Disturbing information regarding Komisarjevsky's assault of Michael Petit heard on taped Police Statement

No wonder, Komisarjevsky lawyers fought so hard to keep their clients statements to the Cheshire Police out of this trial:  In todays testimony,  taped  statements of Komisarjevsky speaking to to Police detective about the crimes were played for the Jury; There were new disturbing admissions regarding Komisarjevsky's sexual assault of 11 year old Michaela Petit, as well as an overall flat, detached affect that left the listener with a much clearer picture of this man's true nature.

Attorney Donovan tried unsuccessfuly to ban the statements, and the tape from evidence in pre-trial motions to no avail. The Judge found no valid legal criteria for disallowinging Komisarjevsky's statements.

 It should be noted that Komisarjevsky had a history of being very chatty with Police about his previous crimes when arrested, almost all those charges were for breaking and entering, robbery larceny.
He almost seemed as if he wanted to boast to policr about some of the finer details of those prior break-ins.

The taped statements had komisrajevsky pointing the finger at his accomplice Hayes for escalating the crimes to murder citing that noone was supposed to get hurt, despite the fact that he admitted to drawing the first blood as it were by breaking in thru a broken bjulkhead lock and tiptoing up the steps to the sunroom where hed already spotted William Petit sleeping from outsdie the home with Hayes. He'd instructed Hayes to wait for him to let him in via a door to the house. Komisarjevsky had grabbed a baseball bat from the basement and stood over the sleepinvg Petit for a minute before beginning to club him over the head approximately 10 times despite massive blood spray (petit was on a blood thinner coumadin for prophalytic reasons) and claimed he just wanted him to shut up and stop yelling. In his quotes to

But the facts are that it was Komisrajevsky who had the most to worry about insofar as DNA, particularly at that point especialy, first he had beaten Dr Petit over the head with a bat and there was a great deal of blood spray. he had quietly molesting Michaela on and off from the early morning hours, taking cell phone photos of her semi nude, when Hayes left the house under Komisarjevsky's direction, to purchase containers of gasoline at a gas station two towns away.

This was likely an attempt to cover tracks because after the murders police would canvasss all local gas station video tapes, looking for a suspect who bought gasoline in containers. In fact Hayes got lost three times on his way back to the Petit home, and cell phone records showed that  komisarjevsky who lived in Chesire his whole life, had to give Hayes directions back to the house.

I believe that it was no cooincidence that Komisrajevsky sent Hayes out for the Gasoline,  Hayes was the fall guy for the much shrewder komisarjevsky. He sent Hayes to do all of the dirty work that would keep hayes's face out in the public and his own well known face out hidden. It was Hayes on the Gas station video tape filling up the contianers. It was Hayes on the video, putting gas into the Petit video.


Komisarjevsky sent Hayes out to the bank with Mrs Petit to procure the money, knowing that if Petit di drop the dime on them, hayes would be the person nabbed immediately giving Komisarjevsky time to escape. Also having Mrs Petit out of the house gave komisrajevsky the opportunity to do what he really beeen waiting for a full sexual assault of Michaela Petit, which he'd refrained from as long as her mother was  within earshot, he needed Jennifer Petit to trust him and he needed her compliance; raping her daughter would have certainly cost ghim both. This is what makes komisarjevsky so much more evil then Hayes; he manipulated and orchestrated the entire situation to his benifit and everyone involved including his own "partner"

While Hayes was at the bank with Mrs Petit Komisarjevsky also took one single cell phone photo of what is believed a sexual photograph of Hayely Petit, (the photo taking required him to remove her shorts and re-tie her legs (which had been tied according to her and hayes) both before and aftre the photo. That photo we learned within the Hayes trial was time stamped just after Hayes and Mrs. Petit left the house for the bank.
 It appears that komisatjevsky ran like a bat out of hell through the Petit house, molesting Hayely in order to create a trophy for himself and continuing on to sexually assault Michaela Petit then made her shower in order to try to get rid of as much of his DNA as he could. In the Hyes trial a forenisc scientist mentioned that Michala;'s body had semen in her rectum, at which point the Petit family and many other people became visibly and audibly extremely upset. We all knew that Michale had been komisarjevsky's target all along. He admmtted such to various people directly and inadvertantly. His photo of Hayely was an oppportunistic act and likely he was also trying to deman her and show her who was in charge"  This as he'd made several references to Hayelys refusal to submit to he or Hayes and that she remained defiant throughout the entire ordeal. This likely threatened komisarjevsky but also made him angry; it is also why he never really saw Hayely as an object for his sexual desires, nor did Hayes likely. Hayely Petit was a strong confident intelligent young women. All of these qualities were threatening to men who desired to rape

This is why he likely made any admissions at all to police about preforming Oral sex on Michaela; There is a
 is a reason for everything this seasoned predator admited to I was convinced that he had fully sexually assaulted Michaela but when we found out last year that shed been sodomized I was taken aback as if slapped and I actually cried for hours. I should have seen it coming as rape is reall about power and control, not sex and this was komisarjevsky exersizing his complete power over an 11 year old tied up girl who he'd lulled into a false sense of security---just as he did her mother....just as he is trying to do with the ury.
HOwever we unlike the jury perhaps know certain things such as the overall picture of komisarjevsky's many conflicting admisssions. From his letters and interviews with writer Brain Macodnald to his prison Journals" to his statements to Police which thank god are taped so that all appreciate the obvious conflict between his tone, his obvious detachment and lack of conscience over the end result of his home invasion gone "terribly wrong" ) and the words he is saying. As well as the second hand information that we have been spoon fed by komisarjevsky's rabid lawyers who seem to grow more despearet with every passing day in court.

Jerimiah Donovan komisarjevsky's lead attorney held an impromptu press conference last year literally upon the steps of steven Hayes trial,  the media hordes were gathered en masse, and in absolute violation of Judge Fsanos Gag order placed on the details of the case 2 years earlier, with a soft spoken humble sounding affect, reminiscent of his clients drama training, Donovan proceeded to addresss forenisci evidence regarding the sexual assault of little 11 year old Michalea Petit evidence that had just been presented that very afternoon which the media the jury and the Petit family were all still reeling from.

Mr Donovan was using the media gathering to basically lie using a transparent excuse that he had little choice re the platform because the Petit family had shut he and his other defense attorneys out, and asked the court to keep them away from them. So using this reason this seasoned public defender and prosecutor for many years, decided to completely break a long standing gag on the case, which was put in place to protect his client presumably, in order to get a fiar trial without all of the details of the case becoming oublic knowledge prior to the trial.   Well Donovan et all decided after hearing the forenisic evidencve presnted re Michaleas sexual assault that thyey needed to run damage control and fast. They couldnt have komisarjebvskys potentia;l jury pool taimnted walking around believing that he socomized an 11 year old child.
It was a vulgar display of lawyers manipulation at it's absolute worst. Unprofesional and despuicable. The whole reason that telivison cameras were not allowed int he courtroom was because among the charges was sexual assaults of minors. This attorney decided he'd throw michaela Petits rights out the window her familys rights as well and violate a gag order which should have led to his being held in contempt of court immediately and sentenced to at least several days in jail.

