Oct 31, 2011

Komisarjevsky viewed over 900 Porno sites in the day's before the Rapes and Murders




And the information about Joshua Komisarjevsky just keeps getting worse and worse.

Thank you to Komisarjevsky's defense attorneys for putting his parents on the stand, in effect
outlining his progression into the  evil abyss - albeit with a somewhat less than impartial, steeped in denial parental narrative.   

"Angry Look on his face" watching pornographic movies.

In today's testimony, Jude Komisarjevsky spoke a good deal about her convicted rapist/murderer son -including his behavior in the weeks leading up to the Petit family murders: She related a scene wherein she caught her son watching adult pornography on a household computer. More telling than the excessive amount of  pornography websites that Joshua had visited, according to the computer's history, was the quote " angry look upon Joshua's face" as he watched a pornographic video unaware that his mother was watching him.

The computer's history showed that Komisarjevsky had visited over 900 adult pornographic websites in the week before he committed the Petit family sexual assaults and murders according to his mother.

A similar "angry and "sullen" look was cited by "friends" of  Komisarjevsky who had thrown a Keg party for him, to celebrate the removal of his Connecticut Department of Corrections GPS tracking anklet.( Yeah, I know, great reason for a "party")

The removal of the ankle tracker also marked the cessation of Komisarjevsky's Parole Curfew, which up until that point in time had been the standard 9 pm that was part of his Parole conditions. During that same probationary parole period, Komisarjevsky was subject to random drug testing and was not supposed to socialize with people using drugs or other convicted felons.

Witnesses at the " party", which took place several days before the Petit murders, cited that Komisarjevsky was obsessed and fuming over the fact that his latest teen aged girlfriend, Carolyn Meisel had moved to Arkansas - or more aptly put, was moved there, by her undoubtedly shrewd parents, who could not have been comfortable with Komisarjevsky's burgeoning criminal record and the considerable age difference between their daughter and her new " boyfriend."

It seemed to everyone at Komisarjevsky's "anklet party" that despite his new found "freedom", all the sullen
faced Komisarjevsky had on his mind  was his recently departed teen girlfriend; He also shared with numerous friends that he was in need of a large sum of money to bring his girlfriend back to Connecticut where he imagined them living together.

Komisarjevsky had just won custody of his 5 year old daughter, somehow managing to con the State into awarding him full custody despite an extensive felonious criminal record. The child's mother was in an outpatient drug clinic and supposedly had some kind of recent outburst for which she received disciplinary action for. Komisarjevsky claimed to everyone that he was worried that the child's mother was using drugs, but in my estimation as a sociopath Komisarjevsky was a control freak, he resented the child support that he had been remanded by the State to pay his ex, despite the fact that he lived at his parents house completely cost free,

The fact that Komisarjevsky actually won a custody battle with his child's natural mother in the middle of  such tumultuous life circumstances, only illustrates how well certain sociopath's can mime whatever they wish to project ( ie a concerned responsible young parent who despite getting into some criminal trouble early in life had now decided to use his child's birth as motivation to turn his life around.....) as well as manipulate people and even entire Government agencies.


Komisarjevsky's latest in a string of much younger girlfriends had actually met him while in prison for his last string of burglaries, she was accompanying an older friend who had once been Komisarjevsky's girlfriend but was now" a friend". Soon thereafter, the younger girl began visiting Komisarjevsky alone in prison and corresponding with him throughout the rest of his prison sentence. The two reportedly developed a physical relationship when Komisarjevsky was transferred to a halfway house from prison after serving a mere two and a half years of a nine year prison sentence that the presiding Judge insisted upon at his last sentencing hearing.  *This was one of three major screw-ups by the State of Connecticut that contributed to, or directly caused the murders of Michaela, Hayley and Jennifer Petit as well as the near fatal assault of William Petit Jr.

Witnesses have testified that Komisarjevsky liked to take cell phone photos of  his much younger teen aged girlfriend nude as well as photographing himself with her having sexual relations. At one point Komisarjevsky snapped a series of pornographic photos of the two having intercourse in a Manchester Mall public restroom. Sources close to Komisarjevsky said that he would then share these photos with male friends and acquaintances.

Joshua Komisarjevsky was arrested carrying a cell phone containing nude and semi -nude photos of  eleven year old Michaela Petit tied to her bed. She was dressed in a skirt and blouse in one photo, which Komisarjevsky admitted to cutting off with a scissor. The fact that the cell photos showed Michaela with different clothes on,  proved that Komisarjevsky was making this girl change into various outfits in order for him to enhance his sick criminal fantasies.

Michaela had been in Pajama's when the two men broke into the Petit's home. The pajamas were obviously removed at some point and Michaela was re-dressed in a plaid skirt and white blouse akin to a school girl outfit, classic pedophile behavior. Photos of the little girl's private area were also confiscated..

Komisarjevsky has since been convicted of sexually assaulting, sodomizing and murdering eleven year old Michaela Petit. He was convicted of 16 other crimes committed at the Petit home on that fateful July morning, including the near deadly and  brutal baseball bat assault on William Petit Jr's head, causing massive blood loss TBI and shock, Arson and capital murder charges for the deaths of Hayley and Jennifer Petit. The Petit females were chosen and targeted by Komisarjevsky who was alone when he spotted the family at a local Stop and Shop earlier on the day of the home invasion. He admitted to following them home and proceeding to size up their house for a home invasion that he planned on committting later that night.
Serial killer Ted Bundy admitted to a life long addiction to pornography during an interview that he gave on the day of his execution. He claimed in the video-taped interview that the pornography he viewed since he was a young man, centered around the debasement and objectification of women, and this incited him to grow more and more desensitized, eventually acting out the scenes of bondage and violence that he viewed over and over again. This, he concluded, played a big part in leading him to a life of serial rape sadism and murder.

Bundy was famous for his boy next door pleasant looks, persuasive manner, a keen and shrewd intelligence that included an extremely articulate nature... but most of all, he became known for his ability to manipulate and lie convincingly. He often charmed and bamboozled his C.O's guards and Police and as expected with a sadistic sexual sociopath this had deadly consequences; At one of the various holding cells where he was kept during court appearances Bundy managed to escape through a window in a room that he was not supposed to be. It was during this short lived escape that he bottomed out killing the youngest of his victims 11 year old Kimberly Leach.

And although at first Bundy angrily and vehemently denied having any responsibility for any of the rapes and murders of the slew of young women he'd been arrested for killing, even accusing the presiding states attorney (prosecutor) of using him in an effort to gain political clout for future endeavors.
Despite his rather loud initial protestations, Bundy later admitted to all of the rapes and murders and "hundreds" more.

In fact, Ted Bundy managed to stall his eventual execution for several years, through an unusual offer to authorities to disclose the burial sites of more than 20 additional women whom he had raped and killed over the years, yet was never connected to.

Once those victim's bodies were recovered, Bundy, ever the manipulator, tried to continue this "Deal"  infinitum, desperately trying to stall his execution in whatever way he could -  but the States attorney's office finally said enough is enough, and in 1980, Theodore Bundy was finally executed by the electric chair.

Oct 28, 2011

Cache of Defense Witnesses at Penalty Phase of Komisarjevsky Trial Emphasize Emerging Sociopathology



It's day four of the Komisarjevsky penalty phase, day two of Jude Komisarjevsky's testimony, and we must once again thank Komisarjevsky's defense team for their parade of witnesses to corroborate what we already knew.

Joshua Komisarjevsky is a full-blown Textbook Sociopath and the symptoms began showing in earnest by the time he was fourteen years of age.

Sociopathology or "anti-social personality disorder" as is it's technical designation by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual,  is not a mental illness, and it is not treatable by psychotherapy, counseling or psychiatry.

Therefore, Komisarjevsky's lawyers can get off this tired and unsound argument that  "'if only he'd been given the mental health treatment that he so clearly needed as a youth, instead of religious themed intervention ....the Petit family would be alive.

 As well Benjamin Komisarjevsky can let himself off the hook, or rather let the State of Connecticut off the hook ie  he claimed during his cross, that the State should have helped more in providing the professional counseling that the Cheshire Police said their son needed, this after the teen aged Komisarjevsky set fire to an abandoned gas station in town.

