NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Joshua Komisarjevsky today was sent to death row, where he will join his partner in crime, Steven Hayes, for the triple homicide in Cheshire five years ago that shocked Connecticut and the world.
Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue imposed the sentence in a crowded courtroom, the same site where a jury Dec. 9 announced Komisarjevsky deserved the death penalty rather than life in prison without parole.
"You shall suffer death in the manner authorized by law," Blue said, repeating it six times, one for each capital felony.
In addition, Blue imposed a prison sentence of 140 years for the non-capital felonies.
By state law, the decision of the 12 jurors compelled Blue to impose the death sentence. Date of execution set for July 20, 2012, subject to lengthy appeals. Blue conceded the date is "meaningless."
"This is a terrible sentence," Blue told Komisarjevsky, who faced him in an orange prison jumpsuit. "But it's one you wrote for yourself with deeds of unimaginable horror and savagery."
As he said to Hayes during his sentencing, Blue delivered these parting words to Komisarjevsky: "And may God have mercy on your soul."
All eyes in the courtroom today were on the defendant, 31, who last lived in Cheshire, and on Dr. William Petit Jr., the only one who survived the pre-dawn attack on his home and family.
"I lost my entire family," Petit said, reading his victim impact statement. "I lost the records of our shared lives together due to the fire. Thus I lost my past and what was to be my future."
"July 23, 2007 was our personal holocaust," he added. "A holocaust caused by two who are completely evil and actually do not comprehend what they have done."
Petit and his relatives walked out of the courtroom when it was Komisarjevsky's turn to speak. He also read from a prepared statement, in a quiet monotone.
"I, too, have a family, loved one and friends who do not want me to die," he said.
"I did not want those innocent women to die," he said. "I wasn't the one who strangled Mrs. Petit. I did not strike that match; I did not light that fire."
Komisarjevsky said a lifetime of "anger, shame, rejection and betrayal have left me cold and numb."
At the close of his statement, he said, in an apparent reference to his sentence, "I wonder when the killing will end. When will enough be enough?"
Komisarjevsky had admitted to police that he followed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her youngest daughter, Michaela, 11, from the Cheshire Stop & Shop on the night of July 22, 2007. He had never seen them before but was attracted to the pretty young girl, her beautiful mom and their nice-looking car. He also noticed their handsome home when he watched them pull into their driveway.
A few hours later, Komisarjevsky returned there with Steven Hayes, then 44, of Winsted. Their purported plan was to steal a lot of money and possessions.
Komisarjevsky went into the house first, repeatedly striking Petit in the head with a baseball bat. Petit had been sleeping in the downstairs sun porch.
Hayes then came into the house and the two men tied up Petit. Next they went to the upstairs bedrooms, where they tied up Hawke-Petit, Michaela and Hayley Petit, 17.
Later that morning, Hayes, reportedly afraid his DNA was in the house, strangled Hawke-Petit after raping her. The perpetrators spread gasoline throughout the house, including on the bodies of the two girls, who were still alive, still tied to their beds.
The girls died of smoke inhalation. Petit, who managed to untie himself and escape from his house via the basement to seek help, got out just before the structure erupted in flames.
Hayes was convicted on 16 counts in November 2010, then received the death sentence. Komisarjevsky was convicted on all 17 counts, including murder, arson and sexually assaulting Michaela.
Komisarjevsky's attorneys, trying to persuade the 12 jurors to give him a life sentence, presented evidence he had been sexually abused as a child and had a mood disorder.
But the jury decided the cruel and heinous nature of the crime outweighed any mitigating factors.
However, one of the five jurors who came back to the courtroom to witness the sentencing said afterward he no longer favors the death penalty.
Timothy Anderson of New Haven said he tried in vain to persuade the 11 other jurors to impose a life-in-prison sentence.
"I went with the majority because of the facts of the evidence," he said. "But I'm still conflicted about whether I made the right decision. I don't think I did make the right decision, for humanity."
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