If the state puilled a stunt like that one could only imagine pugnacious Donovans reaction to it both verbally as well as through his now infamous -and thus ridiculous deluge of empty legal motions.

didnt count on my demons getting the better of me" he wrote in one of his jailhouse journals" that were really ramblings designed either to be read by writer Macdonald or startegically placed "diaries to be confiscated by prison officials and poured over by the state.


 disturbing "admissions" regarding his sexual abuse of eleven year old Michaela Petit,  one episode of several,  committed sometime before pouring gas on her and her bed covers and setting her afire, tied to her bed in an obvious effort to destroy any DNA left on, or near her body. One hair, one clothing fiber  

Komisarjevsky made this statements to Police willingly, after he  had been taken intocustody, caught fleeing the  murder scene, driving the very same Petit family mini van that Michaela Hayely and Jennifer were driving when he first targeted and stalked the women at an area supermarket. He then followed them back to thier home from a distance in his fathers truck.

I have always assumed that the public was only aware of a fraction of the actual criminal activity that occurred at the Petit's home on July 23rd 2007, even after the trial of Steven Hayes; We were dealing with two extremely self serving personality-disordered predators, who although, ay some point clicked with eachother, it was undoubtedly a connection of the  base kind: shared criminal/predatory fantasies or perhaps even boasting regarding past sexual crimes that one or both men had yet to even be convicted  or arrested for.

 It  wouldn't be the first time that a career felon like either of these men, had not been caught for scads of other crimes theyd committed - crimes like child abduction, sexual assault, felony assault or murder.
Case in point, Joseph Duncan, who, when first arrested for the Groene family murders and the dissapearence of Dylan Groene, was scoffed at by a detective familiar with his most recent arrest- for an attempted child fondling in a playground.

A pundit at the time was adamant that there was no way that Duncan committed these heinous murders, certainly not by himself; he was a child molester the lowest kind of criminal on the food chain"
A groper, an exhibitionist -yes, but killing an entire family bludgeuning them with a hammer, then kidnapping the two youngest  by himself, taking them over state lines deep into the mountains of Montana, where it turned out he sexually abused both children for weeks and eventually shot little Dylan Groene in the stomach with a shotgun, for no apparent reason, other than to quench his sadistic need for power over those smaller and weaker than he. Then, in front of his beloved sister, while the boy begged for his life, Duncan shot him again in the head with a pistol.

Shasta was rescued a week later when a waitress spotted the girl with Duncan at a Denny's restaurant at 2 am in the morning just outside Cour de lene the town shed lived in and was abducted from. Police found addressed on Duncans GPS all of which had small children living in them. He told Shasta he was going to
kidnapp dozens of children and kill them all like he did her brother.

The scariest part of all of this is that it turned out that this man had only a conviction record for sexual assault which he'd committed 25 years prior when he was just 17. He had kidnapped younger boy tied him up sexually assaulted and tortured him at gunpoint.  had actually committed at least 6  child rapes and murders all while he was on Parole, according to him. Police have since tied him to the murder of Anthony Martinez in California thanks in part to a blogger named Steve Huff, and a partial thumbprint later found on some duct tape used to bind poor little Anthony. He also shared detailed information about other child abductions and murders he committed with the now lone 8 year old Shasta -she was an excellent witness reiterating


I turn to Hayes and the fact that he had a history of only frequenting prostitutes for his "needs" and this shows me a man with serious issues with women, including but not limited to objectifying them. He had a long criminal history that did include assault as well as some weapons charges, these charges were dropped in several of his many many "plea deals," whereupon a criminal pleads guilty in exchange for generally a lowering of the severity of the criminal charges and the corresponding severity of the prison sentence.

This public safety shortcut is designed to save money, clear the docket and grant the presiding prosecutor a conviction...of some sort anyway, albeit one that does not reflect the severity of the crimes actually committed thereby leaving a dangerous man with a criminal record that has no official notation of history of violence and or willingness to use weapons when available.


In komisarjevsky's case, his history with the female gender was even more ominous, and starting at a very young age-another very bad sign. According to a Cheshire police detective komisarjevsky harassed and stalked and literally a young local girl whom he developed a sexual interest in his later teenage years. According to the detective komisarjevsky literally made this poor girl miserable by such things as climbing up trees in her yard or across the street in order to spy her with binoculars. Despite warnings from the girls parents his parents and police,Komisrajevsky was not daunted, and it wasn't until he found a new target that he finally left the girl alone.


The girls, including the mother of his child, were always much younger  a sign of emotional immaturity and an unwillingness to become involved with an equal- a woman of his own age was too much of a threat to komisarjevsky who in classic pedophilia style would rather play the older bad boy to emotionally underdeveloped girls who were already at least 6-10 years younger than him and likely had self esteem issues as well. Many Predators and abusers would seem have a built in antenna for women/girls who have submissive qualities as opposed to their age appropriate peers, as well as those who suffer from confidence and self-esteem problems; these are the girls who make the best " targets" or "victims" .


Joshua Komisarjevsky skipped this and simply went right for the girls just exiting puberty, such as girlfriend Carolyn Meisal the sister of another younger girl he dated whom he met while the pair visited in prison of all things. It Mas this girl for whom Komisarjevsky supposedly bitterly pined for and vowed that he would do anything to bring her back to Connecticut after her parents wisely moved her far away from the likes of komisarjevsky, to the state of Arkansas, this whilst he was on his last leg of a severely shortened sentence c/o a parole board that made all of its parole decisions without  any actual interaction with the inmate who was "up for parole"

This was called administrative parole and is as irresponsible as it is reckless.. It is even more reckless when added to the fact that none of the parole board members responsible for makings these ;life and death decisions every week, made them without the benefit of the particular inmates up for parole, criminal history files. They were lucky if they got a recent arrest report according to one parole officer at that time.
This issue was supposedly just coming to a head at exactly the time that komisarjevsky and Hayes were paroled, according to head prosecutor for the state Kevin Kane, who was trying to fix the dangerous issue which was actually being caused by conflicts over what department would pay for the copies of the would be parolees criminal history files, and who would put this information together for that matter?
 Also an obstacle was that much of the parolees criminal history/prison information that was crucial to the parole board decisions. was not computerized and was manuallyy filed away in Meriden shortly after a criminal case was "resolved" This meant that certain pieces of that parolees files would have to be pulled from a huge warehouse of paperwork.  Kevin Kane was in the middle of this crisis when the Petit murders occurred


Komisarjevsky was in his teens and already getting in trouble with the law. He set an abandoned gas station on fire at the age of 14--fire setting is part of a triad of symptoms for Conduct disorder and Defiant disorder, both of which are age appropriate pre-cursors to full blown Sociopathology, once known as psychopaths.
The most prevalent quality in the sociopath is deception,  manipulating and a chronic disregard for rules and the rights of others. They can also be very articulate and charming when need be, and they can feign humility quite easily as komisarjevsky did at his sentencing hearing for his last string of break ins. Luckily the judge presiding didn't fall for it,despite his parents as usual in court supporting him, looking for all the world like props, holding his newborn infant child who he'd impregnated his then 15 year old ex gal pal with - he was 23 at that time.