At the time the elder Komisarjevsky was financially unable to provide long term therapy for his troubled son, which was/is very expensive, especially when dealing with Psychiatrists, who are called in when psychiatric medication is indicated.  In reality anti-social personality disorder is believed to usually be exacerbated by cognitive or talk therapy. The sociopath's tendency to lie and manipulate finds itself a perfect home in the "therapeutic relationship".

Their deceptiveness, knowing no bounds, they will often fake and malinger symptoms of other mental illnesses, after researching them, all in an effort to mislead the therapist and/or evade accountability for whatever actions landed them in therapy in the first place.  In some instances psycho-pharmacology such as Thorazine and other anti-psychotics have been used to basically defray the worst of the danger that the established sociopath poses to the people around him.

Such is the case with many a serial killer after they are imprisoned having been convicted for multiple murder and or rape. Thus it is not a treatment , but rather a type of pharmacological sterilization of the psyche after the fact. Sociopaths are notorious for refusing to adhere to medication regimens of this sort on an out patient basis; they do not wish to be dulled or made less dangerous. Remember control and power are their watchwords.
In any event pharmaceutical treatment for the budding anti social personality disorder is rarely used with adolescents however, as the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder the adolescent precursor to sociopath, usually takes a minimum of 6 months of  psychiatric sessions to appraise and even then co-existing conditions like attention deficit disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, Bi-polar disorder etc any and all may complicate attempts to medicate the younger patient.


Much of the testimony from the defenses own character witnesses has centered around the notion that Komisarjevsky was a depressed teenager and later young adult. However once again a simple interpretation that anti-depressants would have helped the situation and his parents failed him by sending him to a bible based youth camp, is not only misleading but it is indeed false. Again, due to Komisarjevsky obvious concurrent diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder which segue weighed predictably into anti-social personality disorder, would have made most or all anti-depressants contra-indicated. In other words anti-depressants easily could have made Joshua Komisarjevsky's already simmering rage issues and propensity for control and later, violence manifest themselves sooner or in an even worse capacity than his targeting for the Petit girls at the age of 27.


In Komisrajevsky case, I feel certain that this so - called rape that he told his mother about, for the very first time conveniently while in prison for a recent string of house burglaries, was, and is, nothing but utter manipulation; At that time Komisarjevsky was famous for his conciliatory routine, something his own father described in court just a day ago, citing that his son would write voluminous letters saying how sorry he was for his crimes/and or bad behavior, promising he would change, and become a new person. Bu then, his father sadly admitted, once back home Joshua would usually immediately return to the very same behaviors.


In their opening statement the defense belabored the fact that Joshua Komisrajevsky had been raised in a strict awful household weighted down by a christian mindset rather than elevated by his parents whose strong christian Faith is ultimately what led them to fall in love with each other as well as being so tolerant with their adopted son's continuous refusal to obey their household rules, which were not overly demanding, nor the general rules of society aka the law.  Time and again Komisarjevsky seemed to take great pleasure in thumbing his nose at not only his parents Christian beliefs and ethics, but also state laws which he began to flagrantly break over and over again by the age of 14.


The fact that this would be murderer began acting out and becoming more and more unmanageable as a teenager sneaking out of windows at night,  putting up satanic symbols on the walls of his bedroom, (something  he knew would hurt frighten and be a direct affront to his extremely devout Christian Parents.) shows an escalating personality disorder. This is a bird of an entirely different color than any moos disorder such as bipolar or clinical depression.

The word frighten (aboveis the most essential part of the equation; Joshua Komisrajevsky hoped by use of satanic symbolizing and such to frighten his christian parents especially his clearly submissive mother whom he figured he could more easily gain control of . There goes the defenses earlier theory that Komisarjevsky's father was some kind of overly strict and rigid man; a fact that they'd actually brain washed this poor guy into believing and saying at his sons trial. Of course they probably framed it in such a way that if he said such and such he'd help the cause of saving his son's life blah blah blah"

If  Ben Komisarjevsky were indeed the rigid strict scary father that the defense painted him as in their
opening statement this week, there is no way  in the world that Josh Komisrajevsky would have ever dared to sneak out windows, or put up satanic symbols on his bedroom walls. Never mind the words hate and murder and suicide for good measure, that one would surely grab the concern of his well meaning and long suffering martyring parents who by now he knew he could wrap around his psychopathic finger.

If anything,it sounds as if both Ben and Jude Komisrajevsky were entirely too permissive, thanks in part to the unusually patient, persevering nature that seemed inherent to their particular brand of Christian faith. Forgive forgive and forgive some more.


 Komisarjevsky's mother  describes a specific episode where her son Joshua had begun regularly sneaking out of his window at night in order to hang out with  hoodlum type friends in the woods and elsewhere, purportedly showing an interest in satanic symbolism at that same time.


On this certain night, she and her husband realized Joshua Komisarjevsky was missing from his room and they called the Cheshire Police to try and find him. She described the scene when Police brought her son back to the house.claiming that there was a distinct change something  was "different about Joshua, there was a cocky attitude and an anger that was literally emanating from him.

"His eyes were absolutely dead. It was like he was just dead.”




The anger and the vacant look was undoubtedly because his mother had exerted her authority over him and he was furious that he no longer felt control over the situation. Once the police picked him up and took him away from his friends, probably greatly embarrassing the teen who was trying to act like a total "bad ass" Having your parents send the police out to fetch you and bring you back home is not in the realm of "badassness." which he was clearly striving for, between the satanic symbols on the walls of his room,  along with words like hate death suicide -the latter a complete bid for his parents pity and concern knowing once again that their basic christian natures were likely to worry rather than judge or discipline.

Teenagers who have oppositional defiant disorder or something called Conduct disorder, show classic symptoms and Komisarjevksy began showing these very symptoms starting at the age of 12 or 13. By fourteen Komisarjevsky was literally transforming into a full fledged sociopath ( or what was once commonly called a " psychopath. "


Interestingly one of the most common physical descriptions that victims of sociopaths often relate to authorities is an "empty" or "dead" look in the eyes of their assailant (IE rapists, batterers or would - be murderers one such example was a woman that escaped Ted Bundy's clutches, by jumping out of his car door with handcuffs still attached to one of her hands. She told police and testified in court that suddenly he turned to her in the car and his formerly engaging friendly eyes changed, as did his entire countenance, into something akin to an animal.

This is what I believe Jennifer Petit experienced with Joshua Komisrajevsky. He was the one carrying on all of the friendly conversation for the greater part of the kidnapping. He kept everyone including Dr Petit calm by assuring all that no one would be hurt, as soon as we get the money well be on our way. Dr Petit said that the man who h9it him with the bat did all the talking - this was komisrajevsky. He also said that while the mans voice had been reassuring after he'd tied him and basically neutralized him, after he heard some banging noises upstairs and moaning which he thought might be his wife, that same voice suddenly became terribly sinister when petit yelled hey up towards the sounds of violence.

" Don't worry" the voice now said tauntingly with terrible sounding intent" it will all be over in a few minutes..."
Ironically it was Komisarjevsky-the-sociopath's pleasure in wielding power that ushered William petit to muster the last bit of strength he had to break loose of the plastic zip tie binds on his hands, hop up the steps of his cellar and roll his body to his neighbors garage yelling to call 911, ultimately becoming the sole witness against him.


Victims of such men will describe these eyes as not human, soulless, sometimes resembling predatory animal such as sharks which statistically are the most mentioned.

I have to say I've never seen a penalty phase of a trial so excessive, so overt in its attempts to manipulate the jury. Also a bone of contention is that the presiding Judge Blue, typically a no nonsense jurist, is either walking on eggshells with this defense now afraid of a mistrial or valid grounds for appeal at this late stage refusing every one of the prosecutions rarely used and as a result  unusually fair objections to what has become an overload attempt at humanizing a convicted child rapist and triple murderer.

This Jury and now the entire public, have literally been bombarded with childhood photographs of this pedophile, rapist, assailant and triple murderer, Joshua Komisrajevsky, frequently referred to lately as "Josh"  From infancy to toddler-hood we have been deluged with photo after photo of this man as a innocuous looking child, wearing his daddy's clothes, eating a birthday cake and even painting a white picket fence.

