Cindy Renn Talks About Petit family Crimes

Below is an honest and heartbreaking look at the effects of the Petit family murders, from the perspective of family member Cindy Renn, only sibling and sister of Jennifer Hawke Petit, the 48 year old mother of two who, along with her two daughters Hayley and Michaela, was murdered in last years home invasion in Cheshire. The story is excerpted from a local newspaper in Cindys home state of North Carolina.

In my opinion, stories like this are most essential when it comes to violent crimes. For many people, it is only in hearing about the personal details of the crime that they can truly grasp the scope of life-altering pain that is part and parcel of every violent crime. It is within these details that most news stories do not delve. Typically, we are given an antiseptic recounting of the facts of "the case", how many murdered, when and how and by whom, or we are fed a voyeuristic seeming clutch of details regarding the crimes, usually for the sake of sensationalism equals ratings.Meanwhile all would seem to steer clear of any coverage of the true human element; the spiritual and moral crisis that occurrs when any of us becomes intimate with violence and brutatlity committed against one human being by another.
This article which is in effect an interview, strays from the beaten path and cites such things; details like Mrs Renns heartbreaking account of her search to find any intact remnants of her sisters and nieces lives, left in the now burnt out shell of a home where the crimes took place: The terrible smell of the few items that she did manage to salvage, that repeated washings never seem to completely remove.

She shares with us in perfect recall her last phone conversation with her sister on the day of the murders, and the self-tortuous thoughts that if she had only kept her sister on the phone just a little while longer, maybe, just maybe, she could have somehow caused her and her niece to avoid their fateful intersection with the two men that wound up targeting and stalking them for an evening of criminal rampage.

These are but a few of the painful memories and emotional wranglings that this family has surely had to endure as a result of this crime. And while it is certainly tempting to turn away from these very real and very painful details, sparing ourselves the collateral pain that is sure to result from becoming privy to them, I propose that it is essential that we do not turn away, we do not turn the page.

At one point in the story Cindy wonders aloud about the last moments of her sister and her nieces lives,what they thought, what they felt as they were being prepped to be killed, horrible thoughts yes, but real- this happened, and we owe it to these victims to put ourselves in thier shoes when we visit this crime in our hearts and minds. We will then carry this feeling into any proper adjudication of this criminal case.

It is not neccesary to swim forever in these troubled waters however, and this is where it gets hard for some people, particularly the very sensitive among us and those closest to a crime like this. In the best scenario, we can take our feelings of empathy, outrage, grief and disgust and use them as powerful impetus for change within a system that too easily allowed this to happen.

The Bottomline is that as caring and compassionate human beings, we have a basic debt to our sisters or brothers that have fallen victim to violence, to allow ourselves to consider thier experience and to listen. Listen to thier pain, in doing so, we share in thier burden ever so gently, They are not alone.

At the end of the following reprinted article is a link to the story as originally published in The News Observer. It contains photos as well as an audio taped interview segment with Cindy Renn that is very moving.
CHAPEL HILL - Cindy Renn relives July 22, 2007, in her head every day.
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. She was talking to her older sister. They had talked twice that day. They were planning an August trip to Carolina Beach.
"'I just can't wait to have a North Carolina beach vacation,'" Renn remembers her sister, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, saying.
Renn, of Chapel Hill, and Hawke-Petit, of Cheshire, Conn., were both busy raising teenagers, but they tried to get their families together at least once a year. As girls, the sisters had vacationed at Carolina Beach.

That day in July, they hung up from their first call. Then, later, Hawke-Petit called again to confirm that her whole family was coming.
Renn couldn't talk. She was on her way to her children's swim-team potluck. She told her sister she would call her right back once she got on her way.

She dialed her sister back -- she remembers it was at 5:33 p.m. No one answered.
Hanging up from that second call eats at Renn every day.
"If I had talked to her longer, they would not have met those guys in the parking lot," Renn says. "Maybe they wouldn't have been there."

She says this because she's pretty sure that after they hung up, her sister left home with her daughter Michaela, to go to the grocery store. And that's where police believe two men, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, both with long criminal histories, spotted them and followed them home.
About 3 a.m. the next day, police allege, those two men found an unlocked door and broke into the Petits' home. They terrorized the girls -- Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17 -- and one drove Hawke-Petit to a Bank of America to withdraw money. When they returned, police say, they killed Renn's sister and her daughters.
It's a case that echoes the killing of UNC student body president Eve Carson. According to reports, two men with long criminal histories kidnapped Carson early in the morning and drove her to a Bank of America, forcing her to withdraw money. Then they shot her, in a neighborhood that resembles the Petits' Cheshire subdivision.
For Renn, the randomness of her sister's death -- and Carson's -- haunts her. That something so horrible could happen for no reason, on such an ordinary day, forced her view of the world from an optimistic, upbeat outlook to losing her belief in innocence.

It's why she goes over the details that would have changed the outcome. A preschool teacher, Renn says she's afraid that she's obsessed with her grief.
Now, she has to learn to live with it the rest of her life.
'Just have to know'
The deaths of Hawke-Petit and her daughters made national headlines, covered by the likes of The New York Times, People magazine and Dateline NBC.
After the initial media blitz and memorial services with thousands in attendance, Renn was left to figure out how to grieve such a violent event that left three family members dead.
She's constantly checking the Web for new details on the case. She's read every article. Every affidavit. Every warrant. The transcripts of the 911 calls and police conversations.
"I just have to know; I have to understand how it happened," she says.
She knows that the intruders beat Hawke-Petit's husband, Billy Petit, with a baseball bat and tied him up, leaving him for dead in the basement. They went upstairs, raped Hawke-Petit and Michaela, and tied Hayley to her bed.
Before the sun rose, police believe, Hayes went to buy gasoline before taking Hawke-Petit to the bank, forcing her to withdraw $15,000. When they returned to the home, Hawke-Petit was strangled, and the gasoline was poured on the girls. The house was set on fire.The girls, tied to their beds, died of smoke inhalation.
Billy Petit, a prominent doctor in the area, escaped out of the basement. Then flames engulfed his home and his family.

The intruders tried to flee, but police had surrounded the house and arrested them six hours after they'd entered the Petit home.

Renn's thoughts are always going to the last minutes they faced. She wonders about her sister being raped and strangled; her little niece -- sweet, sweet Michaela -- being molested and Hayley, a tall girl who was about to start her freshman year at Dartmouth University, having gasoline poured on her.

Renn never says the names of the accused -- just calls them "the guys." She wants them to die.

"I didn't think I would have that anger," she says.

She's attended most of the hearings for the accused, including a pretrial in July where she sat just feet from Hayes and Komisarjevsky. She imagined her eyes being daggers, so with one look they would be dead.

"They just look like evil, puny, wimpy men, which is sort of surprising for what they pulled off," she says.

She plans to rent an apartment for the trial, expected to take place in 2010. "It makes me sad because when my son is a senior in high school, I will be leaving part of the year for the trial," she says. "I'll feel cheated out of that year of his life. But on the other hand, I feel obligated. I think my sister would have done it for me."

Brother-in-law had nothing

The day after the killings, Renn flew to Connecticut with her husband, Bill, their two children, and her parents.

They rushed to the hospital to see her brother-in-law, who had almost bled to death after suffering blows to his head.

"I know you don't want to see me," Renn remembers him saying as he lay in his hospital bed. "I know you wish it was her who was lying here."

Renn assured Billy they were grateful at least one person had survived. But he didn't want to be alive, she says.

As they sat in the hospital lobby, Renn saw her sister's face on the news. That's when she realized it really had happened. And this hit, too: Her brother-in-law had nothing. No house. No wife. No kids.

Renn went to her sister's house, too. From the front, it still looked like the idyllic sage green, American colonial on the corner lot the family had lived since 1989. From the back, it was just a shell, burned from the fire.

Everything inside was gone, including the family's pets. Renn and other family members endured the horrid smell of burned flesh as they searched for anything that could be saved. Renn grabbed a few things in the house: a summery pink and green skirt her sister loved; Hayley's Vera Bradley bookbag.

Both had to be washed dozens of times to get the smell out.

Renn is always scared. She's always making sure her doors are locked. When she goes to bed, she swears she hears people walking downstairs.

Nightmares haunt her sleep. In them, her house is on fire, and she thrashes around trying to figure out who to save first.

To cope, she wanted to connect with someone who'd gone through a similar experience, so she joined Compassionate Friends, a group for people who have lost a child or a sibling. She was too afraid to tell her story in detail until she met a woman whose daughter was stabbed to death.

"I thought I would scare everyone to death," she says. "I can't let them be horrified."

Carson was killed in March, just miles from Renn's home. Renn sobbed and didn't sleep for days after Carson's killing.