The Judge was well seasoned and world-wise to Komisarjevskys type ; Sadly these honed manipulative qualities are what undoubtedly fooled Jennifer Petit. I recall Dr Petit saying that the man who did all the talking, the one who had struck him in the head with the bat, had ised a soothing and reassuring tone earlier saying we just want some money...until he heard thumps and moaning coming from above him in the cellar where he lay tied to a pole.

After he yelled up the steps hey!"  That voice now sounding totally different and sinister Petit recalled shouted back at him don't worry it ll all be over soon!" 

It is a fitting irony that Joshua komisarjevsky's  cruel sadistic words designed to frighten and taunt , this while his wife was being murdered no less---that is how "shocked" he was over Hayes strangling Mrs Petit as he tried to later claim to Police. These are the things that need to be focused upon,


I recall reading somewhere in the book or his " journals" (another manipulation) Komisarjevsky's summation of these horrid crimes.

 'So I hit a guy with a bat, I emotionally scarred a young girl" and I stole some money"
The only thing missing were the words "Big deal!"  I remember my instinctual rage upon reading those lines a man, with all that time to think about what he had set into motion, by targeting Mrs Petit and her daughters that fateful night at Stop and Shop, came up with that facile interpretation. .

" No one was supposed to get hurt" he claims and yet he brought instruments of bondage ie zip-ties rope 9 mm lookalike pellet gun. And he alone drew the first blood that evening. And it  was overkill it very nearly took a life within 3 minutes of entering a sleeping mans domicile.

We can see the farce in ignoring the glaring truth, Joshua komisarjevsky alone hand picked this family because He  " liked the way the younger Petit girl looked"

Her Name was Michaela, she was 11 years old.

Lead attorney for Petit Murderer; best defense is an offense?

Day two of the Komisarjevsky trial and attorney Jeremiah Donovan continues to try to draw attention to himself through whatever means possible.

For the second day in a row, Donovan harped about the small heart-shaped pins that the Petit family were wearing to court. The pins depict three doves which form a heart shape, they are the official logo of The Petit Family Foundation a Local charity formed to honor the spirit of activism and kindness embraced by Jennifer Petit and her two daughters.

Then there was the extraordinary rudeness that Donovan exhibited during his cross of victim and survivor, William Petit Jr. He carried on what could have, and indeed should have, been a respectful line of questioning with what appeared a prosecutorial zeal that contrasted obscenely with Petit's clearly still grief stricken countenance and carriage.

The Attorney used sarcastic snipes and tried to bait Dr Petit, a man who not only lost his wife and children to terrible violence, but also sustained  permanent life altering injuries at the hands of Donovan's client, a man who has repeatedly admitted to committing the very first acts of violence in the early morning hours of July 23 2007.  Despite this fact, a constant refrain of his defense including Donovan himself, is that
 "no-one was supposed to get hurt"

Dr. Petit appeared somber but undeterred he answered Donovan's rapid fire questioning with aplomb, raw grief clear upon his face, he refused to be drawn in by Donovan's ugly tactics.

In the meantime... Donovan's client Joshua Komisarjevsky, appeared relaxed and disaffected, wearing a suit and tie and donning a fresh new haircut, posed quite a contrast to the evidenciary photos of the black Jeans and dark hoodie, that Police say the fleeeing komisarjevsky was wearing when arrested, along with 2 pair of latex gloves and a pair of workman's gloves. We also saw photos of the wooden baseball bat that Komisarjevsky used as he struck  the slumbering and helpless William Petit  "about 8-10 times, as hard as I could, as if chopping wood". 

( quote from Komisarjevsky during an interview with writer Brian MacDonald )

/

Komisarjevsky Trial: Tense Events Detailed As Second Petit Home Invasion Case Begins

As disgraceful as it was for Joshua Komisarjevsky's lead attorney to begin his capital murder trial with attacks upon the surviving victim and his family, I believe that it will ultimately only serve the prosecution and therefore, Justice.

What we saw today were Lawyers, not attorneys who, in an attempt to "win", are willing to do or say anything, including trying to vilify that which cannot be vilified.

It actually hearkens back to the way that rape victims were once so regularly attacked by defense attorneys for the rapist, that only a small courageous percentagee ever reported being raped to Police, so well known was this ugly phenomenon. When the sexual assault was so aggravated and violent that the victim required hospitalization, she rarely stayed around to testify.  How many serial killers that began as rapists were so emboldened by the ease in which they escaped arrest or detection, largely due to this well known despicable courtroom tactic?

If this is what these attorneys wish their legacy to be, then so be it. I feel pity for their female relatives, daughters, granddaughters, wives, nieces  Not only is what they are doing adding insult to terrible injury, but   it is also an utterly flawed defense. It actually doesn't even qualify as a defense.

Thus afternoon, Jeremiah Donovan verbally assailed the Petit's and their extended family members for wearing, of all things, small pins depicting three Doves - one Dove larger than the other two has one large wing open, encompassing them.

The pins are modest in size, tasteful and should be no threat to Attorney Donovan nor the Komisarjevsky Defense. In fact they aren't. If Donovan and Company truly felt that they were, he would not continuously bring the the Jury's, attention to these pins. He is being what is commonly referred to as a harpy.

In his opening statement, Donovan  made a pointed, negative reference to the Petit family, referring to them and their extended  family's  as " The Petit Posse" . The irony is not lost on many people in attendence; A less Posse-like family could not be found ; This family, with grief still deeply etched all over their faces. wearing small pins that are symbols of the spirits of their loved ones, each one murdered, targeted by defendent Joshua Komisarjevsky. He spotted the attractive girls as they shopped at an area supermarket; he stalked them he followed them home,driving from a distance he spied the layout of their house, searching for easy or convenient entry points.

Then he called his burly recent B and E accomplice, Steven Hayes. Komisarjevsky excitedly described the attractive blond young looking mother who he thought that Steven Hayes would like He himself liked the way the younger Petit girl looked.

Michaela was eleven.

This is why Jeremiah Donovan focuses on Dove pins.
The entire Komisarjevsky defense, spear headed by Donovan, has spent the better part of the year filing for the most part - petty vapid motions, such as the motion to ban anyone from wearing the Petit family foundation pins to court. Judge Blue denied that motion as any sane Judge would .
 Attorney Donovan appears to share a narcissistic nature with his client, he has demonstrated time and again what appears an ego based need for attention. Thus far he has garnered this attention via broken gag orders, petty verbal attacks, and motions with no teeth designed to distract and clog up the process.

It is not as if this is all a complete surprise.

In a recent article in the New York Times, one of  attorney Donovan's former colleagues noted that "Jerry is in this for the challenge, he loves a challenge."
."

What is clear is that attorney Donovan has obviously connected with Joshua Komisarjevsky on more than one level, a textbook sociopath with severe narcissistic traits. A man who openly shared with his friends, acquaintances, even Police, that he only enjoyed breaking into houses when people were in them.
He explained that  otherwise" he found his breaking and entering exploits, too boring".