Yes, you heard it right -  a white picket fence.

And the prosecution objects, asking for relevancy of these photos, and Judge Blue overrules the objections.

What I'd like to know is:
Where are the family photos of Joshua Komisrajevsky's murder victims?
Why are there none to defray the emotional reflex that the defense is hoping the jury will feel over the sight of this murderer as an innocent child?

Where are the photos of a beautiful little girl named Michaela Rose Petit, Joshua Komisrajevsky's very own special target of choice - in case of point, the very reason that the Petit home invasion happened in the first place? Michaela Petit  was a beautiful baby, a beautiful child and moreover she had a beautiful little soul and this world has been robbed of her -  Because angry sociopath Joshua Komisarjevsky decided that he wanted to rape a pretty and sweet little girl just budding into a teenager
destroy her innocence and  take control of her entire household, starting with the near fatal neutralization of the only real threat in the house, William Petit Jr.

It is Michaela Jennifer and Hayley Petit's photos that this jury should be spending their time with. Or at the very least,spending equal time with. Instead day after day images of Joshua Komsarjevsky and his various childhood events, are shown on a giant screen before the Jury and in Newspapers and Blogs,
The photos taken before he became the sullen,  violence- pondering teen,and later full grown man
a Parolee that kidnapped, tortured and murdered a little girl named Michaela, her beloved sister Hayley and her equally beloved mother Jennifer Petit whose bed she was sleeping in when this man
grabbed her away and led her to her own bed tying her hands and feet as tears ran down her face.
And what about photos of lone survivor and still grief stricken William Petit Jr on his wedding day kissing his wife whose fatal mistake in life was trusting Joshua Komisrajevsky and taking him at his word when he promised not to hurt her family. Bill Petit was a healer,a wonderful doctor before Joshua Komisarjevsky entered his home intent upon bashng the sleeping man's head over and over with a bat,
as he slept on his own sunroom couch.


Certainly this Jury needs to see these photographs more than they need to see the killer's coming out photos. Again, I am disappointed with the State prosecutors - They were well aware that this defense team had an elaborate "show" prepared for the penalty phase of this trial  And despite the fact that they knew that it was going to be a great deal of smoke and mirrors, there was an enormous witness list at the central core of this mass illusion for the sake of the jury as well as the media, who they've been courting all along,despite their incessant protestations about their presence.

This being what it is and was, the State had a moral obligation-not necessarily to sink to their Nemesis's level, but rather to ensure that the defense did not pull off any of their main objective; to convince even one member of this jury that Joshua Komisarjevsky was so emotionally damaged as a child and teenager from neglect and alleged sexual abuse,that his evolution into murderous criminal behavior was inevitable.

The assertion that he'd never been violent within any of his crimes before teaming up with one Steven J Hayes also should have been carefully dissected and the actual truth laid out clearly, cohesively and with the use of specialists such as criminal/forensic psychologists hired to evaluate the dynamics of the two men, using the massive amount of evidence as well as each mans psychological profile to illustrate to this jury that Joshua Komisrajevsky was most assuredly the leader, the brains, and the instigator of the entire criminal event including the murders which were decided the moment he sexually assaulted Michaela Petit.

Joshua Komisarjevsky's personal life and criminal history should have been scrutinized as well as the
 defense's own forensic psychologist's findings, via the paid hired shrink whose testimony echoed everything the defense wished it to.

The Jury needed a 1 day lesson in anti-social personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder,

 and extremely essential the symptoms of the evolution of a sexual predator, of which Komisarjevsky left a veritable trail of symptomology and an unusual boldness starting at an early age when he began peeking into houses stealing panties off clotheslines.


The Jury and the entire courtroom have now listened to nearly a week of talk and testimony about this convicted assailant rapist and murderer's life; First they endured  a lengthy opening statement by his defense attorney's who melodramatically proclaimed that Joshua Komisrjevsky was "doomed from birth" An insulting and arrogant assertion, both  from a psychiatric standpoint as well morally a purposely dishonest railroading of Komisarjevsky's well meaning if anything overly tolerant adoptive parents, who big sin, according to omniscient Jeremiah Donovan,  a man who could give Komisarjevsky a run for his money in the arena of shameless manipulation and mendacity, was their commitment to their Christian Faith.


Never a hand was raised to Joshua Komisrajevsky. No one verbally abused him and it would certainly appear that he was not neglected, from a basic needs standpoint as well as the love of two parents who refused to give up on what was clearly a problem teenager and later young adult.


Mr and Mrs Komisrajevsky took their son back into their home every single time he broke the law and indeed ultimately embraced him. Every time he ran roughshod over the rights of others, starting with lighting gas stations afire, invading neighbors homes and robbing them-for sport" He committed voyeurism with a young girl he fancied, stalking her from trees and bushes on her property, literally making this girls life miserable, according to Cheshire police detectives.

And more and more brazen thievery. Satanic worship, undoubtedly designed to frighten his parents into leaving him alone and not trying to put constraints on him, this at age 14 while still living in their house, eating their food, and happy to use their middle class respectability to get out of his latest scrapes with the law. The satanic worship behaviors were obviously a backlash against what komisrakjevsky saw as his parents attempts to control him and a more authoritative approach to his increasingly defiant behavior, such as sneaking out of his bedroom window in order to spend the nights out.

It was becoming more and more important to Joshua Komisrajevsky to be the one in control.

The Petit family home invasion was planned around the desire to commit sexual assault -rape, a crime that forensic psychologists have known for years is all about power and control. The State prosecutors might have read excerpts from Brian MacDonald's paperback novel, based almost solely upon the  claims of Joshua Komsarjevsky who was in prison awaiting the trial of his accomplice Steven Hayes. Hayes Jury selection had yet to be scheduled when the book, which began in a first person narrative as if in the mind of Komisarjevsky, was published and offered in area Bookstores.

Komisarjevskys claims of innocence were largely disproved within the forensic evidence shown during the Hayes trial.  But in it he predictably tried to shift all of the capital crime blame upon his accomplice..yet at times he forgets his goal and repeatedly betrays himself . He admits to " his demons getting the best of him" when sexually assaulting Michael Petit only 11 years old. Although this is akin to voices telling someone to kill another, it is still an admission of guilt.Komisarjevsky also admitted to MacDonald that this was never supposed to be a regular robbery, altho he lamely tries to cite Hayes as the one who came up with the idea of armed robbery he again shows his true colors when saying when he saw the Petit family at the Stop and Shop "he liked the way the younger Petit girl looked" He went on to tell MacDonald that a home invasion where the people would be tied up all night, opened up all kinds of possibilities.."

For whatever reason the state never brought this book into evidence or question, nor did they call Brian MacDonald as a witness. The book, which was clearly hastily written and poorly edited, came out months before the start of Steven Hayes trial. It was an emotional blow to the still grieving community of Cheshire, not to mention people both in and out of the state who heard about it, or read the many excerpts that were being published all over the Internet.

It was like a scab that had just begun to form, out of nowhere being ripped off.

Oct 27, 2011

Komisarjevsky's Father Testifies: Komisarjevsky's Father Testifies In Penalty Phase


It's day two of the Joshua Komisarjevsky penalty phase and I must thank his defense for basically doing the prosecutors job for them.

The prosecutors ill advisedly kept their penalty phase presentation to the barest of minimums, closing their entire case,within the first day of presentations. In fact, their entire penalty phase presentation was relegated to one witness who simply listed Komisrajevsky's entire list of criminal convictions and an earlier submitted list of " aggravating factors" that they clearly felt more than supplied the jury and the court with the legal requirements for awarding a death penalty sentence to Komisrajevsky.


Despite being forewarned last week that Komisrajevsky's defense was planning upon an hour long opening statement, which required the approval of Judge Blue due to its lengthiness, the prosecution did not prepare a opening statement of their own. Obviously Michael Dearington believes that the evidence alone speaks for itself and no matter what the deense throws at the jury he need'nt respond in kind even if it is merely to put the facts into an emotional framework that combats the defenses manipulations to the contrary.


Despite shaking his head in apparent disgust, Michael Dearington did not object to the hour long statement.