"That someone was running around in our own town," she says. "[Carson] seemed like a wonderful person."
Renn's church made a quilt for Carson's family; church members decorated the quilt squares. Renn wrote a note on her patch.
"I lost three family members to a violent murder," she wrote. "I feel for you and feel for your family."

Then she wrote her phone number and offered for them to call in case they wanted to talk.

A few months before the the deaths of her sister and nieces, Renn had read a true story, "Theresa: How God Orchestrated a Miracle," in which a 2-year-old was beaten, raped and left for dead but survived. Renn remembered that the girl's family in the book forgave the men who hurt their daughter.

"I thought it was odd that family was able to forgive them," Renn says.

But she wanted to make some of her hurt go away, so she decided she needed to forgive the men accused of killing her family.

She wrote letters to both men but never sent them.

She told them about her sister, who chose to become a nurse and take care of people, and how Renn had always looked up to her. She described her nieces: Michaela, an animal lover who always befriended the outsiders, and Hayley, a rower who had plans to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor.

"They were everything to us," Renn wrote.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be your teacher to have taught you the basics," she wrote. "I was raised to believe we are all children of God. I'm sorry you didn't choose to believe that."

Then, she wrote, "I forgive you ... because that will help to set me free."

But now, she's not so sure she can forgive the men. She believes her need to forgive was selfish, thinking it would make the pain go away.

Today would have been her sister's 50th birthday, and she's not here to celebrate it, and those guys are to blame.

"I believe God wants us to hate evil, and to me they are evil in its purest form," Renn says. "I don't feel compelled to forgive evil."

www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/religion/story/1232670-p3.html
To contact the area chapter of Compassionate Friends, call 877-969-0010 or go online to http://www.compassionatefriends.org/.

Appalling Crimes

Warning; The linked article concerning the Groene family crimes contains graphic and very upsetting facts concerning the kidnappings of Shasta and Dylan Groene and the subsequent murder of little Dylan at the hands of Joseph Duncan a previously convicted and out- on- bail child rapist.

I write about these cases because I feel strongly that the public needs to understand the potential violence that our courts are routinely releasing upon our innocent citizens every time that they offer;

lenient plea bargains with lowered charges for violent crime or crimes againt children

probation with suspended sentences,

early release parole,

and irresponsibly low bail amounts
Such as the 15,000 bond that Joseph Duncan was released on when he committed the murders and kidnappings of the Groene family members, leaving 4 people dead including two children, and an 8 year old survivor who must now battle the memories of unbelieavable brutality and carnage. Eight years old.

In order for Shasta, who is now eleven, to heal will require money. She will need every
possible advantage in overcoming her experience with violent crime, and this will continue to require counseling and funds.

Her dad, Steve Groene,has been treated for cancer recently and lost his voicebox as a result.
He is now unable to work full time. The two have faced difficult economic times as a result of his illness as well as the murder of Shasta's mom and step-father.
Their community has come together to build a home for Shasta and her dad which they have thankfully now moved into. The house is in a trust for Shasta and she will assume full legal ownership when she is 25 years old.

A fund has also been set up for the homes property taxes for the coming years.The goal to set aside the property tax monies for the rest of Shasta's life. We can all help with even the most modest of donations, for every little bit adds up. Donations can be sent to;


Windemere/Coeur d'Alene Realty
Attn: Midge Smock c/o Shasta Groene
1000 Northwest Blvd
Coeur d'Alene, ID
83814
Appalling Crimes: Investigation at Officer.com

Road race generates $225,000

With all of the horrible things that Ive been reading and writing about lately, it was most heartening to come upon this piece of news regarding The Petit family Road Race this past July; The official totals are in and it looks like the entire race day event raised a whopping 225,000 for The Petit Family foundation!

The foundation raises money for victims of violence and several other very important causes-
That is a lot of lives that will be made better thanks largely to the contagious spirit of goodwill and generosity that began in the town of Cheshire in the months following the tragic home invasion which took the lives of three members of a beloved local family.

The desire to extract something positive from such a terrible violent act seems a natural outgrowth of the memories of the three people who were taken within that set of crimes; Jennifer hawke Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela, were each known for an uncanny spirit of altruism and kindness. The people of Cheshire, Plainville and indeed the rest of the state, have strived to honor that spirit by adopting it as their own, perhaps sparked by the words of the lone survivor of the attack Dr Bill Petit, who,within his family's memorial oration , closed with these now-infamous words;
"If anything is to be gained from the senseless deaths of my beautiful family, it is for us all to go forward to live with a faith that embodies action; ,love your family, help a neighbor, fight for a cause."

Bravo to everyone who contributed to the race day event, in even the smallest of ways.
And of course thank you to the founder of the event, and the Petit Family foundation, Dr Bill Petit, a man whose grace, courage and integrity have become a shining example for us all.

plainville.ctcitizens.com/story/road-race-generates-225000

September 11th - A Survivor's Story

This 9/11 survivor's story  speaks volumes about this terrible day in our history, exactly seven short years ago.


Her experience, as all of the victims' of that day- whether they survived or not, is the very embodiment of this entire tragedy, its definition. And as with any violent crime, it is only through a victims eyes that we can truly comprehend the full weight of it.

Sept 11th Story

This is the entire article in Time magazine that the story was excerpted from, for those interested  September 11th A Nation Remembers

Is There an Army Cover Up of deaths of Women soldiers?

Too many non-combat deaths for women.

A few months ago I'd heard that there were record numbers of US military women committing suicide in IRAQ this past year. Yet something about the numbers and the facts surrounding this did not sit right with me at the time- but I pushed it back into that part of my brain that says look into this later when you have more time and information. And Now I know that the almost- visceral sense of unease and dread that I felt then, indeed had its roots in fact.

'Why, I remember thinking,' is there such disproportionate number of women soldiers committing suicide in Iraq and not anywhere near that many men? '
I knew what the reflexive, although unofficial, military answer would likely be,and so I will debunk it, depite the fact that it is not even official;
Women are"naturally" more sensitive, and as such, more prone to experience anxiety depresssion and PTSD during active war-time.( In other words, men are tougher)
This doesnt add up when so many of the women who died susppiciously were described as not at all depressed when they died and even often the term "upbeat",and other like it were used by other soldiers within the deceased's unit, superior officers and family members, the latter who had in many casesspoken to their loved one days or weeks within their so called "suicides" .


As you look over the nooniefortin website you will see that 2007 was the worst year overall with 27 deaths of female soldier since the inception of "Operation Iraqui Freedom ". Interesting that the very first articles written about this entire issue within the mainstream media were late last year/ early this year-- and thus far, we've seen a rather yearly-proportionate drop in these deaths so far in 2008.

Perhaps the US military has begun taking some measures agaisnt whatever has actually been
going on-and believe me, they likely Know precisely what is going on, they are just not going to share about it openly-This is the US military's historic way of handling anything that can bring negative press, especially to an already unpopular war, experiencingwith recruitment shortages..

This by now classic subterfuge is compounding a very very serious problem and enabling the violence and murder to continue. If silence is a co-conspirator what then for those that would cover up brutality and violence? This is infuriating. Young women are putting thier lives at risk for the protection of thier/our country, indeed for all of us, AND YET they are being raped and killed in a foriegn land by the very men who are trained fight beside them!?

If the word rape caused you to flinch and say what let me say that We now do know for certain that there have been confirmed numerous documented cases of rapes of female soldiers as well as US female employees of military contractors, Many took a long time to prove and despite chronic subterfuge by higher ups within the military, they've been proven.
As well There have also been a handful of murders of female soldiers that were so overt that the army basically had to admit to them from the onset. (Ie there were witnesses.)


When looking at the figures which are very high for this kind of homicide,even when considering that this is a somewhat perfect environment for getting away with murder, I cannot help
but wonder if there isnt a direct correlation between the high incidence of rapes and possible homicides and the fact that army recruiting has been admiitedly dropping thier standards over the past 2 years. It's been well publisized that Army recruiters, facing dwindling recruitment numbers due to this wars growing unpopularity, and facing big pressure to meet thier quotas,have been giving out record numbers of "Moral Waivers" for men who have criminal records, including violent felonies like assault and even gang related activities.

The combination of an already violence-infused atmosphere, and the simple geographics of a very far away land which could seem to to offer the guise of a more lawless existance, combined
with the opportunistic shroud of sub-culture secrecy that is the United states military, well,
this could be a perfect combination for the criminally directed soldier to operate.

When reading about these cases of unexplained female deaths with barely a modicum of scrutiny, it beg the question- WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
Official Causes of death that don't add up, details of deaths and autopsies withheld, tampered with, and lied about- on official records, as well as to the inquiring families.
Case after case after case. Read about some of them on the web links that I have provided below. There will be much more to follow.