State Re-files 17 Counts in Komisarjevsky Trial

Lawyers for Joshua Komisarjevsky, refused to officially enter a plea for their client today at a hearing where the State re-filed 17 charges, changing Komisarjevsky's status to principle as opposed to accessory,  in various counts of the criminal charges against him.

The counts included the kidnappings of the two Petit minor girls, the sexual assault and murder of Michaela Petit, the murder of 17 year old Hayley Petit and  the only survivor of Komisarjevsky's planned evening of rape, robbery and criminal rampage.

Prosecutors, also changed Komisarjevsky's status for the kidnapping and murder of Jennifer Petit.  According to Steven Hayes, Komisarjevsky helped him tie up Mrs. Petit the moment that she and Hayes returned  from the Bank with the 15,000. Komisarjevsky had assured Mrs Petit that the money was all that the men wanted and that once procured, it would ensure the safety of her family, and the men's departure.

This was obviously not the men's plan; Komisarjevsky had just left his DNA on and in 11 year old Michaela Petit, as well as trace, be it hair skin clothing fibers etc near Hayley, both girls were found in Komisarjevsky's cell phone in varying stages of undress. Hayley's photo was timestamped just after 9:00 AM, moments after Steven Hayes left for the bank with Mrs Petit.  Why Komisarjevsky has not been charged with sexual assault of Hayley remains a mystery to me, as it is clear that at the very least he took nude photos of Hayley shortly before he sexually assaulted Michaela, both while Steven Hayes and Jennifer Petit were at the Bank.\

The photo taking is a common behavior of sexual predators, who use the photos to relive thier crimes long after they have murdered their victims.  This, along with tying Hayley in provocative position is legally considered a sexual crime. He obviously put her clothing back on before tying her back to her bed because her partially burnt body was found in shorts and a t-shirt.

Investigators testifying at the Hayes trial believe that Hayely escaped her binds at the last moment, but having been doused in gasoline she had nowhere to run but directly into the path of the strategically poured line of fire.

In today's hearing, Komisarjevsky's lawyers " allowed" the court to formally enter a not guilty plea for thier client, in their stead. This latest tack of refusing to enter a plea is supposed to somehow oppose the fact that their recent motion asking for a second probable cause hearing, was denied by Judge Blue, who laid out his reasoning very succinctly, Denial for 2nd Probable cause hearing

These very same attorneys, Donovan and Bansford, waived Komisarjevsky's original probable cause hearing, shortly after the Assaults and Murders, citing to press, that "there are many strategic reasons for waiving a probable cause hearing."  It is in fact, a legal strategy in certain violent crime cases where the evidenciary details that have enabled the state to charge the defendent, are so brutal,  so severe, that the Attorneys do not want those details read aloud, one by one, in front of the press whose members were present in both Hayes and Komisarjevsky's probable cause hearings in 2007. 

 Four years have past since Komisarjevskys attorneys waived his right to that hearing most and of the details of these crimes have since become public,  Joshua Komisarjevsky, who broke the long standing gag order on the case by corresponding and\interviewing with crime writer Brian MacDonald, for the  purpose of a quickie- published paperback based solely upon Komisarjevskly's version of  the crimes. Naturally he placed the ownice for the worst of the capital crime upon his accomplice Steven Hayes, lies that have been since disproven within the forensic evidence presented at Mr Hayes' trial.


In the book Komisarjevsky would sometimes forget himself and admit to things such as "I liked the way the younger Petit girl looked"  This at the area Supermarket where he admits to stalking the Jennifer Petit and her daughters and following them back to thier house keeping a  safe distance between the Chrsyler minvan that the Mrs Petit was driving and his work truck.

Over $500,000 of the State's money has been spent thus far on Mr Komisarjevky's defense. His trial is scheduled to begin Monday September 19th. Within a deluge of last minute motions, the defense has re-motioned for the Jury to be sequestered ( a motion that has already been considered and denied by Judge Blue) as well as filing a second motion for the entire trial to be moved out of New Haven Superior  Court.

Can anyone say abuse of process? 

Kenin Cosgrove Victim, Hero

Whenever I think about September 11th, I think about Kevin Cosgrove, his call to 9-1-1 and the impact that it has had on me and so many


 There is something very special about this man, his tenacity, his perseverance, and even his humor in the midst of absolute mayhem, We hear his entire struggle with an impossible situation, including his frustration, his anger, his refusal to give up and his constant reiteration that he needs to survive to be there for his family, his children.

His strength yet all of it's frailty and a tenaciy and courage is forever captured on this tape, it endears him to us, it breaks out hearts, for we cannot change the ending for him no matter how many times we listen.

I think about his wife and children often, and hold them in my prayers, They too are victims of 911. They knew and loved this man intimately; husband, father, brother, uncle, friend and now they have shared the end of his life with the world for a higher good, taking an infamous "tragedy" and making it as real as it was for those who lived and died through it.  Sharing this tape was an act of selflessness and great courage, I commend the Cosgrove family for allowing us to listen.



My  prayer today is that healing and comfort be visited upon all of the people affected by this act of violence.. May all of us pull out of the wreckage of that day a new sense of closeness one-ness with each other - a new knowledge of what truly matters in this life;  kindness, love, compassion.
A  thankfulness for every day that we are gifted with. That is the main sentiment that kept cropping up time and  again within the condolence messages left on Kevin Cosgroves 911 memorial site.
He gave us this, and it is a awesome and eternal gift.


Please visit, leave some words if you wish, pray, in your private way, and remember to cherish life, make the most of each day insofar as reaching out to another person in need,  turn towards each other in love acceptance.


Original article in Bold print below.


I was researching an article called "the falling man" recently and I came upon a tape of several 911 calls that were made by the victims trapped in the burning towers on Sept 11th 2001.




After a long deliberation going back and forth on it, I decided to listen; It was very difficult and very painful and extremely moving. At times I literally experienced the physical symptoms that the caller was enduring, due to the smoke and heat coming from the fires where they were trapped in their twin tower offices. Just as another commenter on the site expressed so aptly,' At the end of Mr Congreve's call, I found myself not wanting to let go of him".And like many other's, hearing this call has forever changed my perspective of that terrible day.





The italicized text at the bottom of this post is the actual condolence message that I left at Kevin Congreve's online 911 memorial site. I have supplied a link to his 911 call with corresponding video in this post's title header above.




Mr Congreve's call from the 101st floor of tower two was used as evidence in the Moussaui trial, the only person ever prosecuted for the 911 crimes. After reading this post, if you wish to listen to the tape it is still available. I must warn that it will be an extremely emotional experience, and it will likely forever change you. At first I really regretted having listened because it was so raw so real so painful... but I soon realized that I should not regret for I came to see that it was for me, a necessary pain a pain that ultimately transformed 911 from an awful tragic Event to something altogether more real, more personal, more human and more true. And we owe the victims at the very least truth by embracing the complete and unvarnished reality of their experience.