The prosecution was given a list of the Defenses many witnesses for this penalty phase weeks ago, this was also a major clue as to how long the defenses penalty phase was going to last, with reports in the media as long as a month ago stating that the penalty phase could take up to 3-4 weeks, based upon the defenses witness lists alone among other things.


Overdoing everything has been the defining style of the Komisrajevsky defense: time consumptive, manipulative, laborious and wasteful.  However, the State of Connecticut, led by Prosecutor Michael Dearington has a duty to think on their feet, and while I expected Dearington's presentation during this penalty phase to be in keeping with his usual " keep it short and simple" mindset, a defining style of his throughout his career and both the Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky's trials, he really dropped the ball as far as this penalty phase as far as I'm concerned.


The Hayes trial was a bird of an entirely different color, despite the fact that Hayes was an accomplice in the Petit murders and indeed his charges almost identical to his partner in crime Komisrajevsky's.


The big difference here was the fact that Steven Hayes was a man who was physically and emotionally began disintegrating from the moment he was imprisoned for these crimes: Joshua Komisrajevsky had no such disintegration for he has no conscience, and far too much narcissism to allow any thoughts of remorse, regret despair or dictate his outlook or his behavior. Joshua Komisrajevsky is truly soulless.


Hayes, who was convicted on sixteen of seventeen of these counts, now on death row, was no prince by any stretch of the imagination. I truly believe that much of his weight loss and depression had more to do with his treatment at the hands of guards and such than any true guilt or remorse over the murders of the Petit family women and children.


 While I am sure he had remorse about the crimes as it related to getting caught and his current predicament, I think his feelings of hopelessness and despair which were evident in a much publicized suicide attempt, revolved around the reality that he was going to spend the rest of his life a pariah, alone in a cell, unable to even enjoy the social network that his old prison days had at least afforded him.


And remember this was a man who had spent more of his adult years in prison than he had outside of prison. Due to the nature of the crimes and the fact that sentencing and parole reforms had been a direct result of those murders, ensured that Hayes and Komisarjevsky were going to spend the rest of their terms in prison protected in solitary confinement, no matter what the verdicts, nor the sentencing rendered for each man.


 According to Hayes, early on in his incarceration prior to being moved to another prison, prison guards were overtly hateful toward him - this man who was obviously complicit in the rape of Jennifer Petit and the gasoline fueled burning deaths of her two young daughters. The guards Hayes said were making" his life miserable" purportedly messing with his meals to the point where Hayes would wash every bit of food in water before eating it, leading to a substantial weight loss from the first day of imprisonment.


I saw Steven Hayes several months after his arrest at a probable cause hearing and I believed myself to be in the wrong courtroom, such was his stark change in appearance. Gone was the burly man in the mugshot photos taken the day of his arrest fleeing the Petit murder scene: He was almost thin, his formerly shaved head now bearing tufts of gray hair that stood out in random sprigs and appeared to not touched a comb in  ages. He did still have some fight in him however as I recalled him nodding emphatically at the judge as his lawyer Thomas Ullmann complained about the amount of publicity that the crimes were receiving, citing the latest statistics in Blog articles alone to the presiding Judge.


In any event, as the months wore on Steven Hayes received some letters from his brother Matthew who it seems encouraged him to do the right thing for the first time in his life and admit accountability for his actions; He basically told his brother, who had been mostly estranged from him his entire life due to his insistence upon pursuing a life of crime, to plead guilty. Hayes crimes seemed to largely revolve around the continuous pursuit of drugs (crack) and prostitutes, always getting caught by police, basically because
 he was a clumsy thief, a disorganized criminal and one that clearly didn't think his crimes out. He simply acted in desperation for money for drugs and got caught as a result.


As his trial neared Steven Hayes decided for whatever reasons that he wished to change his plea to guilty. In a preliminary hearing for his trial Hayes surprised everyone, including his own attorneys apparently and suddenly and quite assuredly tried to plead guilty right then and there. Unfortunately and rather ridiculously, Connecticut law disallowed Steven Hayes from pleading guilty at that particular point in his judicial process, a fact that still amazes and disgusts me. We have so perverted our system that it has become one wherein the very person who has committed multiple murder, rape, kidnapping arson is not allowed to plead guilty in a court of law. 


The court and the lawyers won. They worked on Hayes and wore him down, eventually talking him into not changing his plea when the time finally rolled around where he might be allowed to plead guilty by the Connecticut court system. However Hayes was a man still bent on admitting at least the basic truths of the crimes he committed on the night of July 23rd 2007.

As such he greatly binded the hands of his lead attorney Thomas Ullmann, a pugnacious upstart, who loved a fight and seemed intent upon saving the lives of men who took the lives of others, in often brutal and terrifying fashions;  In fact he made a career of it.  Attorney Ullmann, a man who usually employed any and all of the usual despicable mendacious attorney tactics, was forced to follow the wishes of his client, lest he lose him completely again. And thus, in his opening statement, we were made privy to the likes of the whole mood of the trial to follow, something that undoubtedly made Ullmann extremely uncomfortable and his instincts stymied.

 "We will concede much but not all" he said to the Jury in his opening statement. Various local attorneys took note of the usual bull dog Ullmann's unusually docile approach in defending Hayes.
.

And so he did and with much restraint held back his usually aggressive and  standard fare for defense lawyers manipulative flair, a style that Joshua Komisarjevsky's lead attorney appears to have anxiously taken the baton from, in this the spectacle that has become the trial  of one Joshua Komisarjevsky.

Komisarjevsky unlike Hayes is in fact the brainchild, the mastermind, and the executioner of the Petit family home invasion, a set of crimes that he not only devised, but carried out with complete and utter precision and an attention to detail that Hayes so obviously lacked. The end result, the murders of Jennifer Hayley and Michaela Petit having been decided the moment he cracked William Petit Jr over the head with a baseball bat so many times that he lost count  hitting him "as hard as I could as if chopping wood"


In any event, by choosing to use Ben Komisarjevsky as a witness and a star witness in his sons penalty phase the defense has ultimately only helped the jury to see many of the qualities that Komisarjevsky had since he was a young teen, and how those qualities and behaviors steadily lead to a persistant return to a life of crime and the eventual targeting stalking and rape of Michaela Petit and the murders of three members of the Petit family on July 23rd 2007.


Through their client's father's testimony, which was supposed to provoke compassion for the convicted murderer, the defense inadvertently managed to outline Komisarjevsky's criminal and amoral evolution, his tendencies to pathologically lie, to manipulate, to steal, to stalk, and worse, sexually assault, in this particular testimony it was his own sister that he sexually molested according to Ben Komisrajevsky who claimed we just didn't know what to do"


By listening to the elder Komisrajevsky, we see two Christian based parents completely ill-prepared to deal with a evolving sociopath; Trying to do their best with what they knew, using their Christian faith, something that they themselves had been taught as youths, to continuously, unfailingly and loyally attempt time and again to help their problematic son from turning to evil  every chance he had to do right.

Nothing worked.

The most telling piece of testimony today from Ben Komisarjevsky were the many letters his son would send him from whatever place he'd most recently landed as a result of criminal activity. When he was younger it was a christian based camp in New Hampshire,  later it would be prison. The letters his father said would always be filled with apologies about his latest criminal behaviors and promises to change. His father rather sadly related that none of the promises ever came to volition and that hi son always returned to the exact same behaviors that led him into the  intuitions that he found himself in.



These letters and moreover the manipulation behind them is classic sociopath behavior. Komisrajevsky knew he had a mark in his father, just as he did with his mother the ever patient martyred Christian mom, refusing as did her Hinda to give up on their son despite the continuous reasons to do just that. Joshua Komisrajevsky was smart enough to know that he needed Ben and Jude Komisarjevsky as they were his only allies in life and as such he used their own Christian Faith to bamboozle them and keep them on the hook, as it were. I know very few parents that would have put up with the behaviors and continuous trouble that  Joshua Komisrajevsky got into. Because of faith, the Komisrajevsky's inadvertently enabled Joshua over and over again, through denial and then simple enabling.

Even on the night of the Petit murders we see two enabling parents, complicit via their denial. Their son who was recently paroled from prison, had just had his GPS tracking anklet removed a few days earlier.