It was one womans case of "noncombat incident" which cited Fatal siezures that really caught my eye in an otherwise perfectly healthy young female soldier. I was contemplating the fact that many times head injuries cause seizures, and I know from experience that often those same head injuries can have a surprisingly little-to-no visible bruising or overt symptomology-
and still cause death(specially if the temporal or occiputal area of the head are struck into a hard surface like a wall or floor. This gal was found in her quarters alone by her roomate.

Then I read about the very next female soldier on the list. I saw that This woman died inexplicably of an unexplained head injury-of seemingly unknown origin! She was found in her quarters alone as well. Head injuries from assaults are very common, as often the assailent will first try to render the victim defenseless,particularly prior to a sexual assault, but also in "imple assault." Its called a blitz style attack" and serial women killers are often known to use this to render victim compliant or unconscious.


Then there were literally a slew of so called "self inflicted gun shot wounds" -more "non combat incidents" under investigation- except where noted in other words where there were actually
witnesses to the woman being shot by a fellow male officer, or the death scene was so overtly a homicide. Other than these few cases, the inference seemed to be that
these other soldiers on this list had shot themselves. In fact 2 on the list that were previously under Investigation have reportedly now been declared sucicides vy the army according to one
of the liked articles.

Problem is that in several cases grieving family who were suspicious of what the army was claiming, investigated themselves and each time the result was that there was no way the woman could have or did kill themself given the facts of the death scenes. ie the manner in which the soldiers bodies were found, either in relationship to thier weapons, thier dominant hands, details such as a total lack of gunpowder on either hand, addnlunexplained injuries upon thier bodies such as bruising scratches, drag marks etc. The list just goes on and on and on.

Read about it, talk about it We owe it to the women that are fighting in our countrys name to have the truth about thier tragic and untimely deaths, told. Whatever they are. We also owe every other soldier the basic right of safety from those they would trust to be thier brothers, on the line.

www.nooniefortin.com/

Is there an army cover up

www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/exposed-military-lied-abo_b_108426.html?view=screen

Petit family cousin Killed In Georgia

www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-digbrf0830.art18aug30,0,6051247.story
www.ctcentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20089347&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10111&rfi=6

I just heard the tragic news that a paternal cousin of Dr Bill Petit became the victim of a fatal Domestic violence incident this past week on August 23, in her own home in Athens Georgia.

Forty four year old Tracy Beaulieu, a native of Plainville Connecticut, was apparentlly
murdered by her estranged husband Dale Cook during the statistically-very - dangerous- time-period pre-ceding thier final divorce proceedings. Reportedly, Cook was angered by something that had occurred during the couples Court mediation proceedings earlier in the day. After the hearing He went to the former family home, bludgeoned his estranged wife to death and then fatally shot himself.

.
Tracy Beaulieu filed for divorce in february and the legal process was nearly over, when the
murder occurred. As mentioned, the period surrounding the cessation of any abusive
relationship is one of the most dangerous times for the abused- This includes emotionally abusive relationships where no overt physical abuse has neccesarily occurred...Yet.
Emotional abuse can include behaviors such as extreme jealousy and possessiveness, chronic belittling or degrading, purposeful isolation of the abused from family or friends Attempts to control partners career or school descisons, the goal typically is keeping the abused from any upperwardly mobile career/school decisons (=Independence)
And ultimately, the abuser will begin threatening the abused, her children, her Pets or even yes, the abuser themself---- ie suicide.
Example"if you leave me I will kill myself..."

To the abuser, a request or a filing for divorce or seperation, represents a complete loss of control -of his wife or partner. As such, this is when he may decide to exert the ultimate act of control, ending her life. This also may serve the dual purpose of ensuring that" if he cannot have her, no one will" .


A private funeral was held in Tracy's home town of Plainville Connecticut. He obituary describes an artistic, sensitive and kind person, someone who loved animals and the great outdoors.

She leaves behind three children and two grandchildren, all of whom presently reside in Bristol Ct.\
Reportedly Ms Beaulieu was very supportive of Dr Petit in the many long months following the devastating loss of his wife and children in a violent crime which rocked the entire state of Connecticut.Her family has listed the Petit Family Foundation as a charitie that will recieve memorial donations in Tracy's name.
The Petit family foundation information can be found below-Online donations are also available by following the Web Address that is posted.

Ironically, one of missions of the Petit Family Foundations is to assist people affected by violent crime, Just recently, they helped to fund the construction of a new Domestic Violence shelter in New Britain, Connecticut.

Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Beaulieu and the Petit families.
We are so sorry that they must once again contend with the far reaching devastation of violent crime within thier family-fold.

www.Petitfamilyfoundation.org/

Petit Family Foundation
P.O 310
Plainvilled, CT
06062

Innocence lost: Unthinkable crimes committed against children still haunt St. Regis

These two articles about the Groene murders illustrate well the far reaching effects that violent crimes can have on so many. I have followed this case since 2005, when three members of the Groene family, including a 13 year old boy, were found brutally murdered in thier Cour De lene home and the two youngest children went missing, apparently kidnapped by the killer.

I had recurring thoughts about the deaths of this family for months. I prayed and prayed that the missing Groene children were still alive, although I feared the worst. I empathized deeply with the biological father of the children Steve Groene, whose face on the news clearly bore the anguish of the loss of one son and the growing possibilty that his youngest two might have met the same fate
I was thus overjoyed when most unexpectedly,Shasta,the younger of the two missing children, was found Alive and seemingly well at a Dennys restaurant in Cour de lene-of all places.
-My joy, was hampered however by the ominous abscence of 9 yr old Dylan, a boy whose sweet face had become seared into the collective consciece of a country.

Steve Groene announced on the news that thePolice and FBI were certain of nothing at this point and the family was still hopeful that Dylan be found alive, But the prospect of this seemed
grim. And on the internet,where evolving news is often ahead of and more comprehensive than mainstream media, bits of fact here and there began to paint a grim prognosis;of particular concern was Shasta's claim to responding law enforcemnt,that her brother Dylan was " in heaven now"
I can vividly remember hoping,that this claim was the result of a childsconfusion under deep duress, or perhaps a fanciful ideation-a notion that she assumed or pehaps was even told to her by her captor, albeit not true. Our minds did double time wanting to believe that this young
boy was still alive...Perhaps dylan was taken to another area and thekidnapper merely told shasts this to pacify her?.

We prayed and we waited-There was nothing else anyone could do.

Within days an announcement was made that Dylan was feared dead and a search was being conducted in an area that Shasta was believed to have been held captive, Days later we were told that remains had been found and they would be tested for Dylans DNA.
My heart just sunk."Remains" was all that was left left of beautiful innocent sweet Dylan Groene.
my heart just sunk.
The news followed that the remains were in fact Dylan and he was believed to have been shot and killed by the convicted pedophile Joseph Duncan, the man that Shasta had been found with.
I waited and waited for the trial, angry at the plethora of delays constantly thrown out by the defense attorneys for Joseph Duncan,III -A man now believed by the FBI and several crime bloggers to be a serial child killer, responsible for at least 3 other
sexual ssaults/murders of children since his release from prison for an aggravted rape and assualt that he committed when only 17 years of age.


I was still waiting two years later,when we had a violent tragedy right here in Connecticut-The Petit family of Cheshire had been kidnapped, assaulted and Mrs Hawke-Petit and her two daughters murdered in their own home. Dr Petit was assaulted but managed to survive.

I could not help but think about the Groene murders as the details of the Petit crimes unfolded. There were children involved in both sets of crimes, and murders of the adult parents of the children-- It appeared that both sets of murders were motivated by sex crimes against children, and in the Petit's case, also an adult woman for Mrs Petit had been sexually assaulted as was her her 11 year old daughter, before they were killed.

And While these two families may appear to be very different from one another on the outside-insofar as things like demographics economic advantages educational backgrounds and just plain lifestyles- those differences dissapear when violence like this befalls a family. In the end, it is their commonalities that matter.; These were both families with children that were clearly loved. Each had their own histories, spoke their own privatelanguage, nicknames, personal likes dislikes, and lifetimes of shared memories and milestones-Christmases birthdays, school plays and first days of school. And in both families, there were to be many more memories to come.

Those memories were stolen, in both cases by repeat offenders, each of whom were given way too many chances by thierespective Judicial systems, despite dangerous criminal histories in all of their cases; All three were on parole at the time that they committed these crimes-Duncan was on parole for one crime and on bail for another committed during his parole. They all had been given extremely low bail amounts on different occasions for serious crimes with a high potential for causing loss of life. None of them served their full sentences prior to parole, and all of them had been paroled recklessly with insufficient consideration fiven to the clear danger that they posed to our society.

