaela's rape via his client, on the courthouse steps of Hayes trial, as a purposeful display of contention against the gag order that had been in place on the cases since late 2007.

I am actually heartened by Mr Donovan and company obviously poor judgement and overt lack of ethics and human decency, for this will all become apparent very quickly to any jury, no matter how slow and purposefully selective the public defenders carry out the voire dire process.

Apr 14, 2011

dimeo gets life sentence for murders of Donnelly Jewelers in Fairfield Ct


I hate to say it but I had a feeling that the whole heroin habit foisted upon Dimeo purportedley by his now deceased mother, who also was  supposedely bringing along 6 yr old dimeo on heroin buys long before his indoctrination into the use of the drug, was going to more than suffice for one gigantic mitigating factor for this sentencing.

I also understand that the donnelly family has stated publically that they dont support the death penalty for Dineo as enough death has already occurred, but as benevelont and saintly as that may seem to some , to me it only adds fuel to the fire of every would be murderer, rapist, child predator  and the like-this class of people occassionally stumble into a situation where a life is taken, as Dineo's then girlfriend did via a severe heroin habit, she is someone the court should have shown mercy to, she pulled no trigger and obne could see she was tortured by her part in these deaths, drugs or not- and indeed with a 20 plus year sentence for crimes which involved no murders assaults nor cleaning up the aforementioned,

 I think that the state cane down hard on her needlessly. She was and is extremely remorseful rehabilitative. However suffering from stage 4 cervical cancer, she is in UCONN Medical CENTER likely dieing long  before her sentence is fulfilled.

And then I see Dimeo sitting in the courtroom chatting with his attorneys, now  adorned with glasses making him appear substantially more innocuous than his mug shot taken the day he was caught in a motel in New Jersey, wanted on a different set of robberies including the needless murder of a store manager in the  NY jewekrt store heist-a store that his then girlfriend tred him to stay away from as it had ab elaborate alarm and a store manager who appeared tough and not easily intimated. Dimeo never gave him the chace and shot him in cold blood, as the owner store ran out the back door.

I heave watched and watched for any sign of humanity remorse or sorrow within dimeo now that he is no longer on heroin to catapult such egregious actions. Ive seen not one flicker. I have seen signs of a sociopath who merely wants to sray off death row. TGoday INMATE dIMEO GOT HIS WISH.

Apr 11, 2011

Komisarjevsky Lawyers Ask To Redact Names From Witness List | 24hr Legal Adviser

 Now the defense lawyers are trying to redact certain names from the witness list because their motion to make the entire witness list secret from public and press - was officially denied after due consideration, as was the obligatory "reconsideration" motion, Reconsideration to grant motions that were just denied would seem to now be standard protocol for almost every motion that the attorneys feel "strongly about" or when they need more time for something else and are using the system to slow the process to an ebb.

As mentioned, there have been an inordinate amount of baseless, at times downright insulting - defense filed motions, some of which are written up by the horde of minion law clerks that the Connecticut state public defenders office directs to do the actual practical work of looking up precedents that don't apply, and to make certain the motions are typed up in such a way as to appear official, despite the transparency of their true purpose.

The witness list is supposed to be available end of April, although Judge Blue gave the Defense this time to file more motions of take it to higher court, as they did with the "Tweeting" issue. something that is really akin to the shorthand that old time journalists used to use and then shout out to the public waiting outside what the latest happening was in regards to high profile crimes.

 Tweeting, while it may seem a bit cold in a sense violent crimes and terrorising of human beings being reduced to 142 characters or less, is really just a tool of today's journalists press and media members, it is but one of many many forms of news conveyance that simply attempts to be as close to real time as possible, in order to give the public information regarding the trial, when television camera's have been disallowed, in this case Judge Blue made that decision, probably because of asexual assault of a minor and two other women within the crimes committed by Komisarjevsky and Hayes.

He also might have felt that cameras themselves could cause an intrusiveness's that laptops or tweeting off laptops don't. As someone who attended parts of the Hayes trial,I can say that the electronic devices managed by the reporters were extremely low key, the mood was one of somberness, and only once did a reporter have to be asked to either get a new keyboard or make her current one less clacketyclack as a juror had complained about the noise.

The Komisarjevsky attorneys didn't want the tweets because they are afraid that their violent,cunning and murderous client who unlike Hayes, has a boy like appearance lending itself to more innocence" which they are counting on to appeal to the emotions of the jury insofar as giving him the death penalty which he certainly qualifies for under State law with a deluge of Aggravating factors, including the fact that he alone chose these victims; he targeted them at stop and shop when Hayes was not with him. He alone brought the information regarding the attractiveness of Jennifer Petit to Hayes, as one would lure a fish with bait on a line.