The pain that many of us feel upon hearing these callers speak-about those horrific conditions in the towers, about their fear over their likely imminent deaths- and the distress in having to leave their families and loved ones- only made us feel as if we knew them. By being privy to the most intimate last moments of their lives, this has allowed us to honor their experience without the whitewash effect of news camera shots of a burning buildings thousands of feet away in the air.






Even the sudden and awful collapse of the towers into a veritable dust bowl, like so much else that happened that day, was somehow surreal- Its not that we couldn't and didn't consider the horror of what was likely going on way up there where our eyes could not see, it just wasn't in our face, so to speak, and we gratefully took advantage of that distance. Because really, the horror might have been too much for us to bear. But didn't we owe it to the victims to watch, to listen, for this was their reality-they lived through these awful minutes and in some cases, hours. This is the truth of that day - their truth.




The voices of the people on these tapes however will be with us forever The people themselves will thus reside in us. We carry them in our hearts, our souls now.




Many people have asked why I listened and why I would encourage others to listen, when it is so difficult to hear, so painful. My answer is that I've given it a lot of thought and consideration and ultimately realized that some times in life circumstances present us, as human beings with an opportunity where pain can serve as an engine for greater understanding and ultimately, growth, or we can choose to turn away, spare ourselves the pain but lose the chance for greater depth and character. We don't often get a chance to truly understand the magnitude of suffering involved by victims of violent crime and that is what 911 was, a violent crime of huge proportion, committed against thousands of people.




These tapes, and the nature of the Internet itself, have opened up doors for us. I don't suggest listening as voyeurs out of curiosity, but enter as caring and compassionate witnesses. We can use the powerful emotions that are triggered in us: the compassion empathy, the pain even the anger - to bring us to a new level of awareness, about violent crime, terrorism, justice, courage and the fleeting nature of life.  Hopefully we  will use this new found awareness wisely and do only positive and good things with it. And these good things in turn shall become the legacy of those who perished on that day, victims and heroes all.




Note: The link to the 911 tape itself is at the title header of this post - below is a copy of my entry on Kevin's memorial page)



Leave a memorial comment if you feel so moved, I am certain that the families read them and I am hopeful that reading them as they crop up every other day at least, provides solace to them knowing that their loved ones haves made this impact.



Rest in Peace Kevin.



The entry in italics was taken from he 911 memorial page found via the link below;


www.9-11heroes.us/v/Kevin_M_Cosgrove.php/





Dear Mr Cosgrove and loved ones,


I heard the tape of Kevin's 911 call for the first time yesterday while researching the "falling man" article in Esquire magazine. I cried much of the night, and my heart literally felt torn open.
I made myself listen to it again today, hoping that the shock had worn off just a bit and wanting to feel somehow closer to this man who was so courageous and heroic in his tenacious love for his family, and his will to survive in order to be there for them.




At first, I felt like a voyeur and wondered whether this tape and others like it should be made available for the public to hear - was it not just re-traumatizing everyone, I wondered? 
But I realized as that day passed that I, and all of us needed to hear these calls, and the voices of the people who suffered and perished on that day, because there is really no other way to fully understand the unvarnished reality of the suffering and loss that this terrorist act of violence wrought upon so many decent human beings.


Indeed, because of this tape, September 11th is now more real to me today almost 7 years after the crimes, than it was in the weeks and months following the actual tragedy. At the time, I couldn't allow myself to listen to too many of the details of Sept 11. I had recently been the victim of a violent crime and I was still involved in the court process for that case. So when Sept 11 brought its terror and violence to me and the rest of this world I think I  had to wall myself off just enough, otherwise I recall thinking that I would be swallowed up from the magnitude of the pain and suffering involved in the tragedy.
I was acutely sensitive  and empathic normally and at that point in my life I was in the midst of a post traumatic storm from the violent crime wrought against me months earlier.


So for the first time perhaps ever in my life I put a shell around my heart and wouldn't allow myself to listen or read too much about the horror of this happening.


Perhaps only now, years later, was I truly ready.






I want to say that I now feel that I know this man who before listening to this tape was a stranger. He  dwells in my heart and in my soul . His determination, his strength, his humor, his fear his humanness really, will forever be a part of me.






I have prayed earnestly to God that he holds Kevin in his peaceful and loving embrace forever and that the entire Cosgrove family be given peace and comfort while holding onto the memory of this devoted loving-and courageous man.


*** Posted by Laurel O'keefe ***

September 11th 911 Calls Kevin Cosgrove; Victim and Hero.

While recently researching an article called "The Falling Man"  I came upon two tape recordings of  9-1-1 calls made by two victims trapped in the higher floors of Tower Two which, horrifyingly collapsed in the middle of a call made by one man Kevin Cosgrove  (pictured at left)

The other call was made by a young Mellissa Doi, who also perished in tower two.


The heat from the Planes Fuel weakened the structure and it's floors began to collapse, one on top of the other. 

Mr. Cosgrove was still holding out hope huddled under a desk on the 103rd floor of that tower as it fell inadvertently recording his death as he spoke to the 911 operator.

Fifteen minutes later.. Tower one, the first one to be hit by another Hijacked Plane, collapsed. 

As all of us across the Country watched this unfolding on live TV we were given panned back camera shots of the burning buildings. Still I imagined the horrors we spared from seeing; Close up views of the raw suffering and mayhem happening to the brave souls still trapped within the Towers wouldn't come until later.


Hundreds of First Responders were killed as they rushed into buildings that were hopelessly ensconced in A raging Jet fueled fire. The Firemen trudged up 70-90 flights of stairs, carrying heavy gear dragging  hoses to save the handful of lives that they encountered along the way. Many perished when the  buildings collapsed.

For a year at least as a Country, especially in the Northeast, we banded together in a collective yet unfamiliar connectedness,  borne of this cowardly act of  Terror, something that every one of us was affected by in our own unique way, but for all, in perpetuity:. We would never be the same.

However, amidst the nagging pain and anger evolved another en masse emotion:  PRIDE.

We were proud proud of  both our civilians and the First Responders alike. Fireman, Policeman and other heroes were rampant in rushing to help others. Tugboat captains rushed to get People out of harms way off the island, as there was no other way out - the streets bridges were  not passable.  Ferries loaded with people traversed back and forth. No one knew if more attacks were coming.

Manhattan looked like a war zone and in fact it was. Living in Connecticut I was born in New York City albeit until I was ten years of age, I still feel a native New-Yorker 

Memories and photos of  my sisters and I skating in Rockefeller Center with our father were heavy on my mind. His impressively loud whistle, reserved for hailing cabs which I will always recall the smell of the seats. Trips to Radio City Music Hall all and more are part and parcel of me and always will be.

As nice as Westport Connecticut was, it was not New York City. However, the City's influence being 45t minutes away ran throughout this originally artistic community. Known for its theater artists writers Westport became a teeming Commuter town. The New York City line was barely discernible to many of us, it was a cultural influence even to those who were born and bred in Westport and other Connecticut towns. 



Back to my original article about September 11th. 

I re-post this every year on this Sacred Day. Below is a continuation from the first few paragraphs at the start of this Post where I mentioned how this all began for me, researching the "Falling Man "Article in Esquire Magazine.



