Its amazing how fast our Connecticut courts can move when it comes to dealing with the frivolous motions that defense attorneys for capital murder cases deluge the system with. Especially when compared to the painfully sluggish pace in which the victims and the loved ones of victims must endure when it comes to the adjudication of these same crimes; IE The rendering of a verdict and the sentencing actually being passed, never mind actually carried out-thats another story...The latter, a veritable tortoise pace that both victims and family members of victims alike, have been told over and over again, is simply the norm; standard practice for capital murder crime cases or any serious violent criminal case in this state to be exact.
In fact,Dr Petit was once actually chastised by one Judge Damiani the first of three judges who presided over the Petit murder cases since 2007 when they happened. It was back in 2009 when the sole survivor of his family's slaughter " had the nerve" to complain to the court via his states victims advocate regarding the fact that 2 plus years had passed since his family had been tortured raped and killed by fire, and yet there appeared to be no date even set for beginning a jury selection process--for either defendant..
Judge Damiani, now thankfully retired, informed Dr Petit, rather curtly and rudely, that 2 plus years was well within the normal parameters for a capital crime case in this state and he has seen three years as completely acceptable waiting period considering a mans life was at stake after all.(THAT WAS THE MURDERS LIFE HE WAS SPEAKING OF)
Furthermore,' he took it as a personal insult to both he and "his court" that Dr Petit would even raise this subject OR moreover likely manage to get a hearing sceduled to hear Dr Petit and family concerns-which admittedly in the state of Connecticut is not exactly the norm for victims nor families of victims. For some reason this state although it sees itself as progressive and liberal doesa not seem to take care of its traumatized vixtims of violent crime seriously.The message would seem to bw time and time again
" be good little victim dont complain and be quiet," let the courts do what they do , on out time clock.
Deal with it, and don't make any trouble.
Fast forward a couple of years,.and less than 23 hours after a motion was filed by the Joshua komisarjevsky's defense team" , just the first of ten motions each one decidedly more outrageous and insulting to : the victimSs the family of victims.and all victims of violence in general.
New Haven Superior court today announced that it will be hearing the first of those ten motions filed and would it be heard in a timely fashion, on February 15th at New Haven Superiro court see motion below.
Thus, proving that all matters can and should be dealt with in the same swift fashion. This includes the Jury selection process for the komisarjevsky trial, which we have all been waiting for what seems eternity and quite predictably, Mr Donovan asked for, and was awarded, yet more time to prepare fo;( hes only had four years after all -well when he wasn't having to deal with that pesky contempt order thing for breaking that gag order re the Petit murder case. See attached link for the contempt order hearing request and all details contained therein)
You should also be aware that included in these motions was a request for not only a change of venue from New Haven to Stamford, due to pre-trial publicity, ahem never mind the book his client co wrote for national publication in 2009) but also a motion to sequester this jury unlike the Hayes Jury who were allowed to go
home at the end of their arduous and draining days at court. The judge trusted the jury to abide by their oath and instructions not to read about the case nor watch any media coverage nor discuss it with any family members. From where I stand the Jury on the Hayes case took their responsibility's very seriously.
The fact alone that they Deliberated as long as they did on even the guilt phase of the trial, where the lawyers basically said he did it, were conceding that-not all but were conceding much. Even there they were meticulous re their duties and instructions insofar as determination of guilt on each and every count.
This was far from the slam dunk that everyone had predicted, as the protracted sentencing deliberations had frankly began to have me and many others, worried when as much time had gone by with only hand written questioned being popped out of the door via the bailiff to judge blue, re details about specifics on certain charges and how unanimously the jury's decisions needed to be in order to derive a sentence.
This led many a legal pundit to ponder that a mistrial might be in the making - especially when that jury sent out a supposed mock note, describing a what if situation, comprised of a split jury whereby most jurors found the mitigating factors outweighing the jurors who did not believe any mitigating factors were present.
Note; Mitigating factors are what are technically able to be used in order to help a man already found guilty of capital crimes, to be given mercy by a jury, rather than punished by the maximum as allowed by law such as the death penalty. These are opposed to aggravating factors which are the prosecutorial opposite, whereby the state (the prosecutors) must show that the defnedent committed the capital crimes in a particularly cruel or depraved manner which made them eligible for the maximum penalty allowed by that state's current law ie The death penalty is and was the law in place for capital murder in Connecticut when the Petit crimes were committed as well as when Steven Hayes was convicted.
It should be mentioned that one of the motions filed yesterday and the day prior by the defense asked for not only a change of venue for the tril from New Hven to Stamford, but also requested that the entire Jury chosen for Komisarjevsky;s trial be sequestered kept spearate and away from thier families and friends, usually in a motel nearby to the Courthouse that the criminal case is being heard in.