This is something that cannot be denied nor controverted and no matter his self serving claims either within his illegally smuggled Book which he agreed to as it would serve to get his bogus version out there to the potential jury pool-despite a gag order he knew prohibited him from discussing details of the case. But a sociopath does not believe that they need to follow any rules, and Komisarjevsky, perhaps with his lawyers sideways wink of his eye, proceeded to interview with a writer and send copies of journals and letters written for just this purpose; most of the important forensic evidence in the Hayes trial showed exactly my suspicions ; that the "book" was filled with outright,lies,manipulations and just enough so called truths thrown in, to appear as if he might might be telling the truth-that and the fact that the book was narrated from Komisarjevsky's perspective, lent itself to the appearence that this 'book' was fact.

Even later after the hayes trial, the writer Brian Macdonald, admitted after seeeing hearing forensic evidence witness testimoney etc, that Joshua komisarjevsky was the most manipulative human being he had ever known, and he is a crime writer by trade. In effect he'd admitted he'd been used and duped.

Jury Selection for Joshua Komisarjevsky trial inside view

Here's an article from a local online paper called The Patch" which covers most of the State of Connecticut, albeit in geographical segments, much the same as small newspapers do.  The difference is that the Patch has a lot of commentary and doesn't deliver the usual recitation  of the facts in what has become mainstream media's idea of "news".

I was just marveling to a friend that  now it even appears that the blogosphere is becoming more homogenized, with bloggers hoping to be picked up by national oe "mainstream" sources are trying to walk that political tightrope of not alienating this one or that one or said organization and as a result, what was once a great underground movement with the very same visibility as regular press and media, whose true blogs used unadulterated real reporting of the news, is slowly but surely becoming similar vanilla versions of "the "facts" or....the crazy militant sort of blogs that only manage to take credibility from blogs by choosing to use the blogosphere as a place to vent, and their commenter's of course follow suit and surpass the blog authors, with over the top suggestions of torturing the murderers as they tortured their victims etc.

None of this is helping to make our judicial system better, nor more accountable, although the power of the pen is still a wonderful tool for yanking the covers off of hypocrisy, corruption and the apathy and evil that is it's engine.

Apr 6, 2011

Mastermind of Petit murders bogs down Jury selection

Not a big surprise that the Jury selection ( aka Voire dire) process for  Joshua Komisarjevsky trial is moving at the same tortoise-like pace as the  entire pre-trial'process did for Steven Hayes . Both men were literally caught fleeing the Petit murder scene, a gasoline fueled house-fire designed specifically to kill all in its path, which included poor Hayley and Michaela Petit, tied to their gasoline soaked beds as well as the body of Jennifer Hawke Petit who was raped then murdered prior to the fire by strangulation.

The ensuing jury selection, trial and sentencing phase for Steven Hayes, Komisarjevsky's hand picked accomplice and sexual predator in his own rite,was enlisted, apparently with ease,(as evidenced by the text messages from Hayes leading up to the crimes)  by Komisarjevsky soon after he'd spotted Michaela Petit and her mother shopping at the Cheshire Stop and Shop earlier. He's admitted to both writer Brian MacDonald as well in his journals, that he liked the way the younger Petit girl looked" 

Michaela Petit was eleven years old.

Later that very same night, after meeting at a bar  and hiding their cars, both men toting zip-ties, surgical gloves, a pellet gun nearly identical to a 9 mm handgun, and Komisarjevsky's cellphone with a camera( he used this to take pornographic photos of Michaela and Hayley tied to their beds, before sadistically burning them to death.

" Fire destroys everything" he told Hayes, including DNA evidence, and it also served to get rid of the witnesses to the sexual assaults, the larceny and Komisarjevsky' severe assault on a sleeping Dr. Petit who he struck repeatedly in the head with a baseball bat..

Mrs Petit was sexually assaulted by Steven Hayes immediately after returning back to the house from her bank - shed complied with the men and procured 15,000 in cash (5,000 more than they asked for)
and believed that the men would keep their promise and not harm her family and leave.
Needless to say this was a terrible ruse and both men held back their true viciousness right up to the end,
 with Komisarjevsky playing the smooth diplomat  and even confiding to her some of the problems he had and why he needed money so badly.

 Unfortunately, Jennifer, a trusting soul, believed him right up until the point when both men grabbed her and tied her back up with her begging for her life as Hayes raping her. According to Hayes Komisarjevsky walked in and out of the room while he raped Mrs Petit and Komisarjevsky said "Get rid of her!" And Steven Hayes choked Jennifer Petit to death breaking her larynx in two places.

I am certain that Mrs Petit was shocked and didn't see this coming at all - remember shed told the bank
teller the men holding her family hostage were being "nice" and as long as no one called the police everything would be fine"  This is a bit akin to something called the Stockholm syndrome and its a self preservation technique that many people experience in order to survive an ordeal where their control and power is taken
by criminals or abductors or even abusive partners.

Jennifer Petit was good hearted and empathetic but but she also seemed to be a very strong woman and as such I attribute the fact that she was so unaware of what these men truly were capable of and in fact-doing-right under her nose ie komisarjevsky molesting Michaela in spurts as shown by his cell phone time stamps,  while Hayes was out on road trips to buy gas for burning down the Petits house -komisarjevsky had to lead him back to the Petits home via cell phone calls when Hayes, unfamiliar with the Cheshire area, got lost numerous times.

All of this was care of Joshua komisarjevsky's agility at manipulation and lying;  Prior to this final inevitable exposure of his true evil self komisarjevsky was careful to keep his molestations of Michaela quiet, as the girls and Mrs Petit were tied up in separate rooms, making them isolated and more manageable. I  believe he also likely kept Hayes from sexually assaulting Mrs Petit until the money was in their hands in order to insure her compliance and trust. He had earlier admitted using her attractiveness as bait to get Hayes interested in the "job" as he undoubtedly had had conversations with Hayes whereby both men hit upon their mutual fantasy of sexual sadism and control of women-or pubescent in Komisarjevsky's case. 

He also needed a second guy to insure that he could get the household under control. There was likely a male head of household and truth be told if komisarjevsky went in to that house alone, even getting the drop on Dr Petit with a bat  sound asleep on a see through glass porch, Hayley Petit was a strong athlete and she'd escaped her binds once and komisarjevsky admitted calling Hayes for help to overtake her and get her tied back to her bed.


Komisarjevsky and Hayes had in fact spent the two previous nights breaking into homes in Cheshire, so that the former, who fancied himself a thief or great talent, could show the older man how "easy it was to get into most of these upper middle class homes.

This break-in was different as evidenced by the rope, masks, gun zip ties and the initial severe assault upon the then sleeping Bill Petit whom the men admitted they'd watched  sleeping through sun porch gable windows at 3 am as they stalked the family. Twelve blows to Petit's head almost cost his life.

He was the lone survivor for the simple reason that as a man he was not the critical target of the men thus they allowed their attention to be directed elsewhere for the longest periods of time; they  needed him neutralized so that they could proceed with their  sexual assaults of the girls and Jennifer Petit and grab whatever goods or cash they might get. Thus, they took their attention away from him the longest, They'd left him tied to a pole in his cellar all night and morning and the blood loss from Komisarjevsky's bat blows and brain injury caused him to float in and out of consciousness.

The pair did however plan to kill him eventually via burning down the house with him tied. He foiled this plan when he escaped through the bilco steps hopping on tied legs rolling across his lawn  when he'd awakened to hear strange noises on the floor above him.

sadly Jennifer Petit believed the money would buy the men's departure but was unaware that Komisarjevsky sent Hayes out to buy Gasoline 5 containers worth at 6 am that morning. .The plan had long been hatched to kill the entire family and neither man was particularly disturbed by what they'd done as police at the scene who were setting up perimeters cited they both were laughing as they ran out of the Petit's burning home.

The amount of preemptory challenges allowed in Connecticut, where either side can simply dismiss a potential juror with no reason at all is already high.
Thus far the defense of Komisarjevsky who sits in on this process as allowed by law, has used up many more such challenges than the prosecution. The pre-requisites for the trial already are difficult enough, and the defense has tried unsuccessfully to have the trial moved-change of venue-based on publicity, and their client not getting a chance at a true objective jury as a result.

 The judge overruled this as this crime has had national media attention since it happened and then after the gag order was in essence partially made moot when first komisarjevsky co authored a self serving version of the crimes to a true crime writer and then later via the Hayes trial where much forensic and other evidence presented such as komisarjevskys cellphone photos of a nude Michaela tied to her bed as well as Hayley her 17 year old sister, the latter was taken at a time frame where Hayes was proven to be at the bank with Jen Petit, making it clear the photos were komisarjevskys doing.

The bottom line is that there is no place in Connecticut nor the country where one can find a jury that knows nothing about the case. But in fact this works for konmisarjevsky as so much that has been written is what he himself tried to spoon feed the potential jury pool via his book derived from interviews and journals given to an author who has since realized he'd been duped by a sociopath of the textbook variety.

For now the defense attorney's are using up their preemptory challenges like mad dogs, the prosecution also using a few but in his typical intelligent and conservative nature, dearington is just doing his job., while Donovan and Banford are alternately trying to both slow the process down to a halt as well as setting up another attempt at moving the trial ie "' see I told you we couldnt find an appropriate jury  here in New Haven.'"

These two lawyers have tried so many horse and pony tricks re a plethora of motions based on non exisiting or twisted precedents and any other unethical manipulation that they can conceive of, in order to " "save the life of their  client"

In the meantime, God is watching.