It is clear from these cases and others like them that our judicial systems have become co-accomplices to dangerous predators like Joseph Duncan, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky. In too many instances,we have had these killers within our systems grasp before they killed and they are routinely under sentenced, irresponsibly bailed, probated and paroled, with nary a consideration for their future victims,let alone the ones that they've already harmed.
And these two devastating crimes are but two of many, many others that occur every year across this country. We are facing a veritable crisis regarding violent crime. Wemust begin a process of change and reform in every state that has flaws within its handling of violent offenders. Bureaucracies rarely change on their own, they require consistent pressure from the outside and this demands our involvement on an individual and community level.

Please get involved. There are few "issues" that demand as much of your time and energy.
Learn who your local legislators are, they make your state's laws. Watch their records re crime and vote accordingly. Petition for tougher parole or no parole in your
home state for dangerous offenders. Push for Minimum sentencing and bail minimums
for violent crimes, including home invasion, sexual assault and all crimes involving children. We have learned a great deal about what types of crimes are pre-cursors to murders. We also have abundance of knowledge re predators of children and thierikelihood of recidivism. We must find a way to ensure that those offenders are not given a chance to harm another child.

Hold prosecutors and Judges accountable for lenient plea deals. We are intelligent people- If we are facing docket and prison overcrowding within our state, this is not an excuse to begin letting dangerous predators roam the streets.

More and more states are now handling their less serious crimes in alternative style courts where incarceration is the absolute last remedy, This saves money and beds in prison as well as serving to divert low level offenders who historically pose little to no threat to society, from a system that often consumes them.

Innocence lost: Unthinkable crimes committed against children still haunt St. Regis

A Sobering comment Re Crimes against Children

The italisized essay below was found on this blog
http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/08/jurors-forced-to-watch-duncan-torture.html
within the comments section:


And although it may sound a bit dramatic, I agree with much of what "ME Stern" is saying here.

I know that we have always had predators in this world, particularly child predators, as I remember well being warned about them as a little girl. However, like ME Stern, I have been noticing an incredible surge in violent crimes involving children in sheer number, as well as the degree of depravity and violence.
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We must put more collective energy and attention into this grave issue. This starts on an individual level; no more hiding our heads in the sand about this tough subject.

Children, the elderly, women and Pets are often targets of abuse because they are usually physically and sometimes emotionally weaker; This makes them vulnerable to those that would predate. Remember,the ultimate desire of predators is control. This is the very same dynamic that is often at the core of partner violence.

I propose that if we begin to change the way that we view all kinds of abuse, we will slowly change the way that everyone around us sees it and handles it. And by talking about it amongst ourselves as well as bringing it into the public forum, we begin to demystify it.
This is the first step to awareness and change.


M.E. Stern said;

"When I come across evil things such as this -- I try to "intellectualize" it in my mind, so I can feel better if at all possible. Yet, I simply can't. I am not a particularly religious person, but I have now come to believe what some people have said. And that is that now evil forces of the universe have somehow come to dominate over the opposite good forces. I don't think it is just as simple as, "oh he is a sick man." I think there is a larger energy field out there that is wreaking havoc notably on children. Also disturbing to me is that I often look for parallel behavior in the world of nature / other animals. And somehow if I see that an analagous thing happens "naturally," I am somewhat comforted. Yet even when, say, a baby lion cub is eaten by a hungry predator it it NOT an act of deliberate evil, it is better thought of as a hungry animal eating available and appropriate food. The perp's actions against this innocent child have no analogy in nature! I am saddened, angered, disgusted and worried for children today."

New Task force started for Internet Child Predators

Good news!

Death penalty for Joseph Duncan for kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy

May this sentence be carried out swiftly for the sake of the families involved.


Death for man who kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy

Child-killer eligible for death says Jury after hearing horrific details of kidnapping

Finally.
Nearly four years ago in Coure de lene Idaho, a paroled and out on bail convicted child rapist decided to stalk and kill Brenda Groene, her fiancee Mark mckenzie and 13 year old son Slade Groene in a brutal home invasion committed for the sole purpose of kidnapping 8 yr old shasta and 9 year old Dylan for the purpose of sadistic pedophilia.

After murdering the three family members, Joseph Duncan kidnapped the two small children and brought them over state lines deep into the lolo forest where he moved from campground to campgrouns torturing and molesting the children or 7 weeks, culminating in the shooting murder of little Dylan Groene-in front of his sister Shasta.

Approximately one week after killing and disposing of little Dylans body (bits of bones were all that remained for criminologists after Duncan purportedly burned the childs body "all day and night" in a bonfire at one of the campsites) Duncan inexplicably returned to Cour de lene, the town of the original murders and shasta's home, with little Shasta alive , in tow.
He tolld shasta that he was returning her to her father because she quote" taught him how to love" and he would later turn himself in to police. However, he has since admitted to manipulating and lying to shasta throughout her entire ordeal as the situation called for-in order to gain "her compliance" tand thus we have no way of knowing what Mr Duncan actually had planned Next for Shasta or himself .
Fortunately, thanks to the sharp eyes of Dennys waitress Amber dean, whatever his plans were they became moot shasta was recognized as the two ate a meal at a local Dennys restaurant, in the wee hours of the morning-they quickly called 911- and Duncan was arrested without incident and shasta began to tell her tale of terror to police.

The murder trial for Brenda, Slade and Mark Mckenzie took two years to begin, and ended 6 months later when Duncan agreed to plead guilty to murdering the two adults and 13 year old Slade by bludgeoning them all to death with a claw hammer, this after tying them hand and foot in their family home. For this plea deal He recieved three life sentences with the stipulation that if he did not receive the death penalthy in the sepearte trial for the kidnappings of shasta and murder of Dylan, that he may still be sentenced to death for the first 3 murders- Legal wrangling that very few of us understood.

The second trial for the kidnappings, sexual assaults and subseqent murder of little Dylan was once again delayed incessently by the defense, and a seemingly intimidated judge allowed it, citing as reason his reluctance to inadvertantly providing ammunition for a later mistrial, thereby relenting to each and every stalling tactic.

The stalling was in effect rendered moot when Duncan pled guilty to all of the charges against him seemingly out of nowhere, which led us all to breathe a collective sigh of relief that at least little Shasta now 10 would not be forced to live through the ordeal of testifying against her tormentor in a long and traumatizing trial. However this still left the sentencing portion of what was a death penalty case, and this finally began last week after another long delay, this one caused when Duncan decided to fire his court appointed attorneys and represent himself.
The Judge, again treading carefully lest a legal mistep were to be found cause for re-0trying the whole case-something that he expressed on more than one occasion. insisted upon a battery of phsychiatric tests to determine if josph duncan was capable of representing himself in a court of law.
7 months later he was finally approved by a myriad of psychiatrists as mentally competent to represent himself in the sentencing trial. The judge ordered duncans attorneys to act as back up counsel for duncan, providing advice and direction if needed. Another delay was side-stepped when both attorneys tried to refuse the judges order-they were in effect admonished by the judge who said that he simply would not tolerate any more delays in this proceeding, and the attorneys would be found in contempt if they tried to bail out now.

I have been following this case since it first happened.
I wept when I read about the brutal murders of shasta's mom, her step-dad to be and 13 year old brother Slade; I joined the thousands of people accross the country praying for the safe return of Shasta and Dylan, despite the abysmal outlook for just such a miracle, considering the clearly psychopathic M.O of the person that abducted them.

Then, almost 2 months later, Shasta was found...alive- although little Dylan was feared dead and a terrible 3 or 4 long days later, forensics validated the tragic news. I remember watching the video footage of little shasta walking into that convienence store, so clearly within that monsters pyschological grip, yet with her little arms folded protectively across herself, telling it all.
That image still haunts the recesses of my mind.

I also can see the heart wrenching photo of Shasta, at the hospital, smiling a shy smile and hugging a little doll, when she was first reunited with her dad, Steve Groene, a man who I'd previously seen speaking on many news channels, pleading with whomever had his children to Please return them safely..please.

This courageous little girl has somehow managed to heal enough to return to school, her old gradeschool in fact, a choice that she insisted upon when given the option of attending a different school, so that she might avoid having to explain her ordeal to curious friends and classmates.

Shasta now 11, is reportedly faring better than anyone could have ever expected. She has developed a love of horses and now rides regularly. She also enjoys riding on the back of her dads custom harley, a bike that was recently made especially for them, with a custom back seat and her brother Slade and Dylans names painted on the side.