Although remember it was komisarjevsky who in fact was the mastermind the brainchild and the man who in fact put the crimes in motion made certain that they happened, this by spotting and stalking attractive Jenn Petit and 11 year old Michaela, who were out shopping for that night's supper, at an area supermarket miles from both the komisarjevsky and Petit houses. The big difference is that Joshau Komisarjevsky was a predator and he was always always in the active state of predator---be it to rob someone or as in this case to set them up for a future rape and possible robbery. I have strong suspicions, not only from words that have come out of Joshua komisrajevskys mouth regarding how to best render your victim hellpless, ie youve got to get them by complete surprise when they dont expect it al all and then once they feel the pain you own them they will be willing to tell you anything whatever it is you want to know"
Then he went on within his journal to verbally desecrate poor Dr Petit for doing exacvtly what he expeceted and indeed planned on him doing by catching him off guard in whatrs called a blitz styled attack by the FBI and military, and taunted him for indeed muttering out the layout of the house to komisarjevsky who by now was joined by hayes who had a makeshifyt pistol in his hand and koomisrajevsky had purposely said put two in him if he moves" Thgis after he'd procured the layouts of the upstaitrs of the home from the barely conscious and bleedling profusely Bill Petit.
These words sum up all we need to know about this man. He is a consumate socioapth who not only kills maims and rapes but afterewards has the audacity to try and discredit and chatracter assinate. This likely because Dr Petit really foiled his plans by having the nerve to get away and survive. This wsnt part of his plan and indeed cauasses grave implications for Komisarjevskys trial and senetnce. He left a victim. And the only reason that victim managed to survive is because the women of the house were the main targets the main concern of the men, therefore they took thier eyes off of him for the longest time periods and had it not been for the taunting voice of either Hayes or Komisrajevsky saying" dont worry itll all be over soon..."
Bill Petit might not have had that burst of adrenelin that caused him to break those zipties Around his arms and the pole in his cellar. He thought the men were armed. It never occurred to him that theyd be setting the house on fire---I mean who thinks of things like that? Well, one joshua komisrajevsy did.
By his own words, he"liked the away the younger Petit girl looked" and he couldn't wait to tell his pal Hayes who was by now an accomplice too as they had both robbed two houses together in the nights before the Petit crimes) about the pretty blond tall young looking mom of Little Michaela-the pubescent girl that he,a pedophile had his eye on.
Yup this was a planned out crime with sexual assault at its root. The money was secondary and as Komisrajevsky illustrated time and again,Michaela and perhaps opportunistically Hayley,were the real prizes.
FOR HIM. With Hayes being older at 46 he assumed the young looking and pretty Jen Petit would be handy bait for his emotionally stunted sidekick who was only familiar with prostitutes for any connection with women and usually crack addicts at that. I'm certain that both men discussed feelings of rage and resentment and wrath towards what they perceived as upper class women in general women who they knew would have nothing to do with them. Rape as we know now is not about sex per se it may be fueled by lust partially but at its core is control anger&domination
And what both men saw as a lifestyle that he could never achieve they'd likely fantasized about taking it
The supposed discussion that Komisrajevsky had with Hayes where he claimed Hayes asked him to do an armed robbery I believe was in fact a question re doing a home invasion and rape. Thus the zip ties that the men brought with them that night and no other nights when they broke into nearby houses. They brought air pistols designed to look like 9 mm guns in order to keep the house under control. In fact komisarjevsky enlisted Hayes only because he knew he needed a second man in order to contain an entire household where their would likely be a head of the family-a male and a questionable amount of children one or more possibly male-alt ho I think komisrajevsky a Cheshire native was more familiar with the Petit family than he let ON to police or anyone else.
In any event, the men went with special gear; gear that lent itself to tying up victims and disabling and intimidating victims as well as masks to hide their identities from said victims. I am certain from the texts between the men shortly before they met up for the home invasion that the plan between them circled largely upon raping whoever they found attractive in the house. What I think happened is Jennifer Petit offered money to keep the men away from her daughters. She was sharp despite komisrajevsky's uncanny ability to BS women and play the young boy who is just misunderstood but wont really hurt anyone. she likely smelled the fact that he seemed to be spending a lot of time near her 11 yr old daughters room.
This would explain her offer ring the men breakfast at 645 or so as described by komisrajevsky to his then girlfriend who later recanted it to the media and police-hoping to keep them busy number one and two keep her girls safe. The plan was already in action that shed go to the bank to get the men money in order for them to leave the family in peace and I am sure she promised not to give description's, if at any point either man had removed his mask-which I think was the case because komisarjevsky even said in his Book I'm not sure when He took off the masks but at some point the whole plan changed, He also ruminated that he shouldn't have talked to Mrs Petits so much that he in fact liked her and how she had even empathized with his plight of not having enough money tofly his girlfriend back to Conn from down south where her parents had wisely absconded with her. Again this was probably Jen being diplomatic but also from everyones testimony that knew her it was her nature to be compassionate and trusting and in this case I fear it might have gotten her killed.