Note: These two 911 tapes were instrumental in the Prosecution of  the one sole Terrorist that was arrested for helping plan the attack,  Zacarias Moussaoui . He was completely impassive as the everyone in the Courtroom weeped as they listened. Mrs Cosgrove has allowed the release and she made a victim impact statement also regarding the effects of the loss of her husband on her children's lives. Courageous Woman, I am awed by her strength.

.

Not knowing what I would be hearing when I came upon the 911 taped calls I was reluctant but feeling I owed it to the victims, I finally listened to them.

It was excruciating, heartbreaking and  life-changing.
. 

As I listened, I found myself experiencing the physical symptoms that each caller was enduring; the black thick smoke that was choking Mr Cosgrove,  the terrible heat that young Mellisa Doi  kept crying to the operator that she and her coworkers could not escape. They were standing on desks. 


The growing panic fear and frustration of the poor  911 operator was evident as she tried to calm these embattled people she knew were likely to die.  The callers were placated, told that help was coming, but not given any concrete information and communication regarding one open stairwell in tower two was not even known until too late by fire fighters.


Kevin  Cosgrove actually worked at Aon Corporation on the 83rd floor.  But, as designated  Fire official for that Aon office,  he tried to make certain that most of his group of employees evacuated after the North tower was hit. 

He then called his wife and began the descent down the stairs on foot just as the second plane hit the south tower. The explosion and heat smoke drove him right back up now to the higher floors, to the roof - this the where his fire training had always taught him to go in situations like this-   to ascend was one's only hope to the roof, for a helicopter rescue.


Tragically. the roof door was locked, as was the roof-door on the North tower -hundreds of people attempted that same superhuman climb up miles of stairs, many flooded, covered with debris only to discover locked doors.

 The word was that there was no chance that a helicopter landing was possible in either building anyway; they say that the smoke and heat made any rood rescue impassible yet I watched those helicopters and small planes circling those towers and I was sol very frustrated and angry as I imagined the office workers trapped with broken windows and flames behind them, wondering why the rescue helicopters were not attempting to help them?


Perhaps ladders of rope to swing to the broken windows as the copters hovered as close as they possibly could to the buildings.  All I know is there were hundreds of people waving flags sheets shirts and scraps of material climbing down the face of the building, believing that those helicopters were there for a reason, for some kind of rescue...and yet, there was none.


In the meantime Kevin took his exhausted body and climbed back down flights and flights of stairwells by foot, facing growing smoke labored breathing and panic; he must have run into the first office where he spotted other men or voices gathered    It was this office on the Southwest corner facing the financial center that he made his now, infamous 9-1-1 telephone call from.

As one person expressed so aptly, at the end of Kevin Congreve's call  "I found myself not wanting to let go of him."

And like many others who chose listen to these phone calls, they have forever changed my perspective of that terrible day.

Kevin Cosgrove's 9-1-1 call  was one of three used as evidence in the Moussaui trial, and this is why It  has become available to the public via the freedom of information act.


After reading this post in it's entirety if you wish to listen to the tape, I have embedded the most tasteful version that I could find. It has a heart warming biography of Mr Cosgrove's life giving us a real feel for who he was at his very core. A man who desperately wanted to live for his family whom he kept mentioning.
.

I must warn all readers that these tapes will be an extremely emotional experience, and it will forever change anyone who listens to it. At first, I regretted having listened to them because they were so upsetting so raw, so real, and much worse than I expected. 

However,  I came to the realization that I should not regret listening and sharing in these two callers pain.

I was bearing witness and thus as every victim of crime needs I along with anyone who listened validated these and all of the victims experience.

It was for me a necessary pain 

A pain that ultimately transformed 911 from a terrible terror based tragedy, to something altogether more more personal, more human more TRUE.



The pain that all of us feel upon hearing these desperate callers describe  the horrific conditions in the towers, their fear over their likely imminent deaths, and the distress in having to leave their families and loved ones,  made us now feel that we knew them. By becoming privy to the most intimate last moments of their lives, this has allowed us to honor their experience without the whitewashed effect of pulled back news camera shots of a burning buildings, thousands of feet in the air.


Even the sudden and awful collapse of the towers into veritable dust bowl, like so much else that happened that day, was somehow surreal when it happened.  It is not that we couldn't and didn't consider the horror of what was likely going on way up where our eyes could not see, it just wasn't in our face and we gratefully took advantage of that kind distance, because really, the horror might have been too much for us at that time.


The voices of the people on these tapes however will be with us forever The people themselves will thus reside in us. 


We carry them now.

I do not suggest listening as voyeurs, but as caring witnesses . We can use the powerful emotions that are triggered in us the empathy,  the pain and even the anger-to bring us to a new level of awareness; about violence, crime, tragedy, justice, Life and death. Hopefully with the help of a higher power, we can then use this awareness wisely and do only positive things with it. These good things shall become the legacy of those who perished that day, victims and heroes all.



When reading the memorial pages of the 911 callers, many people shared that the problems that has seemed so important in their lives prior to listening to Kevin Cosgrove's desperate last minutes on earth, immediately were diminished. And this experience was not a rare thing, in fact a great deal of folks cited this as a turning point in their lives, an appreciation for every hour of every day, marked by the experience of listening to these tapes. Thousands of good people expressed gratitude to Kevin Cosgrove and his family for giving them an opportunity to rethink the value of their lives through his heroism.



 Kevin Cosgrove's Memorial Page 

New messages appear daily from all over the world, more since the 911 tapes were released.  Somehow I am certain that the Cosgrove family reads them, and I only hope that they provide solace to them, knowing that their beloved father husband son and friend, has had such a life-changing impact on so many.


Many people will embrace their daily lives,hours and minutes once taken for granted. Time and again, I read memorial messages from young folks not old enough to grasp the reality of September 11th when it happened but, who share that they've shed their first tears about this tragedy, by listening to Kevin's  final minutes and his his death.



My hope is that we will be more inclined to spend our time ministering,or helping -  people in pain or in need; This is the legacy of  Kevin Cosgrove. There are thousands of people like Kevin who suffered the same pain and so many exhibited bravery and courage we cannot fathom.

May you all rest in God's loving arms Your spirits in eternal comfort,

Antagonistic tactics by Komisarjevsky Defense

Michaela and Hayley Petit

"This is something Jerry became a lawyer to do: Jerry is looking for the challenge...”



"The defense strategy is markedly different from the gentlemanly tack of Mr. Hayes’s lawyers. Thomas J. Ullmann, his chief lawyer, said the change was necessary. “You’d be a fool to adopt the same strategy that we had,” Mr. Ullmann said, “because it was a failed strategy.”

 Let's start by addressing the preceding statement culled from the linked article in this week's New York Times: Attorney Ullmann, head public defender for Steven Hayes, the first of the two men tried for the Petit family murders, most certainly did not employ a "gentlemanly tack"  nor"strategy"  throughout the majority of his dealings with this murder case.