It has not been an easy time for Shasta -She had had to deal with life challenges beyond the already mind boggling crimes of which she was made victim; For a time she and her dad experienced near homelessness and life threatening illness. Steve groene, diagnosed with throat cancer just months after shasta's return, had fallen upon hard times due to his inability to work and mounting medical costs from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Ultimately he lost his voicebox to the disease but managed to survive, seemingly out of sheer determination to not leave Shasta parentless. particularly throughout the upcoming trial which would surely requite shastas expert testimony.\

. Fortunately, the people of Cour de lene rose to the situation and threw in together to build a new house for Shasta and her ailing dad. The home is in Shasta's name and she will inherit it fully paid for, upon her 21st birthday. Considering that the people of cour de lene and the surrounding area are mostly hard working blue collar folks, this makes thier genorousity even more meaningful, as they will surely do without themselves in the process of helping this family.

I can recall reading about how shasta's expert recollection of the details of her kidnapping helped aid the police, FBI and prosecutors in making thier case strong against Jospeh Duncan.
I prayed that she would somehow be spared having to face this despicable man in a court room in order for him to be convicted and given the sentence that he so richly deserved.
It looks like my prayers and others have been answered.

Let us hope that the final results of this trial give at least a modicum of justice to Shasta, Dylan, Slade and the entire Groene family...

child-killer may get death jury says - CNN.com

A Public at Risk

A very good article about the serious problem of over paroled and probated repeat offenders and the hundreds of people needlessly victimized each year as a result.

The article focuses largely on the parole/probation crisis occurring within the state of South Carolina, and it is published in a local SC paper-However, it covers the issue as it it currently clearly exists in several states, including Connecticut, where clearly many parallel sentencing issues still require the critical attention and ministerings of State government and the Judiciary.

Charleston, SC Latest Local News: A Public at Risk

Self Defense for Women against Choke attack...

This link will bring you to a short video on defending ones-self against a choke type of attack where the victim is backed up against a wall.
The video is made by a company called self defense for women.com -I have found this site a substantial source for self defense methods for women in real life threatening situations.


Please watch it, practice with a friend and remember; a high percentage of both partner and stranger violence starts with a choke style grab and/or with the woman backed up against a wall.
Be aware and be prepared.
L-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ros1xrA72T8

Join The Million Voices Campaign to End Domestic Violence

Hi All...

Please join "The million voices to end domestic violence" by following this link and signing

up to be "a voice." Join The Million Voices Campaign to End Domestic Violence

It's a small but important committment...

And/or Donate to NDVH (National Domestic Violence Hotline)
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/donate/

OR..Volunteer your time, it is a precious resource and can help save lives.
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/support-the-national-domestic-violence-hotline/volunteering

Either way, please get involved!

3 out of 5 women and teenage girls in the U.S will experience Intimate or domestic violence within their lifetime. For some, it will be fatal.

Warning Signs of Abusive Relationship

The link above brings you to the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence website and a list of the warning signs of abusive relationships.

This next link brings you to website called www.loveisrespect.org/ It is a teen dating violence prevention site, and includes a live web based helpline for teens as well as a new 1 800 phone line for teens who need help with dating violence issues. The national hotline is (866) 331 9474

This information is for important for anyone who thinks that they might be in an abusive relationship as well family friends co-workers of someone that we suspect might be in such a situation.

Everyone should become familiar with the signs of abusive behavior and this includes teenagers of dating age. And while this may seem premature to some parents, it truly isn't; teen dating violence is on the rise in the U.S, and as long as our youth are dating at younger ages, this information needs to become common knowledge. I cannot stress this enough-These seeds planted early in life will help save lives in the future. Knowledge and awareness equals power. We will be in effect preemptively reducing partner violence by facing it head on.


In most cases of abusive relationships, it is statistically girls and women who are most vulnerable, although boys/men can be abused as well . As such, we must familiarize our girls with the basic tenets of abuse- What it is, how we know if its happening, the hallmarks of the abusive personality and what to do about it if it is happening to us or someone that we know.

Most often physical abuse is preceded by emotional and/or verbal abuse-Sometimes the person will verbally abuse their partner in front of others, but many times, they do so in private, relying on an acceptable respectable facade in front of others.
This is the most dangerous type of abuser, as he is showing the propensity for deceitfulness and manipulation, hallmarks of sociopathic behavior, which according to the DSM, (diagnostic statistical manual), is termed "conduct disorder" when it begins before the age of 17.
It is usually a precursor to full blown sociopath status by the time the child/teen becomes an adult.

Sociopaths are predators and we need our young people to identify and avoid such people at all costs. This isn't often easy for many adults, as sociopaths can be the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. They can be expert at charming and manipulating others. Sizing up peoples needs and weaknesses in order to procure whatever it is that they happen to want from them.

They see others as potential victims, marks in effect, to take what they can from, In this way they are parasites and have no conscience or compunction about this. In fact, they hold their victims in disdain for being victimized. And rarely will they ever admit guilt. They recognize that what they do is wrong in society's eyes thus manipulation and deceitfulness become as necessary to them as the air is to the rest of us... Is it any wonder that most people are acutely uncomfortable even thinking about their existence among us-After all, this goes what I have just described goes against everything that we are taught is right, is human.

But the sad Fact is that they are among us and they are dangerous. For this reason we need to become comfortable ourselves, learning about this difficult subject And talking about them-Our teens particularly our girls, do not stand a chance if we continue to avoid educating them about the realm of predators in the world, either because it is unpleasant, because we are afraid they cannot process it emotionally, or worse, because we ourselves choose not to avail ourselves of this knowledge.

Petit Family crimes: One Year Later | Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network

Petit Family Murders: One Year Later Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network

The link above brings you both a written transcript as well as an audio taping of a story that Public Radio recently aired about the demolition and subsequent renovation of
the Petit family property, into a memorial garden on Sorghum hill Rd in Cheshire.

The house, where the crimes occurred, had stood partially burned and empty for many months. I often thought of Dr Petit and the quandary that faced him in any decision to tear it down; On one hand, what was left of his home was
a sad visual reminder of the violence that took place there, resulting in the loss of his wife and daughters and a vicious assault upon his own body and psyche.
On the other hand, this was his family home for many years, a happy home by all accounts and as such, many good memories must also reside there.

As a spiritual person, I would say that the former Petit family homestead must carry a great deal of spiritual energy from the three special people who lived there and passed and ultimately I firmly believe that this would prevail over any negative energies from the crimes.

From all that I have heard from friends and family alike, Mrs hawke-Petit was an intelligent strong woman of character, who was also inordinately kind and compassionate.

Their eldest daughter Hayley would seem to have inherited the same combination of strength of character and a sensitive and giving nature. In fact the more that I read about Hayley, the more I learn just how uncannily mature this 17 year old girl really was-
Poetry is a very personal form of creative writing, it will often give the reader a peek into the inner most depths of the writers heart and soul. The following link takes us to a poem that Hayley wrote shortly before her death. She apparently wrote the poem for and about, a beloved coach who had mentored her . http://www.courant.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sports/hc-hayleypoem0715.artjul23,0,5047503.story
This young woman so clearly a remarkably sensitive and intelligent soul and this kind of presence, by its nature is eternal.
Little Michaela too at only eleven was also in possession of a myriad of traits that seperated her from most Her conscientous sensitivity was made quite clear on her internet facebook page where she quoted the likes of Mahatma Gandhi proclaiming; "You must Be the Change that you wish to see in this world" This kind of enlightenment is altogether uncommon for an 11 year old child.
Her quote, and the sentiment within, have become legendary as the Petit family foundation's
"Be The Change" logo and mission statement. Indeed, those three potent words have served as powerful impetus and fueled thousands to take more pro-active roles insofar as charitable endevours as a regular part of thier daily lives.

It is really no wonder that every visitor to the small park that now sits on the sorghum rd property, has found it to be a strikingly peaceful place, without a trace of anything sad or frightening, as some had feared.
It is a testament to the goodness of these three ladies, who even in death, continue to make this world a much better place.

Road Race Honoring Petits Draws over 3000

Today, a small rural town in Eastern Connecticut became a shining example
of humanity at its finest.
On display, the stalwart idealism and commitment of a wounded and proud community, that despite a deep and lingering pain, continue to draw a well-spring of good from the unconscionable evil that stole three of their own one year ago today.

3000 came to run and walk in the first ever Petit Family Foundation 5k Race day.
www.petitfamilyfoundation.org . Another 500 plus attended, despite oppressive heat and humidity in order to honor the memory of a gracious and giving family and to support the work of a foundation that not only carries their name, but their values and ideals... ever so lightly upon its shoulders.
Road Race Honoring Petits Draws 3,000 -- Courant.com

Road race participation boosts Petit foundation

This is a lovely article about the upcoming 5k race & fitness walk scheduled for this Sunday in Plain ville Connecticut- The event is benefiting The Petit Family foundation, started by Dr Bill Petit after the deaths of his wife and two children in a home invasion last July.