 The very night that he had it removed Komisarjevsky admitted to Police that he was breaking into Cheshire homes with accomplice Steven Hayes in tow. Hayes says that Komisrajevsky was priming him to see just how easy it would be to pull off a home invasion. An invasion that undoubtedly included sexual assault and if lucky a greater cache of  money or stolen goods that would translate into money for the pair. Komisrajevsky resented the child support money he had to pay for his then 5 year old daughter. Despite having a full time job as a roofing worker which was part of his parole agreement, sociopaths like Komisrajevsky believe that they are special and they see regular working men, like his own father as fools working stiffs" something they disdain the very notion of due to their narcissistic vision of themselves and the world.


This outlook fueled much of Joshua Komisrajevsky behaviors from the time he was a young adolescent on, puberty is the atypical age whereupon the behaviors associated with oppositional - defiant disorder begin to rear their ugly head in earnest. This disorder is a well known predictor and precursor to becoming a sociopath and includes such behaviors such as fire setting, stealing, animal cruelty, pathological lying and manipulating and getting into trouble at school and or with the law.  At it's core this personality disorder which is not a mental illness has as Its main component is a complete disregard for rules and regulations and the rights of others.

Oct 24, 2011

Komisarjevsky Statements To Police Cannot Be Suppressed, Judge Rules


I am glad to see that Judge Blue didn't back down on this issue.

As the trial has approached the Penalty phase I've noticed that Judge Blue has approved a record number of defense requests, no matter how manipulative or excessive their demands. I am sure the Judge is simply being especially cautious with any and all of his rulings at this crucial stage in the trial proceedings.

He undoubtedly considered that it better to err on the side of caution, rather than give this defense any reason that they can distort into a  valid appeal within the higher courts, or even a possible mistrial.  Defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan has already made at least five motions for a mistrial, begginning the very first day of the trial proceedings.

One particularly memorable one was a situation wherupon Judge Blue noticed a juror crying and stated that it appeared a "juror was having a hard time" and he chose that particular time to end the days proceedings.
This statement of Judge Blue's was" prejudicial to his client"  Donovan claimed and he motioned for a mistrial.


It has become a classic " boy who cried wolf ' situation, and yet the Judge must take every motion seriously, no matter the fodder involved, and respond to it thoroughly in kind. And  Judge Blue has done a remarkable job -  he is an excellent scholar of case law and state law and his responses to motions have been exceedingly articulate and at times eloquent.


It must be challenging when dealing with a defense that abuses the judical process in hopes of wearing down the prosecutors, the Judges patience, as well as the surviving victim and his families.
This defense, led by Donovan has claimed that just about  everyything has been prejudicial to his client. This of course includes the latest move to suppress Komisarjevsky's own mention of his voluminous conviction record within the taped statemenst to police. The convictions all centered around breaking and entering into houses with the odd habit of waiting until the residents were in the home. Robbery seemed secondary, the invasion and stalking seemed the motivating force behind what was clearly


The decision to allow in as admissable a portion of a  taped statement that komisarjevsky voluntarily made to police regarding his 45 prior breaking and entering convictions, is only fair and just. There is no valid reason that this information should be " suppressed " and thus witheld from the jury. It is damning information to be sure, because it allows the Jury to follow the dots.


The evolution of Komisarjevsky's crimes is clear cut and classic. His history includes elaborate stalking of his victims, and behavior that is consistent with a predator. He committed those crimes and surely many others ie If he was caught for 45  break ins, with enough evidence to convict, how many other crimes did he  commit that he did not get caught for?

 As well, how many charges (crimes that he committed) were dispensed of within his various plea bargains in connecticut courts? This dropping of charges is standard operating practice in our courts, when a defendant is charged with multiple counts within the commission of  one criminal "event" ,  let alone a string of events/crimes, as was the case with Komisarjevsky in two separate municipalities. 


This is a man who planned and executed all of his crimes fastidiously, Despite what his attorneys and their hired psychologist have tried to sell this jury regarding Komisarjevsky's "cognitive issues" this is a shrewd calculating criminal who has no respect for the rights of other human beings. This is a standard feature of sociopaths. Plenty of people, including myself, have sustained multiple head injury's, plenty more have been abused in their lives and even more have had bad childhoods; They/ we do not commit "extreme sport" robbery's  (komisarjevsky's own words describing his years of breaking into houses when the owners were home perilously close to danger)  nor does this " make us" become pedophiles, rapists of children, and Murderers with no remorse.

.
I also must comment upon the defenses motions and the subsequent articles regarding these " letters" from Komisarjevsky's hand picked accomplice, Steven Hayes, The timing and the letters themselves sound like a complete device manufactured or solicited by Komisarjevsky and or his defense team. There are a few possible scenarios and all of them smell of atypical behavior by Mr. Komisarjevsky, a sociopath of epic proportion and his increasingly narcissistic defense attorney, Jeremiah Donovan. It would appear that quite some time ago, Mr Donovan began adapting personality traits from his client; deceptiveness, manipulation of the truth, (and in an oh so obviously timed fashion) and a desire to "win" at any cost.


I can easily see Komisarjevsky or his lawyers getting the bright idea to write letters to Hayes in prison, posing as one of those women that are sickly attracted to men that kill and men that are in prison. They would write several letters to Hayes, drawing him out thinking he had a woman on the line that was excited by dangerous men.

Then, within a few letters, Hayes would possibly begin inventing crimes in order to make himself sound more dangerous. The only problem with this theory, is the language supposedly used by Hayes in the one lone letter that somehow made it's way to the New Haven Register.

The other two letters read in such a way that Judge Blue claimed "would only seal Mr. Komisarjevsky's fate if they were entered as admissible: Apparently, they contain direct references to the Petit crimes and offer specifics citing that Komisarjevsky escalated the crimes into a triple murder, (and near fatal assault upon Dr Petit, whom he intended to die with the rest of the family in the fire.

Those letters, rather conveniently, didn't make it into the media's hands.



I've read Steven Hayes statement to police, I've also heard him speak briefly - he is not exactly an articulate, nor intelligent person. The language, and moreover the psychology, embedded within the one letter that fell into the lap of the Register, more closely resembles Joshua Komisarjevsky's style of verbiage, writing, and thinking - And thanks to komisarjevsky and his need for attention we have plenty to compare it to:



Komisarjevsky wrote voluminous"journals" and other writings seized from his prison cell, drafts of letters sent to writer Brian MacDonald first, second drafts all of which komisarjevsky knew would be confiscated from his cell which is why he started a "journal" His bogus story to Brian MacDonald about the night of the murders has since resulted in MacDonald's public admittance that he was completely manipulated and duped by Komisrajevsky throughout their entire correspondence and subsequent prison interviews


Oct 20, 2011

Judge delays start of Penalty Phase in Komisarjevsky Trial


Judge Blue made a succession of rulings today concerning the upcoming penalty phase of convicted murderer, Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial.

Komisarjevsky is the man who targeted the Petit family for the deadly home invasion in July 2007, initially following Mrs. Petit and her daughters home from an area supermarket on the day of the murders


In addition to being convicted on three capital murder charges for the deaths of Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela Petit, Komisarjevsky was also convicted of sexually assaulting eleven year old Michaela Petit who was in the rmarket with her mother when Komisarjevsky began stalking the family.


A surprising decision to move the start date of the penalty phase from this coming Monday to Tuesday was made by Judge Blue, in order to allow more time for attorneys to argue certain motions involved with this essential phase of the trial. After which the jury will decide whether Komisarjevsky will receive a death sentence for the murders or life in prison.


A decision that remains to be made is whether or not Komisarjevsky's prior criminal history should be suppressed within the Penalty phase which is really a trial within a trial. His attorney's are hoping to suppress their clients substantial criminal history of which 45 prior convictions for breaking and entering, Robbery's Larceny's were mentioned during the taped statements he made to Cheshire Police, after his arrest fleeing the Petit murder scene driving the Petit's family car.


There are problems for the defense inherent to either blocking the history or allowing it: - if their clients criminal history becomes admissible, the defense could  try to use the fact that he never became violent within his many home break-ins as evidence that Komisarjevsky was "only" a career thief until he went on a home invasion with Steven Hayes. They could  try to insist that this lends credence to the theory that  accomplice Hayes escalated the "robbery" into multiple murder. 