 He did however soften his "tack" considerably, once the jury entered his sphere, and this was largely dictated by overwhelming evidence and the fact that his client was a completely different breed than Donovan's Komisarjevsky, a Sociopath of epic proportion. Although a rapist and a murderer,  Hayes resides several rungs down on the predatorial ladder.

Steven Hayes tried to suddenly change his plea to guilty within a hearing a few months before his trial began. Ullmann and co-counsel set about aggresively talking him out of it, even threatening to break client/attorney priveledge if need be in order to keep their client from committting "state assisted suicide" They wore Hayes down, they bullied him into not taking responsibility for his part in the kidnapping, rapes and murders. Somewhere around this time, Hayes tried to overdose on a handful of anti-anxiety pills that he'd been stockpiling. He was whisked off to the hospital and survived. The trial was delayed as a result.

We will concede much, but not all"


Thomas Ullmann in his opening statement during the Hayes trial.


Due to the tenuous position that he was in, the Thomas Ullmann at Hayes's trial where the media was present in spades, was a man trying to walk a tightrope.  If he became too aggressive, as he had during pre trial hearings and media interactions, he would surely alienate the Jury. As it was, his client was unpredictable, reluctantly allowing Ullmann to keep his plea technically " not guilty" but for the most part admitting to most of the criminal culpability that he was charged with. I believed that Ullmann knew his client would be found guilty, but was saving his efforts for the sentencing phase of the trial where he believed he had a chance at procuring him a life sentence instead of the sought after death penalty.

"It was a compromise that  Attorney Ullmann was clearly not used to, nor comfortable with, but it was obviously dictated by his client and his glaring guilt, not Ullmanns personal style nor preference, especially considering his well known criticism of the death penalty, a punishment that his client stated over and over that he deserved and wanted.

Long before the the Hayes trial was even scheduled, shortly after the murders, I immediately noticed Attorney Ullmann as particularly pugnacious and aggressive - None of his hostility was neccesary, nor did the situation demand it. I found his growing antagonism towards victim William Petit and his beleagured family obscene especially considering the somberness surrounding these crimes; triple murder, child rape and attempted famicide.

Ullmann bitterly complained about everything, the beefed up security for he and his client at court appearences, citing the unneccesariness of it and the fact that the state was going to such lengths to protect them, only to kill him"  The reason for this security was to protect the defendents from possible vigilantism. During the arraignment several attendees shouted angrily at the two men. People were removed by Marshalls, tensions were very high.

And it was no wonder; The details just got worse and worse  ;A mother raped and murdered within earshot of her daughters, who were tied to their beds helpless, having been sexually assaulted and molested as well. Photos from Komisarjevskys cell phone left a despicable trail of evidence of the assaults of 11 year old Michaela, clearly the focus of his pedophilia predation.

It was Michaela who he spotted in the Stop and shop that day. Steven Hayes had admitted to police raping Mrs Petit after both men jumped on her and tied her up, seconds upon her return to her house, bearing the 15,000,00 from the bank that was to be a pay-off for her familys safe return.

Hayes claimed that at this point komisarjevsky ordered him" to get rid of her". The plan was already made to kill the entire family. Too many witnesses and too much possibility for DNA and other physcial evidence; They had purchased gasoline at 6 AM that morning with Komisrajevsky sending Hayes out of town to buy gas at a station where Police would be less likely to investigate gas purchases, after the Petit house was burned down and the family discovered murdered inside.

The head of the household and only survivor, William Petit, was repeatedely beaten in the head with a wooden bat by Joshua komisarjevsky as he slept in his sunroom, on that late summers evening, his skull, brain and balance system damaged, along with his psyche, his soul, and likely his entire sense of social justice.

His once brilliant  career as a talented healer in the endocrinology field was abandoned after the crimes, partly due to the severity of his injuries, as well the emotional trauma from the loss of his wife and children and the nightmare that he himself lived through.

The only reason that William Petit Jr. survived is because the two men, recently paroled repeat felons, had their attentions fixed upon the females in the house; Michaela and Jennifer Petit were the original targets and the main motive for the entire nights carnage, despite the lawyers and Komisarjevsky's much more innocuous claim that this was simply a robbery or home invasion gone terribly wrong" with each man pointing his finger at the other for escalating the crimes to murder.

Dr Petit was "neutralized" right away upon the men's entry to his home, Joshua  Komsarjevsky who had jimmied a failing bulkhead lock and gained access into the home, leaving Hayes outside to be let in through a door after very nearly killed the man, swinging a baseball bat 7-10 times "as hard as I could as if chopping wood" (interview with Brian MacDonald.)

Mr. Petit, who had sustained severe blood loss and was drifting in and out of consciousness, left tied to a pole in his Cellar, suddenly heard loud thumping sounds from above and muffled moaning; he tried to yell at the men, but his voice was weak, he managed " Hey! " or something to the effect.

Joshua Komisrajevsky, the one who had been the one doing " all the talking" quickly answered " don't worry.. it will all be over soon"  The voice that had been reassuring earlier, dropped all pretense and now, had a sinister tone, one that signaled impending violence to Petit who thought that the men who he believed were armed(it was in fact a 9 mm lokalike pellet gun) might be getting ready to shoot his family.

He knew he was no match for two men with a gun, with his feet tied, no weapon and extremely weak from 7 pints of blood loss. He mustered an impossible adrenalin push that enabled him to break his zip-tied hands and crawl up the bulkhead steps his feet still bound together crawling then rolling to a neighbors garage yelling to call 911. This was his familys only hope.

The men quickly became aware of Dr Petit's escape from the basement but nonetheless were preparing for the murders of his two daughters. They were dousing Mrs Petit's now lifeless body with gasoline and leading a trail of gas straight to each girls bedroom being sure to splash their bed linens and clothing, they wanted to be certain to destroy any DNA evidence that they left behind.

Now, after re-living this heartbreaking terror, lets look at Attorney Donovan's latest attempts to slander the family of these victims.

Within this very article Donovan refers to "The Petit Posse"

As much as I am reluctant to repeat, let alone remark upon this shameless comment made by a man who is so obviously trying to bring attention to himself  via the torture and murder of a mother and her two children, I am strongly compelled to relay my observations regarding this man.

Donovan, who began his charge of this case posturing as the empathetic, sensitive attorney, citing that "he too had a beloved wife and daughters, but would give Joshua his all as he was entitled to a fair defense....."
 has been adapting a more and more antagonistic "tack" towards the victim and his family as the trial for his client nears.

He has done his best to try to wear down the family, the prosecutor, the judge, and the system through an overt abuse of legal motions, to call them a flurry would be a gross understatement. The motions have been a combination of attempts to overwhelm the family, the Judge, the court sending the message that there is more unpleasentry to come (at trial)  hoping to procure a plea bargain in exchange for life in prison rather than a looming death sentence for Joshau Komsiarjevsky. I have read every single motion, and within them there are perhaps a handful that are the genuine article-meaning there is any substance whatsoever contained within.