Now,this motion in particular would seem to be rather important as it is a motion that Jeremiah Donovan Esq.filed requesting the disqualification of Judge Blue from presiding over the "State of Connecticut vs.Joshua Komisarjevsky." You ll recall that the rather eccentric but always fair and a thorough professional Blue presided over the trial for komisarjevsksy' accomplice,Steven Hayes. Hayes was found Guilty and given the Death Penalty after the Jury deliberated for several days,and word has it that there was a great deal of hand wringing,soul searching and divisiveness at first over the decision of whether he should get death or not. You'll recall the jurors had easily found Hayes guilty of all charges,other than arson(which interestingly prosecutor Dearington-allowed, albeit with a plan in mind for the upcoming trial of his cohort komisarjevsky.of this I am certain) In the end the jury came together after several trips out to the judge stating they couldn't come to one agreement re the verdict Blue informed them a few times to go back and try again, in which they did and finally managed to come to a unanimous vote to put Mr Hayes to death, a verdict he claimed via his attorney Thomas Ullmann, that he was happy with-reportedly he wanted to take responsibility for his crimes and felt that his life might be a small measure of solace to the victims families.
Well it sounded good anyway, but lawyers being lawyers the auto-appeals began anyway and Ullmann and co rolled up their collective sleeves and began sending forth their own motions trying to basically have the jury reconsider or the judge or anyone for that matter and when that didn't work plan b and so on and so forth. Where the unending supply of money to propagate these public defenders ability to proffer a never ending supply of legal arguments and briefs and cases pulled out of law libraries from books covered with dust...is beyond me, but simply knowing that it is fed largely by our tax paying dollars, really irks me in a big way.
But back to Komisrajevsky
.
February 15th is the day that a different Judge apparently will hear the motion from komisarjevskys attorneys regarding why they feel Judge Blue ought be disqualified from presiding over their clients trial, other than the real reason, which is 'we don't think he's easy enough to manipulate and we think he is too staunch when it comes to sticking to the letter of the law, and we suspect that he has too much compassion for the murdered victims as well the surviving ones...Why just look at how many seats he let their family have, and then there's that matter of the pin wearing--what kind of judge allows the family members of slain murder victims to come to court donning pins that are shaped like doves for crying out loud?!
Not only that... but he's shown his preference for the prosecution because he let a juror go, who by his own admission would not fulfill his jury duty as promised when he took his oath as a juror.( I was there folks- he was asked three times at least could he or could he not perform his duties as a juror on this case, with no uncertainty, Their was much waffling and then a final No, at which point Judge Blue dismissed him and thanked him for his service thus far.) But somehow this was construed as an unfiar dismissal by both the Hayues defense team-he was thier top voire dire pick and they were banking on him for jury foreman in fact, and as such Donovan Komisarjevsky's attorney figured hed probably wouldve been a show in for a nor guilty vote or at least a feusal to give the DP to Hayes, as it SEEMED mind you, that this man might have been a bit predudiced insodfar as the state of Connectuct and its bungling about when it comes to crime, trials and preparation; welcome to the real world buddy-you were still a bit premature in making a statement Mr Lively, thats all Im sayin...)
Then there was an issue regarding seating in the courtroom which now it seems has become an even bigger issue because unlike Stevena Hayes whose brother was the only member of his family or friends to attend court and at that only the sentencing days, in order to insure that his brother get what he had coming to him, komisrajevsky's lawyers claim that they object straight out that the Petit/Hawk/Chapman/Rene families were given so many seats within the Hayes trial and between that and the Pins, feel they are at an unfair advantage with the jury. Well here is where reality creeps in fellas. The reason they might have a slight advantage with
the jury would be because they are the victims family and they lost three of their loved ones who were in the prime of their lives, as well they lost the s=surviving loved one William Petit who although made it through a baseball bashing of his skull which would've killed many another man, was still left with survivor grief Post traumatic stress and damage from TBI, causing vertigo, concentration, sleep problems, among many other physical and psychological symptomlology all a direct result of the crimes that were a committed directly by Josh komisrajevsky or put in motion by komisrajevsky, begginning when he spotted Michaela petit 11, and her mother Jennifer at an area stop and shop, the same evening that he followed them home, cased their house, planning a robbery- sexual assault extravaganza.
Something he'd undoubtedly always wanted to do, if not had done already, within his alresady lenghty career of house break ins, perhaps he'd just not yet been caught by the authorities for any sexual assaults or even rapes and murders. There are a good deal of unsolved murders of women including prostitutes in the adjoinng hartford cheshire Massachussetts area. And this guy has spoken in manners that indicate far too much of an intimacy in physcically restraining vioctims and getting them to do his bidding. I certainly hope that the Connecticut state police are looking into the possibility of this mans involvement with mssing girls or young women or murdered young girls or women whose cases remained cold.
in the meantime...
See all ten motions filed by komisarjevsky defense in yesterdays post above. I only had the energy thus far to give a synopsis of about half of them, You can be certain that I'll be posting on the remainder shortly.
Here is a link to the Courts response to the Disqua;lification of Judge Blue motion including the date that the motion will be heard and the possible outcomes in the event that it is decided that Judge Blue will stay and preside over the case, or the highly unlikely outcome if it is decided that Judge Blue will be recused