The foundation contributes to a wide array of excellent causes, including helping victims of violent crime and those who suffer with chronic illness.

The event is co sponsored by GE, Stanley and many other Ct companies and has drawn record applicants for any 5k race in State history- As the linked article intones, this is possibly the result of so many being struck with the desire to do "something" to show support for The Petit and Hawke families after the awful crimes that stole their loved ones nearly a year ago.

Many of those signing up at the pre-registration related that they were thus inspired by Dr Petits now infamous memorial speech for his slain family last July, in which he gave an emotional plea to follow the example of the three wonderful women and" live with a faith that embodies action; help a neighbor, love your family, fight for a cause."

These heartfelt words indeed would seem to have inspired a state-wide movement -of -sorts; record numbers of people performing good works through activism, which only continues to grow upon itself and serves as an iron clad example that we can rise above hate, violence and injustice, and together thus defeat them.

Hawke Family Question Police Actions In Petit Murders

Hawke Parents Question Police Efforts In Petit Slayings -- Courant.com

There is good deal of understandable frustration and regrets for the Hawke family over the Cheshire Police depts handling of their loved one's murders last July.
I know that many people familiar with the details of the Petit crimes have done the what-if's a hundred times over the sequence of events that occurred on the morning of these murders.

I myself have had a good many sleepless nights wondering why the Police rescue wasn't handled differently, always playing out alternate scenarios with happier endings. As such, one can only imagine what the immediate family's burden has been with these same tortuous realizations.

Of course we all have the benifit of hindsight now, and the Cheshire Police did not, and were responding as they were trained to do, given the information they had up until that point.
That said, It clearly was not the response neccessary to save the lives of the Petit mom and her children.

After reading the recent articles about the Hawke family letters to The Cheshire Police department and Prosecutor, regarding the Polices handling of that fateful morning-- I had an important remembrance; Just after the crimes occurred last summer I was reading an article about a Dateline episode covering the crimes, and within the comments section there was a very interesting write- in, regarding the police's handling of the Petit hostage situation on the morning of those crimes.
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It was by a Police strategist of some kind and he'd written very pointedly and intelligently about why and how the police mishandled the situation, and went on to explain that many small town Police departments desperately needed to be trained in these varying types of hostage situations, for this very reason. There was no judgement of The Cheshire Police, but rather an experienced summation of how and why this happened ; The way that most Police departments are trained to deal with anything resembling a hostage situation and the inherent probelms with following one basic protocal of calling in a swat team and the time- consuming setting up of perimeters etc.

This made tremendous sense to me at the time and I can recall tucking the information away in my brain to be followed up on when all the people involved had a chance to heal just a bit.

This week With the advent of the articles about the Hawke family's pained and unanswered questions regarding the handling of thier family members lives, I see that now is that time...
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I am certain that the hawke family would derive comfort in at least knowing that nothing like this is ever likely to happen again due to police unpreparedness. And please Let me be clear on this; I cannot fault any one member of the Cheshire Police Dept. as they were each acting under orders, as they must, in order to maintain a working unit.
I also know that many officers at the scene that day were deeply disturbed by the course of the crimes and felt that they should have done more-but there hands were tied by orders.. I am certain that those regrets still linger to this day and may for thier lifetimes.

This is a complex and painful issue, but one that must be addressed to ensure that we are never ill prepared for a situation like this where lives hang in the balance.

After scouring the Internet, I found the original article as well as the comment with the authors name and when clicking upon his name one is brought to the site below which is a Police training Company which specializes in handling high risk and hostage type situations, where the need for immediate intervention separates them from others, ie where the standard protocol which is to set up perimeters and so forth, eats up valuable time, which the victims may not have.

I propose that we begin the process of urging our Legislators to fund this type of training for each Police dept within this state. Or at the very least one dept per a certain geograp[hical area, so that each town in the state has a department close enough to come in swiftly should anything resembling this occcur again.
Once again If as a people and a government we can learn from this set of crimes, other lives will be saved in the future.

The italicized text below is the comment by the Police strategist Rick Armellino

Thank you Dateline for the accurate accounting of this tragedy. There is a little more to this story that has so far been unreported.

Many people may wonder why the police first responders did not initiate an immediate rescue of this family once they were on the premises. Training and equipping police officers to improve response to armed invasions is my profession. The web address below will direct you to a police column I author which discusses the problems with traditional police responses that require "containment" of a dangerous situation rather than entry into the hazardous environment to assist innocents trapped inside a structure.

The horrific tragedy that occurred to the Petit's may have been partially averted if first responders were authorized, trained and equipped to make fast entry into the structure to quickly help those trapped on the inside.

Over 70% of our nation's police agencies (especially those located in residential suburbia) DO NOT ALLOW first responders to practice a police procedure named "Immediate Action Rapid Deployment" (IARD).

The Petit incident is only one of many examples where local political and police leaders have failed to keep up with changing technology and tactics to vastly improve assistance to endangered citizens.

Bureaucracies rarely improve on their own, they need pressure from the outside. Only concerned citizens and the media asking hard questions will improve local police response services to those endangered by society's predators.
http://www.policeone.com/columnists_internal.asp?view=1271208
Comment written by Rick armellino Aug 2007 within dateline web-story
"'knocking on doors in Cheshire Ct"
http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/10/353194.aspx?p=1

GE 5kRoad Race for Petit Family Foundation

A reminder that the 5k Road race, which is raising money for the Petit family foundation- is coming up on July 20th. There will be a separate run for children under eight, as well as a 1.3 mile "fitness walk" for those who wish to participate who are not neccesarily long-distance runners.

Winners and awards will be given at a Post race ceremony which will include refreshments and activities. The race, sponsored by GE, Stanley and a gaggle of other Connecticut based companies will be raising money for the Petit Family Foundation, which donates to M.S research and people affected by violent crime, among other excellent causes.
The foundation was set up by Dr William Petit after the violent series of crimes that took the lives of his wife and two children last July.

The entire state of Connecticut has been deeply affected by these crimes and the local support and charitable effort in the Petit and Hawke family names continues to be steadfast, this nearly one year after the crimes occurred.

There have been multiple memorials and honorariums raising both money and awareness for different charities over the past 12 months, each organized with the core intention of keeping the Petit women and children's memory and spirit of activism alive, and in the forefront of our collective conscience.

Since the judge that is presiding over the criminal case has placed a gag order on those involved in the case, little has been written in the traditional press re the crimes and the ongoing criminal cases since the order took effect in October 07.

There has however been a great deal of attention and debate over the States woefully ineffective criminal justice system, which in retrospect, clearly aided and abetted these crimes in happening.

The Connecticut legislature, urged by Governor Rell, convened in a special emergency session addressing judicial reform in January and managed to pass some immediate judicial reform bills, but not without a fair amount of dissent and grumbling by some state legislators as well as members of the appropriations committee, the latter lamenting the costs to the state and debating the neccesity.

The general assembly met again in their regular session early May and passed a snaller number of crime reform bills, including a persistent offender law that is more likely to actually be used than the convoluted version that has stood largely unused by prosecutors, since its inception years ago. A publiclly supported tho hotly contested version of the three strikes law did not pass muster within the senate or house,leaving minortiy republicans and the Governor very dissapointed and vowing to redress the issue.

Dr Petit has made it clear that he wishes to focus on who his family members were and what they stood for during their lives, rather than the focusing upon the senseless violence of their deaths.
In this way it seems that he may restore them to a positive place in his and our memory, rather than their being forever relegated to "victims"

Area Connecticut residents have honored this and responded sensitively-with events running the gamut from a area-wide candlelight display, basketball and golf fund raiser, the former organized by friends of Haley Petit, who at 17 was an avid basketball player and fan.

And recently, Cheshire, Plainville and Litchfield were among several towns where Volunteers turned out in record amounts for the annual "MS walk", an event that was a yearly tradition for the Petit clan.

This year, friends of the Petit children organized and sponsored walk groups in the Petits name and helped the area to raise record funds for the MS Society, a charity in which the whole family was involved with since Jennifer Hawke Petit was diagnosed with the disease at age forty.

See the link above and below for details regarding the upcoming Race.
You may pre-register for the race and the fitness walk via the race Website, although same day registration is also available, beginning 2 hours prior to the start of the Race.
Pre- race registrars and the first 100 same day counterparts will receive Race day T-shirts commemorating the event.

CO-ED'S COURAGE -

Please be advised that the accompanying article contains some graphic and upsetting details regarding a young victim's fight for her life after being sexually assaulted and tortured then left to die in her off- campus apartment at columbia university, just last year.

I linked to this story because I vividly remembered when it happened-I was at once deeply disturbed over the horrific brutality involved in the crime and then, so moved by this young girls courage and will to live during the course of such a nightmare.

The memory of this story never left me (how could it?) and So to now read about this same woman now transcending the gap between victim and survivor--summoning that same extrordinary courage, to now testify against her rapist/torturer, all in an effort to insure that he never again harm another woman....This is what I call a hero.

Deadly Home Invasion Leads To New Laws in Connecticut - NYTimes.com

Hallelujah! Now lets see to it that our prosecutors and judges begin to use these sentencing laws to increase prison terms for violent crime and in doing so help prevent these offenders from harming more innocent people in the future.

The state of Connecticut now faces the crucial second phase of making certain that these new sentencing laws are not rendered near useless via our courts continued use of the plea bargain model as their primary means of adjudicating violent criminal cases.

What This means is that the violent felony charges that are eligible for the repeat offender rule, all violent crime charges (including home invasions that occur at night time here in Ct ) historically wind up routinely dropped down one level or more within plea deals, and once dropped down a level they fall out of eligibility for the repeat offender status. The repeat offender rule is concerned with the criminal charge that an offender is convicted of, not charged with and herein lies the problem of this kind of sentencing law.

The state of Connecticut Plea bargains approximately 96 percent of all its criminal cases,
a rather high proportion even in a country where plea bargaining has become the resolution of choice in many courtrooms, as opposed to pursuing a trial to determine guilt of the original charges. And thus, what began as a serious violent felony and in fact was a serious violent felony will almost always be reduced to either a lesser felony... or more often merely a misdemeanor.

This means that the end result will be that particular criminal's conviction record will only bear the results of that plea bargain, rather than what he or she was actually charged with, and more importantly-committed.
This is a double whammy of danger to the law abiding people of this state.

Another pertinent consideration in all of this is that most violent criminal cases involve multiple charges, one criminal event, but several laws broken within the commission of that criminal act. Ie Both defendants in the Petit crimes had histories of arrests with numerous charges per arrest. Now in this situation, one or more those multiple charges will be dropped completely, within the same plea bargain "process" described above. Poof , that charge is simply gone. Usually we'll only come to know about it when this same offender committs murder down the road and all of his arrest records are dredged up.

This is not the exception in Connecticut courts-it is the rule.

Statistically it is more than one charge that is dropped outright . And In the case of both defendants in the Petit murders, their litany of life time criminal convictions did not include several serious charges of which they were charged upon arrest; In one case ILLEGAL Gun possession, in another resisting arrest and a smattering of robbery charges were dropped for no apparent reason other than " THE DEAL"

The prosecutors office will invariably try to plea bargain a case rather than have to prepare for a time consuming trial. This way they will still obtain some kind of conviction" albeit charges and corresponding sentences for much less serious crimes than were actually committed. Its basically a compromise between prosecutor and the defendant's attorney-be it public defender or private.

The problems with plea bargaining violent crime are obvious but in situations where the original charges are eligible for repeat offender status these issues become augmented ten-fold;
each and every one of a criminal's serious charges have become diluted down as to no longer fall under the repeat offender statute,time and time again, rendering the repeat offender law pretty much moot within our Connecticut courts depending on the whim or conscience of the prosecutors office in charge of the case.

The answer lies in affording some kind of consistent accountability for our Connecticut prosecutors actions within the sea of plea bargains given to violent criminals every year.
For years I' ve been told there has existed an unspoken directive from somewhere high above our courts to only incarcerate the worst of the worst, our prisons were bulging with no relief in sight-other than to build another prison and that is another quandary with another set of problems for the state, not least withstanding, monetary. I cannot help but think that our judicial system could save money by handling non violent crimes in a less punitive manner ie avoid incarceration for crimes that are not pre-cursors to violence or further violence.

In any event It's clear that we need to bring some fresh thinking into our state's criminal courts. I believe that for our citizenry to be properly protected, our judicial system in Connecticut needs an overhaul in how they view and deal with violent crime. This must include the dismantling of the plea bargain model as the auto pilot choice for processing our states most serious crimes. This will mean hiring many more prosecutors and the re-training of existing prosecutors in becoming more trial ready.

If the crimes have yet to involve loss of life , it would seem that our state is too ready to deal even in instances of serious violence and even sex crimes that are often pre-cursors to These types of crimes often pinpoint criminal personality types that will often escalate to murder or at the very least- further violence.

This is an awesome responsibility in which our state has bungled badly in the past. It has only now come to the general public's attention because it has ended three times in one year in brutal loss of life to innocent citizens. There have been many, many other cases of violent criminals being sentenced irresponsibly with perhaps less drastic results, but always, there is a victim suffering at the nucleus of these crimes, as well other people at risk of becoming victims to this same offender, who was not sentenced or paroled responsibly.

I propose that we keep an eye and pressure on our courts and our legislators to make certain that they finish the good work they began back in January and May sessions. The actual implementation of these sentencing laws now rests within our Connecticut courts. We've had other sentencing laws that were admittedly never used in the past. We must stop the methods that have been proven to dis-serve the people of this state and learn from our tragic missteps of the past.

Deadly Home Invasion Leads To New Laws in Connecticut - NYTimes.com

Dr. Petit Keeps Memory Of Family Alive with Good works

Dr. Petit Keeps Memory Of Family Alive - Connecticut News Story - WFSB Hartford

I was recently made aware of the Petit Family Foundation's expansion into helping victims of violence and needless to say was deeply moved by this news.
I have said from the beginning that I firmly believe that the Petit crimes crimes of violence against women rather than the "robbery gone awry" theme that seemed to dominate the traditional media outlets immediately after the crimes happened.

Today I read within the linked article that the Petit family foundation is helping to fund a new domestic violence shelter in New Britain. This is simply awe inspiring to me and proof that the circle of hope and healing only grows when separately and together we turn toward difficult and painful issues rather than turning away from them- because they are uncomfortable or perhaps we feel that they don't affect us.

At the core of domestic and partner violence is a veritable well of pain, suffering and fear.
It is the only type of violent crime that stands very nearly mute within society's daily discourse. This silence has served as its enabler and at times even its co-conspirator.
It is time that we grow as a people and break this silence. We can begin with awareness and education; learning about the hallmarks of an abusive relationship and what to look for in people with abusive behaviors. Very Often these tendencies begin in the teenage years.

Teen dating violence is on the rise and already more prevalent than most could imagine.
Its easy for a teenager who is perhaps experiencing their first relationship to mistake extreme jealousy and controlling behaviors for love or passion.
This jealousy or controlling can be the hallmark of an abuser. What starts as verbal or emotional abuse can escalate to pushing, slapping and much worse.
Adolescence is a time often fraught with secrecy, and as such many well meaning parents are unaware that their teen is experiencing physical or emotional abuse- the latter can include threats or directives re things like who to talk to, how to dress etc.
Clearly we need to de-mystify the entire issue of partner dating violence for our selves and our children. It should become a well talked about issue and in turn, everyone becomes familiarized with the hallmarks of abusive behavior as well as where to seek help for a freind or loved one.

In the meantime, I am heartened when I think about how many lives that Dr Petit and family have helped and perhaps even saved, by turning their foundations efforts towards this grave and important cause.

Suspects In Cheshire Killings Seek Separate Trials -- Courant.com

Suspects In Cheshire Killings Seek Separate Trials -- Courant.com

Information here regarding the most recent hearing for the Petit family crimes. At the request of one of the defendants attorneys, Thomas Ulmann, presiding Judge Damiani placed a gag order on the case back in October and as such, traditional media coverage of the criminal case has dwindled to the most basic information.
This article in the Courant offers a bit more than the standard AP release.

Video on extricating yourself from a wrist grab acttack

Safety For Women

SafetyForWomen:

Here is a very important tip that everyone- female or male, should become familiar with, It is excerpted from the website Safety For Women, linked above.

...The criminal's primary strategy is to use the advantage of surprise. Criminals mainly choose targets which appear to be unaware of their surroundings. So, please be prepared before something happens"

A Just World?

Below are the links to two interesting articles related to the idea of justice.
One is about a human phenomonon called cognitive dissonance, don't be put off put by the lofty tone of it, it's a pretty straightforward concept.
Moreover the articles help explain why so many people can be apathetic or even judgemental of others who have been victimized by traumatic events outside of their control. This includes victims of violent crime brutalized first by the crimes committed against them and then, often again injured by an indifferent or even adverserial judicial system. This can include the response from institutuions such as criminal court, law enforcemnt and social services
as well as the response from the community where the presumed support from ones "peers"can fall cruelly short of what a victim or family of the victim-expects.

This profound lack of supoort combined with the dispensation of at times cold hearted judgement- of the victim-for somehow having "brought the tragic events upon themselves'-This can be the fait de compli within the post traumatic stress experience. PTSD. Indeed it can be the final emotional insult which renders a victim unable to heal and thus stuck.


Although this syndrome is common with victims of violent and or sexual crimes, it is not exclusive to traumatic acts of violence caused by other human beings- Although research shows that the worst cases of PTSD do result from life threatening experiences caused by human hands.
We also see it with victims of natural or unnatural disasters such as The hurricane katrina victims. I was horrifed by the amount of seemingly decent folks implying that the people that were caught in the levy flooding somehow deserved what happeneds to them- because after all, they should of left..Sooner ( presumably because thats what anyone with any common sense would have done")

We see the practice of cognitive dissonance most clearlly with crimes that involve domestic or partner violence.Date rape is one of the most notorious situations that elicit this response from the publc. Before reading about cognitive dissonance I had actually given this syndrome my own name- I called it rather aptly, the "pack of hyena effect". As a former survivor of a violent crime myself I couldnt help but notice a disturbing tendency among all kinds of otherwise "good" people, to gang up and somehow find me to blame for having been victimized and even for the subsequent mistreatment at the hands of the judicial system.-
I was also disgusted to note that once a person was victimized in an especially overt way, there seemed to be a free for all for further victimization of that person, As if they were now up for grabs for our very worst behaviors, permanent victims in effect. Somehow Marked.
These were some awful truths about human nature to be encountering after having just survived a violent crime, this I can tell you. I became emotionally and spiritually devastated more by the aftermath of the crime, than by the crime itself, which plainly speaking, was brutal.

As a former victim of this syndrome I was heartened and somewhat vindicated by reading about what turns out to be well known phenomonon in society. I much prefer a rational understanding of how people could behave so badly towards someone who has just been terribly brutalized , as the only other option was a floundering belief that people-and thus the world, must be inherently bad-For someone who is an idealist at heart, this was very nearly a kind of death.

Read these important articles as they will undoubtedly change the way that you think and feel about crime, disasters, victims and humanity.

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/justworld.html

http://www.respectfulofotters.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html

Petit home demolished

The demolition of the Petit home last week pulled hard upon our heartstrings as well as bringing full circle, the pain and anger over these crimes to the good people of Cheshire and well beyond.

Once again our hearts and our prayers go out to this lovely and courageous family who have carried themselves with such grace, generosity and dignity, amidst such an immense personal loss.

The house on Sorghum drive may be physically gone, but the spirit of Jennifer Haley and Michaela Petit clearly lives on, within and all about us, through their personal code of generosity, kindness and a stalwart faith coupled with benevolent activism.

May we honor them well by carrying forth any and all good works that reach out to those in pain and in need.

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=19728229&BRD=2755&PAG=461&dept_id=592709&rfi=6

Quote of the Day...

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance."

Robert F Kennedy


Think about it.

The GE 5K Road Race

To Read the most recent Post please click on the Chasing Justice title header above or click on profile to the right and back to "read blog" apologies-website is undergoing construction

A reminder that the 5k Road race, which is raising money for the Petit family foundation- is coming up on July 20th. There will be a separate run for children under eight years old as well as a 1.3 mile "fitness walk" for those who wish to participate who are not neccesarily long-distance runners.

Winners and awards will be given at a Post race ceremony which will include refreshments and other activities.

The race sponsored by GE and a gaggle of other Connecticut based companies is raising money for the Petit family foundation which donates to M.S research and those affected by violent crime, among several other important causes.

The foundation was set up by Dr William Petit after a violent series of crimes took the lives of his wife and two children in Cheshire last July. The entire state of Connecticut has been deeply affected by these crimes and the local support and charitable effort in the Petit and Hawke family names continues to be steadfast nearly one year after the crimes occurred.

There have been multiple memorials and honorariums raising both money and awareness for different charities over the past 11 months, each organized with the core intention of keeping the Petit women's memory and spirit of activism alive and in the forefront of our collective consciences.

A judge presiding over the criminal case placed a gag order on those involved with the case, and little has been written in the press regarding the crimes and the ongoing criminal case since the order took effect in October 07. There has however been a great deal of attention and debate over the States woefully ineffective criminal justice system, which in retrospect clearly aided and abetted these crimes in happening.

The Connecticut legislature, urged by Governor Rell met in a special session in January and managed to pass some immediate judicial reform bills, not without the customary dissent and grumbling by heads of the appropriations committee lamenting the costs to the state. They met again in their regular session early May and passed a snaller number of crime reform bills, including a persistent offender law that is more likely to actually be used than the convoluted version that has stood largely unused by prosecutors since its inception years ago.

Dr Petit has made it clear that he wishes to focus on who his family members were
and all that they stood for during their lives among us, rather than the focusing only upon the senseless violence of their deaths.
In this way he can restore them to a positive place in his and our memory, this rather than their being forever relegated to "victims" Area Connecticut residents have honored this and responded in kind-with events running the gamut from a town-wide candlelight display, to a basketball game fund raiser, the latter organized by friends of Haley Petit who was an avid basketball player and fan.

And most recently, Cheshire, Plainville and Litchfield were among several other towns where Volunteers turned out in record amounts for the annual"MS walk", an event that was a yearly tradition for the Petit clan.
This year, friends of the Petit children organized and sponsored walk groups in the Petits name and in doing so, helped the area raise record funds for the MS Society, a group in which the whole family was involved ever since Jennifer Hawke Petit was diagnosed with the disease at age forty.
See the link above and below for details regarding the upcoming Race--You may pre-register now for the race and the fitness walk via the Website, although same- day registration is also available, beginning 2 hours prior to the start of the Race.
Pre- race registrars and the first 100 same day counterparts will receive a Race day T-shirt
commemorating the event.

The GE 5K Road Race

STATE: Rell signs criminal justice bill into law

STATE: Rell signs criminal justice bill into law

Second suspect in new haven home invasion assault arrested

They arrested the second man -of three-believed to be responsible for the violent home invasion in New Haven weeks ago. The robbery/attack left the sole female homeowner badly injured. I am trying to find out if she is doing any better and what hospital she is at or where cards or letters of support can be forwarded to...I will report on this as soon as available, as well as the situation re the third man who is still at large.WTNH.com, Connecticut News and Weather - Second arrest in home invasion in New Haven

Rell signs crime bill into passage amid flurry of end of legislative session

Lawmakers inch toward adjournment -- -- Courant.com

2008 MS Walk supports a cause and a tragedy

It looks like the Cheshire Connecticut MS walk a Thon was a great success today! I only wish that I could have been there to participate and show my support, for the petit hawke families as well as the MS society. As luck would have it, I had to Work .
Read about it here.
Travelers 2008 MS Walk supports a cause and tragedy

Gov Rell handling of new fulltime Parole Board Appointees;-

Rell Won't Commit On Pulling More Parole Board Appointees -- Newsday.com

National MS Society's Walk Event:

Elizabeth Ollero, a close Friend and schoolmate of Michaela Petit has formed a special M.S walk group in Michaela memory, to raise money in this Sunday's National MS Society's Walk- a thon being held in Litchfield Connecticut.


ELiz's group will walk in honor of Michaela, Jennifer and Haley Petit who were killed in a home invasion just this past July. As many in the community of Cheshire know, the Petit family was very involved with MS charity work, including Mrs Petit who struggled with the disease for the last eight years of her life.
Once made aware of the debilatating effects of this disease, the Petit's young daughters took up the cause in hopes of helping to find a cure for Multiple sclerosis.

It appears that ELizabeth has just met her orignial goal for sponsorship for her walk group. however she is still continuing to take new pledges as well as welcoming any willing and able walk volunteers for her team.; Please visit her Walk a thon site via the link above and follow the links on how become involved. This cause was EXTREMELY important to the Petit family, and as such, its a great way to honor their memory as well as continue to spread thier spirit of activism and kindness.

Thank you in advance for making even the smallest donation or pledge, every little bit helps this important fundations work. MS is an intractable often debilatating auto immune disease that targets the neurological system. Men can get MS, yet it favors mostly women and in their third and fourth decades of life. Most worrisome is that The nunber of people stricken with the disease seems to be growing exponetially with every year. There are a number of treatments available to abate excarbations or flare ups, but as of yet no cure exists.

. For information regarding Elizabeth's website that honors the memory of her life long friend Michaela Petit, Please click on the "Forever Michaela" link on the right sidebar of this site...

National MS Society - Walk Event:

Latest word; Rell rescinds threat to vetoe crime bill

Democrats Urge Tax Amnesty -- Courant.com