One  problem with trying to sell this to the jury is the fact that Komisarjevsky was the one who targeted the family in the first place, alone without Steven Hayes. He was the initiating predator.


Komisarjevsky, the professional criminal known for his elaborate planning and foresight involved with all of his past crimes, wore and brought masks, zip -ties and other restraining devices, a look-alike 9 mm gun (which he gave Hayes the money after spotting the Petit women ) clearly intent on a different type of crime, other than plain house robbery. This crime was the natural evolution of all of his previous and dangerous  breaking and entering into homes where lay sleeping or watching TV.


This crime  revolved around sexual assault, kidnapping and taking control of an entire house, including two young attractive girls and their attractive mother. This is why he brought along burly Steven Hayes,: Komisarjevsky was 5' 11" and 130 lbs, he had been teased at the halfway house when bragging about the judge calling him a dangerous predator, the man taunting him that " he was weird and 120 LBS SOAKING WET and clearly  no ones idea of a threat. Likely, this insult stuck in Komisarjevsky's craw for months.


It is interesting to note that for all of Komisarjevskys bragging at the time of his sentencing hearings he had made a statement feigning indigence over being called an animal by the prosecutor and a predator by the judge. Years later he would once again become loudly indignant over being referred to as an animal this time in an  indirect sense when Dr Petit's modest memorial to his family on the date of their murders was published in the Hartford Courant. Through his lawyers Komisarjevsky loudly complained about Petit's reference to the animals that killed my family, actually demanding to officially challenge the memorial, this through yet another motion filed by his Defense Attorney Jeremiah Donovan.. Judge Blue, ever the pragmatist, rejected the request, citing that it was a short memorial in a paper and did not even mention Komisrajevsky's name.


Blue also wisely pointed out that the legal motion concerning the memorial had recieved much more media attention than the actual memorial itself, thereby making moot and vapid the assertion thatthe defense and the defenant touted that the memorial citing the evil that took my family" being" highly prejudicial"


Of course Blue was right, the defense was well aware that their motion would suffice, as the high profile trial was being thoroughly covered by the media. and every motion, no matter how ridiculous were being printed or linked to in the papers and on the internet..  As such they used an inordinate amount of toothless motions in attempts to manipulate the publics view.



Within his taped statements to Police, Komisarjevsky made frequent references to Michaela Petit , sickeningly referring to her by her family nickname "K.K", and describing a moment to the detective where he claims he" locked eyes with her" - This, while the young girl was tied to her bed, undoubtedly terrified .
This maneuver is classic sociopath behavior, inventing a mutual attraction with one's rape victim, trying to turn a sexual assault into something that sounds more mutual.


What I find extremely telling with this admission is that the pillowcases that Komisarjevsky claimed the men put on the heads on the girl's must have been off of Michalea in order for Komisarjevsky to " Lock eyes with her"  This means that at that point in time, the idea of the girl i.d ing him was no longer an issue, as he had already decided she as well as the rest of the family were going to die. Even if he continued to wear his mask, his body type and voice were enough for this girl to make an ID to Police especially considering his reputation with the Cheshire Police.   As well, Jennifer Petit clearly had to have her pillowcase off in order to be brought downstairs make the phone call that komisarjevsky, the shrewd one in the pair, forced her to make to Dr Petits office claiming he was ill and would not be making his rounds.


Komisarjevsky admitted to lesser acts of sexual assault upon the helpless 11 year old, but forensics showed that he in fact sodomized the girl, a fact that he did not admit to police, nor likely his own attorneys at first. Sociopaths often lie, rather convincingly, to their own lawyers, wanting to appear more likable, less culpable to the person who will be defending them - In this case for his life.

The bottom line is that when he was arrested, Komisarjevsky had in his possession cell phone photos of half naked Michaela Petit and close up photos of the girl's private areas. There were photos of Michaela in various outfits, including a plaid skirt and a white top that resembled a schoolgirl, standard pedophile behavior.The clothing was found cut off of her body. Komisarjevsky had a long history of attraction to, and involvement with, girls much younger than himself. The mother of his child was fifteen when she gave birth. Komisarjevsky was 22 at the time. He knew that he had to tell Police something insofar as how he procured the pictures and he made the assault sound as innocuous as possible, not yet knowing how much if any of his DNA would be found, or even if the girls body was burnt beyond any forensic gathering.



Shown at both men's trials were text messages between the men hours before they met up for the home invasion that clearly showed Komisarjevsky as the leader, the decision maker, in fact he ultimately gave the written text  nod to Hayes that yes, the crimes were going to happen. Text messaging between the pair on the night of the home invasion showed clear sexual inferences about the crimes, proving that sexual assault was a discussed factor in the crimes, if not the prime motivator.

A big issue with not suppressing Komisarejvsky's 45 robbery convictions. would be the fact that Komisarjevsky's history was far from that of a standard thief. His pattern and preference was to break into houses when the homeowners were home as opposed to most B and E robbers and thieves who wait until a house is empty in order to avoid possible confrontation with the homeowners. Interviewed acquaintances and friends of Komisarjevsky spoke of the young man bragging about the fact that breaking into houses with no one being home was "too boring" he spoke of" the rush" that he got knowing the residents were often just feet away sleeping, eating or watching TV.It is obvious that he got a sense of great power breaking into another person's private domain, their sanctuary, while they were home.



This is extremely telling insofar as the likelihood of eventual criminal escalation. In fact, the last Judge to sentence Komisarjevsky noted this very point rather emphatically within his sentencing remarks, stating that Komisarjevsky was a dangerous predator that posed a serious risk to the people of Connecticut. He specifically cited his habit of breaking into houses while people were present in the home and Komisarjevsky frequent use of  tools like night vision goggles used to stalk his victims before finding a weak entry point in their house. An open window, a door lacking a deadbolt or as in the Petit case, a basement or Bilco door.



Following this reasoning the judge gave Komisarjevsky a 9 year prison term with 6 years of special parole, making a point to say that including the Parole, Komisarjevsky would be" finished with the Department of Corrections by the time he was 36 years of age if he basically towed the line and used his time in prison wisely.  Tragically and maddeningly, despite the judge and prosecutor's conscientious sentencing, Joshua Komisarjevsky actually served just over two and a half years in prison, before being transferred to a Hartford halfway house where he met Steven Hayes, his future accomplice in the Petit murders.


Hayes was a middle aged man who had been in and out of the prison system his entire life, mostly in"; Almost all of his small time bungled crimes revolved around a crack habit. Komsarjevsky on the other hand was definitely not an addict, but he was remanded to a halfway house for offenders whose crimes were fueled by addictions.


Komisarjevsky claimed to Police as well as his parent's that he broke into their neighbors homes in order to buy drugs,  claiming at various times to be on cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. As there is no evidence of addictions to meth or coke, this was obviously more manipulative behavior by a budding sociopath, using what he knew about Connecticut's judicial system attempting to receive leniency from police and the courts, eventually becoming eligible for recovery - based halfway house residency, a house where 12 step meetings were mandatory work was encouraged and random urine tests insured "compliance" and readiness for the outside world.


This got the offenders out from behind bars sooner and some, like Hayes, couldn't resist their newly found freedom, returned to using drugs while living at the house and failed a urine test. He was sent back to prison only to be paroled 5 months later. Even he was incredulous when the parole board announced that despite his failing a drug test and getting bounced back to prison they were going to give him early release just the same. Komisarjevsky passed every drug test while in prison and as far as he got on Parole.


It is a well known fact among career convicts that inventing a drug habit or exaggerating occasional drug use (such as Komisarjevsky's intermittent marijuana use), will only help them within the Judicial system. Defense attorneys are known to encourage their clients to cite drug use as a motivating factor in their crimes, in efforts to dupe prosecutors and judges into lighter sentences.


On top of all of this, Komisarjevsky's prison time was mostly served in solitary confinement, largely due to his own complaints of harassment by other inmates. His mother, who like his father appears to have been a major enabler of her son's criminal pursuits, then made complaints on Komisarjevsky's behalf that he wasn't getting enough recreation time among other things, which was only a direct result of her son being in protected "solitary", exactly what Komisarjevsky asked for.