To call these beleaguered family " a posse" is ludicrous. One need only watch the Petit and their extended family in court to see that they are the antithesis of  posse-like. They carry themselves with an almost beautific sense of humility and decency about them, including survivor William Petit Jr.
 He has spent his time recovering from the violent loss of his family, and his own substantial injuries, running what has grown into a successful charity, founded in the spirit of his lost wife and two daughters, all civic minded and most importantly exceptionally kind and caring human beings.

Petit  has consistently turned down thousands of interviews etc with the media and the press.he and his family long abided a gag order placed on this murder case in 2007, an order that it turned out they were not even beholden by. The gag  order applied to all police personnel, prosecutors, attorneys, defendants and other assorted court workers, judges, etc that  were privy to details of this case. but not the victim's family members.

The Petits could have shouted from the rooftops from the start all of the awful details that they had been informed about the crimes  who did what and who admitted to doing what quite early in the case.Plenty of family members of murdered victims have done just that.They did not.  instead they showed enormous restraint, they did not vent hatred and animosity at the two men who were literally caught fleeing the murder scene in the Petit's family car.

The details regarding what had been done to their beloved family members came out slowly from the forensic findings, as well as confessions and other evidence, such as komisarjevsky's cell phone photos.
The Petits remained mum about these things despite the holes in their minds and hearts that this disturbing and maddening information left in them.

Just as the trauma of the crimes began to abate the smallest bit, scars begginning to form, the Petit and extended family's received yet another emotional insult; Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of the most infamous solitary confined prisoners in the Connecticut Department of Corrections had been engaged in a correspondence and surreptitious jailhouse interviews with writer Brian MacDonald, in order to tell his "version" of the crimes to be published in a book slated for immediate release.

Creating shock and re-traumatization for everyone who had been so deeply affected by these crimes, this grotesque book, fueled by Komisarjevsky's claims and inner musements, was published, distributed and even made its way onto the shelves of the Cheshire Public library.

Despite multiple town meetings with hundreds of citizens voicing their dissent and disgust, the director of the library would not budge, touting " first amendment rights"and stating that even Komisarjevsky who was incidently a Cheshire resident, had a right to free speech.

It seemed nightmarish; the library most certainly did not stock every book ever written especially considering the details about a minor child's sexual assault; This was far from a historical perspective on a local crime.
It was yet another tool in Joshua Komisarjevsky's criminal toolkit. along with his night vision goggles, plastic gloves and knife.

Fortunately, the truth has a way of breaking loose; the writer of the hastily- written paperback, soon came to see that Joshua komisarjevsky had manipulated and decieved him. Forensic evidence from the Hayes trial discredited Komisarjevsky's  claims re sexually assaulting an 11 year old Michaela Petit. As well it became very clear that this "Book" although peppered with incidents that did happen, in the end gave nothing new away as these revelations were already known to authorities via physical evidence or Komisarjevsky's elaborate statement to Police.

Shopping his point of view all around town" 



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
We can presume that Donovan was referring to the fact that very quietly William Petit met with two senators several months ago when another bill to abolish the death penalty quite suddenly reared its head once again from the states judiciary committee who just didn't seem to care what the residents of Connecticut wanted.. IE most recent state-wide Quinnipiac poll  2010 showed that 78 percent of the state was in favor of the Death Penalty as Capital punishment for the very worst of the States murder cases that fit the aggravating factor

Bill Petit doesn't pontificate, he is a quiet man, dignified, thoughtful, with nary a trace of hatefulness in his countenance or his carriage; it seems that he simply sat down, one human being to another, political parties completely inconsequential as they should be in matters of life and death) explaining what he had lived through what his family had endured, the many indignities a victim or family members of murder victims within the court processes, and a few other key things.  I am sure he chose to speak one on one rather than addressing a legislative audience for good reason, its easier to speak one on one than address a whole legislature

 However before his client changed his plea, he did proclaim that he and his co-counsel would do anything including breaking client- attorney privileges, in order to save their client from " committing state assisted suicide" or as we know it taking responsibility for crimes that you have committed.

Ullmann needn't have worried, as it tnrns out, our Connecticut laws prohibited Mr Hayes from pleading guilty at that particular juncture in the process; it simply was not allowed, but Ullmann used the time to talk his client into keeping his plea not guilty, although these were just words they were a farce, as both attorneys had offered pleas of guilty in exchange for life sentences early in the process. This is a clear admission of guilt.

In the end, Thomas Ullmann and Jeremiah Donovan, like their client's Steven Hayes and Joshua komisrarjevsky would seem to be two different versions of the same monster; They both have sunk to similar depths in an attempt to "win"

And this is far from the first time Mr Donovan has crossed the line of ethical boundaries.

Sometime after the first year following the murders, Attorney Donovan contacted the Petit and other
family members   furtively ,using a " restorative justice firm to lure Petit and the other family members,with offers of opening a dialogue between he and the defendent joshua Komisarjevsky. They were taking the more with honey tack just as Joshua Komisarjevsky had placated and assuaged Jennifer Petit in order to gain her compliance,  before murdering her and her children.

When the understandably angry and disgusted family saw through manipulative tactic which included phone calls and letters, they immediately sought a restraining order against Donovan or any agency he hired.

A little over a year later,  Donovan came perilously close to being held in contempt of court for pulling a despicable self serving stunt outside of the Hayes trial, using the media horde gathered there to in effect interject a formal denial of that days forensic evidenciary testimony;  that his client Komisarjevsky had sodomized 11 year old Michaela Petit, before pouring gasoline on her and setting her afire.

As there was a gag order on the case at the time, an order which incidentally his client had flouted by basically co-authoring a self serving book about the crimes, Donovan made a point to say that he was announcing that the forensic findings announced that day in court were wrong, regarding the rape of little Michaela and claimed to be trying to ease the Petit family's minds between now and his clients trial.

When the Petit family heard the by now televised press conference with Donovan they were understandably angry and upset, and sought out the judge who placed the original gag order.

Attorney Donovan claimed to be utterly baffled at the Petit family's response; he thought they'd be relieved to know that his client had only ejaculated upon little Michaela and not sodomized her.

And this, because his client said so.

Two days following the highly publicized press gathering,Donovan, seeing the train coming down the tracks
did a full turn about and declared that his inappropriate impromptu press gathering"was the"only way that he could challenge the gag order on the case" which he didn't feel was fair, despite his client basically co authoring a book containing his version of the crimes, a version that heaped the blame on his accomplice naturally.


The worst part of all of this was that Attorney Donovanwith full aforethought broke a judge imposed gag order on a high profile case in order to discuss details about a minor child's sexual assault--the very reason that Television cameras were not allowed in either the Hayes or Komisarjevsky trials in the first place.

Now comparatively,
 ...
At one point during the pre-trial period long before any trial was scheduled Mr Ullmann using gentlemanly strategy  declared to the court that it "made him sick" that the court was even considering having simultaneous trials for Komisarjevsky and Hayes, in order to try to spare the families some of whom were elderly the trauma and expense of two separate trials likely a year apart.
The prosecutor withdrew the request likely afraid of a possible grounds for future appeal once the uproar began.  But the words were out there already:

"It makes me sick"

 

Michaela Petit's room after her body, still tied to her bed, was removed