NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The home invasion that killed a mother and her two daughters proves evil does exist in the world, the sole survivor said Friday at the sentencing of one of the perpetrators of a crime that unsettled the suburbs and halted momentum to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut.
Dr. William Petit, the victims' husband and father, called the crime a "personal holocaust" Friday at the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky, for whom a jury has already recommended the death penalty.
"I lost my family and my home," he said. "They were three special people. Your children are your jewels."
Petit said his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, was a nurse, his friend and confidant, and a wonderful mother. He noted that his 17-year-old daughter, Hayley, would be in medical school by now and that 11-year-old Michaela loved to cook and sing.
Earlier, Jennifer's sister, Cynthia Hawke-Renn, said via video played in New Haven Superior Court that everyday items like gas, rope, bed posts and gas conjure horrific memories.
"There is no escaping the horrors of that night," she said.
Komisarjevsky will join his accomplice, Steven Hayes, and nine other men on Connecticut's death row. The state's last execution in 2005 was the first since 1960, and the 31-year-old Komisarjevsky will likely spend years, if not decades, in prison. A jury last month recommended the death penalty, and Friday's hearing is a formality.
Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, while Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter, Michaela. The girl and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, were tied to their beds, doused in gas and died of smoke inhalation.
The only survivor, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up but escaped. He is also expected to address the court.
The sentencing hearing is concluding two long trials that subjected jurors to grim evidence including charred beds, rope used to tie up the family and autopsy photos. The 2007 attack led to the defeat of a bill to outlaw the death penalty in Connecticut and sparked tougher state laws for repeat offenders and home invasions.
In arguing for a life sentence, Komisarjevsky's lawyers said he was repeatedly sexually abused as a child by his foster brother and he never got proper psychological help as his problems worsened. He suffered from a mood disorder since he was about 9 that included bouts of profound depression, according to a defense psychiatrist.
Prosecutors said the rape claims emerged years later when Komisarjevsky faced prison time for 19 nighttime residential burglaries committed a decade ago.
In closing arguments, a prosecutor said the two men created "the ultimate house of horrors" by inflicting extreme psychological and physical pain on the victims that amounted to torture.
Komisarjevsky admitted in an audiotaped confession played for the jury that he spotted Hawke-Petit and Michaela at a supermarket and followed them to their house. After going home and putting his own daughter to bed, he and Hayes returned to the Petit house in the middle of the night to rob it.
In the morning, Hayes took Hawke-Petit to a bank to withdraw money, promising her no one would be hurt if she complied. Komisarjevsky took cellphone pictures of Michaela while her mother and Hayes were out.
The men, who blamed each other for escalating the crime, were caught fleeing in the family's car.
Komisarjevsky did not testify during his trial but objected unsuccessfully to an effort by his attorneys to play a videotaped interview of his 9-year-old daughter. Speaking outside the presence of the jury, he said he didn't want his daughter to feel compelled to help "one of the most hated people in America."
His family and other witnesses described him as remorseful and in shock over his role in the crime. Prosecutors tried to raise doubts about his remorse, noting he blamed Petit for not doing more to help his family even though Komisarjevsky had beaten him with a bat and tied him up.
1 comment