After less than three years, he was given early release parole by the Connecticut Parole Board who made their fatal decision, as they did with all parole decisions at the time, without the inmate present (called administrative parole) nor with the benefit of his criminal history in front of them.

 They had a singular report of Komisarjevsky's last arrest,  and with that alone, Joshua Komisarjevsky was set loose, having bragged at the halfway house that he'd been called a "dangerous predator" by the judge.


On that Judge's mind, when he  made that statement, was Komisarjevsky's unusual history of stalking behaviors, watching his victims through night vision goggles and such prior to breaking into their houses. Perched in trees and crouched in bushes, he'd watch his B and E victims, sometimes for hours. This behavior was in effect a pattern of a budding sexual predator. What used to be called Peeping Tomism has since been discovered to be a serious precursor to serial rapists and murderers. The prosecution could easily point out all off this if Komisarjevsky's  prior criminal history is admissible.


Several other key decisions were made in today's hearing in New Haven,  including the seating of the prosecution and the defense as they make their statements to the jury. The defense made an unusual motion to switch seats with the prosecution, who traditionally sit closest to the jury throughout any trial. Jeremiah Donovan made a request today specifically requesting  that when it is the defenses turn to make their statement, that they be seated directly in front of the jury,( this echoing an earlier motion prior to the start of the trial where the defense wanted to sit in front of the jury throughout the trial. )


Also requested at that time was for the yet to be convicted Komisarjevsky to sit in such a position as to "face his accusers"  ie lone survivor and victim of his near fatal baseball bat assault, William Petit Jr. a man whose wife and children Komisarjevsky targeted and killed.


The practical reality of the defenses seating request is that they will have to switch seats with the entire prosecution when it is their turn to address the Jury.  Judge Blue, no doubt giving a lot of leeway now in order to avoid making any decision the defense can later try to use in an appeal or mistrial request, allowed the unusual  seating request.  Michael Dearington, the States lead prosecutor, did not object.


Also approved was a motion made by the defense to allow a complete hour for an opening statement at the start of the penalty phase. Prosecutor Dearington appeared to shake his head no, but did not officially object, most likely thinking how over the top it is by standard court practices. However, over the top has been the defining style of this defense from pre-trial motions on. They have been extremely aggressive toward the surviving victim and his family and over zealous with a ridiculous amount of motions, many of which have been nonsensical and clearly designed to harass, manipulate and wear down the surviving victim, his family and the prosecution.


Judge Blue remarked that although an hour was a lengthy amount of time for an opening statement, he would allow it, claiming it just fell within the rule book's parameters.


A key issue that was brought up earlier in the Komisarjevsky trial was a motion by the defense to keep their Penalty Phase witness-list  sealed from the public and thus, the media's view. Claiming that exposing their witnesses to possible harassment and/ or media attention could pose danger to the witnesses as well cause the witnesses to pull out of testifying the defense had managed to convince the Judge to seal the list earlier in the first phase of the trial. The issue was to be re-addressed before the start of the penalty phase:


Today, Judge Blue agreed to keep the list redacted for the same reasons that applied before, particularly as some of these out of state witnesses are approaching the date when they are expected to testify. These defense witnesses are undoubtedly character style witnesses for Komisarjevsky, some of whom the defense believes will convince the jury into sparing the convicted Komisarjevsky from the death penalty that the State rarely pursues.


 Jeremiah Donovan used the hearing to make yet another motion to remove the death penalty as a possible sentence for his client, citing it's unconstitutionality, this is the exact same motion he made prior to the start of the trial. Judge Blue expectedly rejected the motion, mentioning that he had ruled on this exact same motion once already. The defense stated that they were reiterating the motion in order to make as clear a record as possible for the higher courts and future appeals.

Oct 17, 2011

Connecticut Law Tribune: Tale Of Two Executions...

A very good article by Karen Lee Torre of the Connecticut LawTribune regarding the death penalty.

My only wish is that writers op-ed and otherwise would leave political parties out of any discussions and /or arguments regarding the death penalty. It only reduces an extremely important issue into something less by attaching liberalism or conservatism to one "side" ie opinion or another.

I would like to remind folks that although Connecticut is considered a "blue state" every single poll* taken regarding the issue of the Death Penalty has consistently shown an overwhelming majority of our residents want to keep the death penalty as a prosecutorial option for the worst of Connecticut's capital crime cases, such as the Petit family murders.

I am now an independent, but was a registered democrat for most of my adult life. Many of my friends and acquaintances are democrats, yet almost without fail, they have shared with me that they wish to keep the death penalty as an option for criminal cases where egregious brutality and cruelty are involved. However, almost all voice their frustration with the unworkability of our current Death Penalty "system" citing the need to rid the current system of the ludicrous amount of appeals that cripple the states ability to actually impose it once we have given a defendant a fair trial and a convicted murderer the right to appeal where there is any true question of doubt.

What is ludicrous, and I hear and read it frequently, is the argument that we should simply get rid of the death penalty because of the aforementioned fact that it is currently so unworkable. This is dangerous slippery slope whose logic if applied to all criminal sentencing would be disastrous.

Our legislators need to change the current limitless appeals process and place time limits between a death penalty sentence and it's imposition.  Appeals need to meet valid strict, requirements - period.  We are already a State that is extremely cautious about our  pursuit of this, our most severe sentence. It is clear that as a people, our state wishes to retain the right to pursue and impose this sentence.

* Quinnipiac Polling.

Oct 13, 2011

Joshua Komisarjevsky Found Guilty on all 17 counts re Petit Family Crimes




Thank God that this Jury was intelligent enough to sift through the detritus thrown out there by the defense attorneys, and wisely and carefully traverse Mr Komisarjevsksky's accountability, charge by charge, weighing the evidence and in the end voting what their instinct and common sense told them.


I personally felt that Dr. Petit and his sister, Mrs. Chapman, were being extremely generous and gracious while addressing the media regarding Komisarjevsky's defense attorneys and thier horrible tactics both in and outside of court:  In watching the video above, one can hear both of them saying something to the effect that the Komisarjevsky attorneys were much more "aggressive" and... "tough on them " than accomplice Steven Hayes attorney's Thomas Ullmann and Andrew Culligan.
Mr Ullman has been quoted as saying that Komisarjevsky lawyers would be fools to pursue the same tact that they did within the Hayes trial,  as it clearly "failed."

I distinctly remember being disgusted at Attorney Ullmanns use of the word "tact" as if his somewhat understated approach to the Hayes trial was a decision that the defense "team" made, rather than a situation borne of sheer necessity.  The fact of the matter is that Hayes was a horse of an entirely different color than mastermind and leader Komisarjevsky.

 It was apparent to anyone paying attention that Steven Hayes was deteriorating emotionally and physically in prison, In the end, he decided that he wanted to plead guilty for his part in the crimes, which he indeed tried to do, seemingly with no advance notice to his lawyers at a pre-trial hearing. Needless to say his attorneys led by Thomas Ullmann leapt  into crisis control, threatening to do whatever it took"  including a shocking promise that he and the other attorneys would break the cardinal rule of attorney/ client privilege, meaning he would betray confidences between Hayes, he and any and any other professionals involved in the case, if necessary in order to hinder Hayes from " committing state assisted suicide"

Over the years, this over-used lawyer's lament and the hypocrisy that fuels it has become more and more impotent and tiresome; All of the intended melodrama behind those words and moreover the concept, has seeped out, thanks in part to the typically left leaning residents of Connecticut becoming more right leaning insofar as the issues surrounding crime, justice and public safety.

Thanks to the high profile nature of the Petit family crimes and several other similar crimes that occurred over the same one year period, folks have become more aware of  violent crime and moreover how our court systems enable it to continue with what has become a revolving door system designed to infuse money into a crippled and oft times corrupt- criminal justice system. Bottom line: citizens of the state are fed up.


Interestingly this same statement regarding state assisted suicide was thrown out repeatedly by anti-death
penalty propagandists for serial killer Michael Ross;  His surprisingly many legal and legislative proponents,
men and women, who, despite Ross's own wish to be given his just punishment for raping torturing and murdering dozens of women and young girls all over Connecticut insisted that their personal philosophy was more important than state law, not to mention the convicted murderers  repeated request to be given his legally rendered punishment for the many crimes which he had admitted to and been convicted of.


Ross was not surprisingly the very last person to be executed in the state of Connecticut by the state's approved mode of execution the extremely humane, lethal injection; In other words, the convicted man or woman is put to sleep, something far more humane than it's capital punishment predecessor, death via the electric chair.


In any event, Steven Hayes desire to take responsibility and thus, accountability for the crimes he committed seems to be something that our state's system inherently will not permit via a variety of built in judicial roadblocks and over zealous public defenders who behave as if culpability is a passe notion with no place in today's criminal justice system, no matter how much pain and torture a convict has admitted to perpetuating against innocent h8uman beings.


His lawyers managed to talk him out of pleading guilty. However, I personally think that there was an uneasy compromise that was struck between  defendant and his lawyers, and as such, the attorneys including usually pugnacious and sometimes quasi rabid Ullmann was forced to tread lightly within Steven Hayes trial arena. Naturally there were the usual armchair pundits watching the proceedings, or reading the soundbites in real time on twitter saying things like " Where is the Thomas Ullman we know....Why isn't he attacking someone, anyone more vociferously?"


Besides the fact that he was dealing with a recalcitrant defendant/client, it is many attorneys opinion that with such brutal and tragic crimes as the Petit family murders, particularly when they involve the rape and murder of a child... attacking the surviving victim and the grieving family, as not only ethically repugnant, but also a bad legal tactic which usually backfires further vilifying the defendant in the Jury's eyes by association.


The bottom line is that Steven Hayes seemed experience some regret  for his part in the crimes, even if a good part of that regret was regret over where the crimes had landed him, and the dismal proposition of a future in a solitary cell in prison for 20-40 years. While it's true that Hayes spent much of his life in prison, it had always been for non violent crimes and as such he'd always been afforded the privilege of  mixing in with the general population; work detail and exersize socialization, classes and opportunities to obtain GED's and changes in his daily activities.


 Because of the nature of the Petit crimes, involving rape and murder of children, and given the fact that the crimes resulted in stricter rules for Statewide Parole and early release programs,  both Hayes and Komisarjevsky were placed in solitary status for thier own protection, from the very first day they were in prison. While a loner like Joshua Komisarjevsky doesnt care much one way or anotherm Komi



Komisarjevsky, as expected, showed a full blown sociopath's 's lack of conscience straight through the reading of the guilty verdicts. He did not betray one bit of emotion when the guilty verdicts on all 17 charges were read aloud - in fact he even yawned as he stretched his legs, preparing himself to leave the courtroom.
This is exactly what I would expect from a sociopath and a narcissist of his ilk; a staunch refusal to betray any emotion,  particularly fear or disappointment, especially in front of Dr Petit and the Petit family.



It has become abundantly clear via the convicts prison writings as well as his own attorneys tactics that Komisarjevsky has delusion ally come to view Dr Petit as his Nemesis; He actually has the audacity to harbor hatefulness toward Dr Petit as well as calling out the sole surviving victim of his carnage on several occasions now; My opinion is that Komisrjevsky hates Dr Petit for surviving the crimes in the first place, and becoming in effect the sole witness against him; also Dr Petit's refusal to be conned, manipulated or strong armed by Komisarjevsky, his attorneys, or "Restorative justice firms" just one of several disingenuous soft pedal approaches used by the defense early in the pre-trial process.


Remember, Komisarjevsky has used manipulation throughout his entire  life,( including throughout the aftermath of these horrible crimes. with surprising degrees of success. When he cannot manipulate or deceive, he is akin to a petulant child.


In the end, I believe that it is Dr. Petit's strength and determination to carry on,  to not give up despite how tempting that has been, to bring forward the charity and the kindness of his wife and daughters, this, has in effect reduced Komisarjevsky and the banality of his "evil"to nothing.
The evil that fueled these tragic crimes has not lasted; the pain is still lingering, naturally but the good that has sprung forward is immeasurable, thanks largely in part to Dr Petit and his insistence that Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela's best qualities live on and on, as they continue to help those who need it the most.


My guess is that this guy's attorneys prepared him for the strong likelihood of a guilty verdict, on most, if not all, of the charges - this, despite their shameless attempts to degrade and slander the surviving victim and his family, in a fashion that was reminiscent of the techniques once widely used against rape victims up until the 1970's;

Komisarjevsky's lawyers surely knew that he would likely be convicted due to the excessive evidence against him;  His own detailed but contradictory statements to Cheshire detectives, a veritable electronic record of his crimes, from stalking Michaela and her family at the Cheshire Stop and Shop, right  through his sexual assault of the little girl, which he tried to freeze in time on his cellphone as a permanent sick trophy. And worst of all  the damning testimony of Komisarjevsky yelling down to Dr Petit don't worry... " it will all be over soon"  right after the sexual assault and murder of Mrs Petit,  using what Dr. Petit described as a very sinister tone. In fact that tone is what convinced Dr Petit that the man who had been using fake reassuring tones prior to that point in time, was getting ready to slaughter he and his family.
This alone proved intent, as well as completely disproving the notion that the defense did their best to muster up, that Komisarjevsky was" in a panic and frozen when his accomplice Hayes raped and murdered Jennifer Petit, this after Joshua Komisarjevsky had just helped him to tie Mrs Petit up, including tying a rope around her neck!

His words and that taunting telling evil tone belies any and all claims of being in a "shock like state unable to stop anything or even help the girls by untying them. "

IE Joshua Komisarjevsky told police that it "didn't occur to him" to untie either of the Petit girls when he was asked this simple question by the interviewing detective; That one utterly incriminating statement, along with his sinister taunting to the then gravely injured Dr Petit, who lay crumpled tied to a pole in the cellar, bleeding profusely having just heard terrible thumping and moaning sounds that he feared was his wife, completely nullifies the defense's assertions that their client was some kind of hapless, helpless follower, unable to stop the real killer Steven Hayes --is just insulting to our collective intelligence.


The defense has asserted over and over, that "Joshua "merely wishes to live out the rest of his life in prison,and cites, that he still has much to offer the world; This will likely to be their mantra during the upcoming sentencing portion of  trial. Attorney Donovan indicated today that their intention of continuing to pursue this same concept of blaming the other guy will continue  well  into the penalty phase of the trial;
Again the subject of a clutch of letters that Steven Hayes supposedly tried to send an unidentified woman in prison purportedly claiming to be responsible for 16 "kills" date rapes, is evidence that the lawyers intend once again to Mr Hayes probable role as the heavy within the crimes during the sentencing.

As Judge Blue stated when denying a motion from the defense stop closing  arguments and to resume the defense, the letters, are unable to be substantiated; multiple state police and FBI cannot find any murders or cold cases that fit the claims, and most of all, the letters Judge Blue claimed are highly prejudicial to Mr Komisarjevsky, as they blame him for the entire escalation of the Petit home invasion, citing that the letters if introduced would seal Komisarjevskys fate.

Waiting for the Komisarjevsky Verdict



The Komisarjevsky Jury began their second day of deliberations in New Haven Superior court at 10 AM this morning, and there has not yet been a verdict nor one single note passed out of the Jury room all day.


Yesterday, the jury began deliberations at 11:45 am after being given their charge by Judge Blue late Tuesday afternoon: They passed one note out of the Jury room to Judge Blue after approximately an hour into deliberations, asking for clarification regarding whether Komisarjevsky had to be found guilty specifically as an accessory or a principle on each capital charge.

Judge Blue sent back a note indicating that they did not have to specify accessory or a principle simply whether they found Komisarjevsky guilty of each of the seventeen charges against him, including the capital charges which carry a possible death penalty.


I am personally surprised that this jury is taking so long to convict Mr. Komisarjevsky, who is clearly more culpable than was his accomplice, Steven Hayes. Hayes was tried last year and his Jury took just four hours to convict him.

More as any new developments occur. 

Oct 12, 2011

Operation Law Enforcement kicks off Domestic Violence Awareness Month at Bay Area Women's Center in Bangor Township

What a great idea and moreover, what a responsible Police department!

Please take part in October Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Here are some ways that you can make a difference: