Dr. William Petit Jr.& Family

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Dr. William Petit reads a statement to members of the media on Thursday after the court hearing at Superior Court in New Haven. (ANDREW ZAREMBA / FOX 61 / September 3, 2009)


By ALAINE GRIFFIN The Hartford Courant

11:07 p.m. EDT, September 3, 2009

NEW HAVEN — - The prosecution's proposal to try both suspects in the deadly 2007 Cheshire home invasion at the same time but with separate juries is "mind-boggling," the defense attorney for one suspect said, adding that such a trial would be "ripe for problems."

One of those problems, said Public Defender Thomas J. Ullmann, who represents Steven Hayes, is the expected finger-pointing between the two defendants. According to Ullmann's motion opposing the single trial, Joshua Komisarjevsky "shifts all the blame for the murders to" Hayes in a statement he made to police.

Hayes would then be "in the position of facing two prosecutors, one being the state's attorney's office, and the second being the defendant Komisarjevsky's defense team," Ullmann wrote in his response to the prosecution.

Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano held off ruling on the prosecution's request to try Hayes and Komisarjevsky together. The two men are charged in the July 23, 2007, killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

Both men, who could get the death penalty, are due back in court Oct. 3.

Fasano said he wasn't aware of a courtroom in the state that could handle a trial with two juries. Officials project that there might be a total of 36 jurors and alternates.

"We think one could be found," said New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington.

Dearington and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Gary W. Nicholson are seeking a joint trial for Hayes and Komisarjevsky for the purpose of "sparing the remaining victim, family members, and witnesses the ordeal of multiple trials, and for the purpose of judicial economy," according to their motion.

They requested separate juries so that potential antagonistic defenses — in which each defendant blames the other — do not become prejudicial to the defendants.

Jeremiah Donovan and Walter C. Bansley III, attorneys for Komisarjevsky, included portions of Komisarjevsky's statement in their own motion challenging the state's request, but Fasano granted a request from the state to seal the statement from public view.

"That confession shows exactly how antagonistic our defenses are," Donovan said.

Ullmann also wondered whether prosecutors were making the request for a joint trial because the victims were white and from a predominantly white community.

"That's unfair," Ullmann said, adding that prosecutors did not seek combined trials in other capital cases where the victims were not white. "It makes minority people wonder why there is special treatment in this case."

Dearington fired back in court, calling Ullmann's claim "ludicrous."

Outside the courthouse, Dr. William Petit, who was badly beaten but managed to escape the attack, said he wanted to respond to what he described as "heinous things" that were said in the courtroomduring the arguments but instead said he would "take the high road." He declined to answer any further questions.

He said his family was putting its faith in the "the wisdom of the court" and he was "certain justice would prevail."

Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, are charged with capital felony and murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson in the killings. Hawke-Petit was strangled and Hayley and Michaela were left bound in their beds as the house was doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Before Hawke-Petit was killed, she was forced to go to her bank with one of the suspects and withdraw $15,000, police believe. Police arrested the suspects as they fled the burning home.

http://www.courant.com/community/che...,5347615.story

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By DAVE ALTIMARI The Hartford Courant

10:40 a.m. EDT, September 25, 2009

NEW HAVEN — - State's Attorney Michael Dearington has withdrawn an unusual motion to have the two men accused of the Cheshire triple murders tried together but with separate juries.

Dearington would not comment Friday on why he withdrew it. He had filed the motion earlier this month, seeking a joint trial with dual juries for Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, for the purpose of "sparing the remaining victim, family members, and witnesses the ordeal of multiple trials, and for the purpose of judicial economy."

Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano held a hearing earlier this month on Dearington's request but had not made a ruling yet. The two men, both facing the death penalty for the brutal murders of Jennifer Petit and her two daughters Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17, in July 2007. Both men are due back in New Haven Superior Court on October 1.

Hayes is expected to go to trial first, possibly as early as February 2010.

http://www.courant.com/community/che...,6368859.story

http://www.courant.com/community/hc-...8.photogallery
> Pictures: Petit Home Invasion

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By DAVE ALTIMARI The Hartford Courant

September 26, 2009

NEW HAVEN — - The state's attorney's withdrawal of a motion to simultaneously try the two men accused in the Cheshire triple homicide means that defendant Steven Hayes will likely go to trial first — but not before an explosive book reveals many of the details of the brutal killings that the court has tried to keep secret.

The book, "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood," is to be released next week. It is, for the most part, defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky's version of the July 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley Petit, 17, and Michaela Petit, 11. They were killed in their home on Sorghum Mill Drive in Cheshire. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, was beaten but survived.

Author Brian McDonald visited Komisarjevsky three times in prison before state Department of Correction officials realized he was a writer and took him off the visitors list. Komisarjevsky, a prodigious writer, also wrote him more than a dozen letters detailing his life story.

In the book, Komisarjevsky doesn't deny his involvement in the crime, but makes clear that he blames Hayes for the killings — describing how he looked down from the stairs to see a gasping Hawke-Petit pleading for her life with Hayes' hands in a "vise-like" grip around her neck.

Komisarjevsky said that after Hayes killed Hawke-Petit, he spread gasoline around the room and up the stairs leading to the bedrooms, where the girls were bound with ropes and zip ties, according to the book.

The two men set the gasoline on fire and ran out of the house and into the family's SUV, only to be captured by police as the Petits' house burned down.

The two girls were trapped inside and both died of smoke inhalation. Hayley Petit managed to escape from her bed, but Michaela Petit was found tied to her bed.

Attorneys involved in the case refused to comment Friday on the book.

The court recently sealed Komisarjevsky's 75-page confession to police and imposed a gag order.

Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, are charged with capital felony and murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson. Both face the death penalty.

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington withdrew the motion to have the two men tried together, with separate juries. Dearington sought the unusual arrangement in hopes of "sparing the remaining victim, family members, and witnesses the ordeal of multiple trials, and for the purpose of judicial economy."

Defense attorneys for both Hayes and Komisarjevsky objected to one trial because they may have antagonistic defenses — each defendant blames the other. Hayes will likely be tried first, with jury selection starting early next year.

Komisarjevsky spares no details in the book, describing pictures he took of Michaela on his cellphone; the five swings with a baseball bat he took at William Petit as he slept on a couch; the sound the gasoline made when they lit the match; and Hayes' laughter as they ran outside.

Hayes and Komisarjevsky are due back in Superior Court in New Haven on Thursday.

McDonald said he expects to get some criticism for publishing Komisarjevsky's story, particularly before the trials, but he said Department of Correction officials, defense attorneys and others were aware of what he was doing.

"This is a story that deserves to be told. It's not a sensationalism of this crime, it can't get any more sensationalized than it already was," McDonald said. "This is a huge story that needs to be told with implications from the death penalty to people keeping themselves safe at night in their homes."


http://www.courant.com/community/che...,3419654.story

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Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009

By Randall Beach, Register Staff

A book about the triple homicide home invasion in Cheshire, due out today, contains so many details of the crimes, provided by defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, that it might make finding impartial jurors even more difficult and could delay the trials, according to legal experts.

Brian McDonald wrote the book, “In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood,” after having several conversations with Komisarjevsky in his prison cell and developing a “pen pal” relationship with him.

Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, and Steven J. Hayes, 46, of Winsted, face multiple charges, including murder, sexual assault and arson, in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in July 2007. Their father, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat, but escaped as his house went up in flames.

The defendants will have separate trials in Superior Court in New Haven. Hayes’ trial is supposed to begin in January with a lengthy jury selection process. But a legal source said the new book could so dominate the public marketplace that the trial might have to be delayed.

However, another legal expert, defense attorney Hugh F. Keefe of New Haven, said, “I think the book is the least of their problems,” referring to Hayes’ attorneys, Thomas Ullmann and Patrick Culligan.

Keefe said their real concern is “the wholesale saturation of publicity, immediately after the crime and continuing to this day.”

“It’s like ‘In Cold Blood,’” he added, alluding to Truman Capote’s book about the home invasion in Kansas which ended in the killings of an entire family. “It has all the elements that attract attention.”

Keefe noted that at least the defense attorneys will have Connecticut’s unique jury selection rules on their side. He pointed out that only Connecticut allows attorneys unlimited individual voir dire questioning of prospective jurors, without the other jurors present.

“All you can do is rely on the individual voir dire to eliminate the people who’ve formed an opinion about the case,” Keefe said.

Ullmann declined to talk about the book, citing a gag order imposed on all parties in the cases. But he and Culligan clearly will want to find out how McDonald, a New York-based writer who also wrote about an infamous murder in Nantucket, Mass., was able to get in the prison repeatedly and meet with Komisarjevsky. Both he and Hayes supposedly were being closely monitored by state Department of Correction guards.

According to an excerpt from the book posted by McDonald on his Web site, “over the course of several months, I corresponded with Joshua Komisarjevsky, who is being held in a maximum-security prison awaiting trial. I also interviewed him in jail several times.”

McDonald said the information he elicited from Komisarjevsky “offers a comprehensive and chilling portrait of a man accused of perhaps Connecticut’s most infamous crime.”

Throughout the book, Komisarjevsky reportedly blames Hayes for strangling Hawke-Petit. The defendants then allegedly set fire to gasoline that had been spread up the stairs leading to the two bedrooms where the girls had been bound with ropes and zip ties. The two men were captured by police shortly after they ran out of the burning house.

Although Komisarjevsky accuses Hayes of killing Hawke-Petit, in the excerpt he describes how he entered the house through a bulkhead door and popped open a locked door that was “like child’s play” for him.

According to the excerpt, while Hayes allegedly waited in the back yard, Komisarjevsky grabbed a Lousiville Slugger baseball bat in the Petits’ basement and climbed the stairs.

The excerpt describes Komisarjevsky’s thought processes as he approached Petit, who was asleep on a downstairs couch. According to the excerpt, Komisarjevsky was confident he would “hold dominion” over the house and everyone who lived there.

After Komisarjevsky raised the bat, the excerpt states, “Dr. Petit’s head exploded in a bolt of searing, white light,” the excerpt says. The account said Komisarjevsky hit Petit repeatedly, swinging the bat as hard as he could — “like he was chopping wood.”

There was blood all over the room, the excerpt says, although Petit did not lose consciousness. Komisarjevsky is quoted saying Hayes watched all this through a window with a big grin on his face.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2..._petitbook.txt

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By ALAINE GRIFFIN and DAVE ALTIMARI The Hartford Courant

September 30, 2009

NEW HAVEN - In his own chilling words in a book released Tuesday, Joshua Komisarjevsky blames his crime partner Steven Hayes for killing a Cheshire woman and her two daughters during a July 2007 home invasion and robbery.

Although his words will likely stir strong reaction in court from Hayes' attorneys, lawyers and legal experts unconnected to the case say the book won't prevent prosecutors and defense attorneys from finding impartial jurors for the coming trials in the case, including Hayes' trial, which is expected to begin in January.

The 244-page book, titled "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood," gives Komisarjevsky's detailed version of what happened the night that Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were killed inside their Cheshire home. Dr. William Petit was beaten during the ordeal, but survived.

William Petit told Fox 61 on Tuesday that he was "too disgusted to comment" or to give the book "any further thought."

Michelle S. Cruz, the state's victim advocate, said she had contacted the publisher, St. Martin's Paperbacks, asking that the release of the book be delayed at least until the trials were over.

Cruz said she was concerned about how the book would impact the coming trials and felt that publication of the details would further victimize the Petit family.

"I knew I had no authority to make this request, and I'm aware of the First Amendment, but I was looking at this from the victims' point of view," Cruz said. "My heart is hurting for all of them."

Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, are charged with capital felony and murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson in the Petit killings. Both face the death penalty.

After the slayings, New York-based author Brian McDonald interviewed Komisarjevsky three times at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield and received from him more than 200 pages of handwritten notes. The book intersperses quotes taken directly from letters Komisarjevsky wrote to McDonald that include wretched details about what happened inside the Petit home. Many of Komisarjevsky's sentences end with handwritten smiley faces.

William V. Dunlap, a law professor at Quinnipiac University said he has read excerpts of the book and it is not a "respectable piece of journalism" because it is not edited well, it is sloppy on its geography and McDonald puts thoughts into the minds of people he has not interviewed.

"It appears to me to be the sort of book that is not going to persuade readers that this is an accurate account of what happened," Dunlap said.

Word that the book was being written surprised legal officials on both sides of the case who apparently were unaware that McDonald was interviewing Komisarjevsky at the prison.

Jeremiah Donovan, an attorney for Komisarjevsky, said he did not know about McDonald's visits to the prison, the letters that his client wrote to McDonald or that McDonald was writing a book.

"I never talked to Brian McDonald," Donovan said. "I guess now I need to read the book."

Although the book borrows liberally from other media accounts, including The Courant's reporting of the crime, it offers new details all told through Komisarjevsky's view, including the idea that Komisarjevsky planned to kill Hayes once they had left the house because Hayes had taken his gloves off during the night and left fingerprints all over the Petit house as he rummaged through drawers and purses looking for money.

The book spares no details. It describes photographs Komisarjevsky took of Michaela on his cellphone to "blackmail" William Petit, and the five swings with a baseball bat that Komisarjevsky took at Petit as he slept on a couch. McDonald writes how the gasoline poured throughout the house ignited "with a sound like a loud clap" when a match was lit. Komisarjevsky recalls hearing Hayes "screaming in a high-pitched insane laugh" as they fled from the burning home.

Komisarjevsky also told McDonald that Hayley Petit "was a fighter" during the attack as she tried to escape and call for help with a cellphone.

"He'd needed Steven Hayes' help to wrestle the phone from her and get her tied back to the bed," McDonald wrote about Komisarjevsky. "Throughout the ordeal, her eyes flashed at him in defiance."

Komisarjevsky blames Hayes for the slayings.

"Joshua contends he didn't kill anyone that morning," McDonald wrote. "He told me he watched Hayes strangle Mrs. Petit and that, though he wanted to come to her aid, he inexplicably 'froze up.'"

NEW HAVEN - Dunlap said he expects the book to prompt attorneys for Hayes to file motions for a change of venue and possibly push for a delay in the trial. But because Connecticut is a small state and publicity about the crime has been so widespread, residents as far away as Windham County will probably have heard about the killings, he said.

"No matter where you go here, people will have heard about this," Dunlap said. "The criminal justice system does not require us to have 12 jurors who have not read anything about the case. The question for them becomes, can they put aside what they've heard and are they committed to being impartial?"

And getting that answer is possible, said Hugh F. Keefe, a New Haven defense attorney, because Connecticut's individual and unlimited jury interview system makes it possible for attorneys to closely scrutinize potential jurors about what they know about a crime and whether they can be impartial.

"We can interview them and ask them virtually anything to intelligently exercise a peremptory challenge," Keefe said.

So far, the court has kept secret many details about the case with a judge's sealing of documents detailing the crimes, including redactions in the 911 call to police and removal of a portion of Komisarjevsky's 75-page confession to police that was contained in a defense motion.

A judge also imposed a gag order preventing parties from talking publicly about the case.

Patrick J. Culligan, an attorney for Hayes and chief of the state's Capital Defense and Trial Services Unit, said that by talking to McDonald, Komisarjevsky violated the gag order.

"My partner and I and our client have faithfully followed the court's order for no public communication about the case and we're exploring legal ways to best address this obvious violation of the gag order by the co-defendant," Culligan said Tuesday, adding, "... if the allegations of the author's representations are accurate."

Those who violate a gag order could be charged with contempt of court, which carries a maximum punishment of six months in prison if there's a conviction.

McDonald told The Courant that he wrote a letter to Komisarjevsky in prison asking if he could interview him. After a few months, McDonald received a letter from Komisarjevsky, and after corresponding for a while, Komisarjevsky sent him a visitor's request form that McDonald filled out and sent back to the state Department of Correction. McDonald was then placed on the visitors list and he went to see Komisarjevsky.

During the first visit, McDonald told The Courant, he took a notebook and pen in with him and took notes while Komisarjevsky talked until a guard noticed and took away the notebook. McDonald said he visited three more times before he was notified by the Department of Correction that he no longer was on the visitors list. McDonald said the department never gave him a reason.

In the book, McDonald writes that the department "found out that a writer was visiting Joshua, and not only removed my name from the approved list, but all the names on the list including his parents." McDonald called it a "punishment that perhaps was partly my fault."

Brian Garnett, a correction spokesman, declined to comment, citing the court-imposed gag order that he said also applies to the department. New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington also declined to comment Tuesday.

http://www.courant.com/community/che...,7264450.story

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Published: Monday, October 12, 2009
By Randall Beach, Register Staff


Supporters of Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of an attack on his family in Cheshire, are calling for a boycott of a new book on the crimes and have released a letter purportedly written by Petit which urges the public to join the boycott.

Brian McDonald’s book, “In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood,” was published Sept. 29. According to McDonald, the book is based on interviews he conducted with defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky in prison and extensive letters Komisarjevsky wrote to him.

Opponents of the book say it profits from the slayings of Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley. The three died during a home invasion in July 2007. Petit was beaten and tied up, but managed to escape as his house went up in flames.

Those advocating the boycott also believe it’s wrong to publish a book before the suspects’ trials, particularly when there is a court-imposed gag order.

Petit has supported the book boycott on his Facebook page, sources said. But he could not be reached to determine whether or not he wrote the message distributed on an e-mail list. The message was titled “Please help boycott this book.”

When Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison was asked about a Facebook note that her store had ordered the book, she said, “We’re doing what we do with any books we’re offended by: We don’t carry them, we don’t merchandise them, we don’t talk about them. But if somebody asks us, we’ll order it.”

Coady said, “It’s not our job to tell somebody they can’t have a book. I’ve never refused to order a book. But we won’t make it easy for anybody to get it.”

Coady said her staff has had few requests for McDonald’s book. One of her assistants later reported the store has sold five copies.

Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire and Steven J. Hayes, 46, of Winsted, are charged with murder, arson, sexual assault and other counts. In McDonald’s book, Komisarjevsky is quoted blaming Hayes for the deaths, although Komisarjevsky is also quoted saying he himself planned the home invasion.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Hayes is scheduled to go on trial first, in January.

Amazon and St. Martin’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The customer reviews section of Amazon.com contains many angry comments about the book, including calls for boycotting it. A person identified as A. Cuthbertson of England, for instance, wrote: “This book is a killer’s personal account of the terror, humiliation and torture inflicted on a blameless family by himself and an accomplice. What possible motivation could anyone have for reading such a book beyond grotesque voyeurism? Show your respect for the family and give it a miss.”

An individual identified as Mendicant of California wrote: “If you have a shred of decency and a shred of respect for those abused and killed, here or anywhere, do not buy this book. Boycott Amazon and MacMillan/St. Martin’s until they remove the book from publication.”

But Amazon.com also posted a favorable review by K. DeRosa, stating: “In response to those who are claiming no one should try to profit off heinous crimes, are you suggesting that there should be no books written about the Holocaust? Ignoring tragedy does not prevent it and writing about crime does not condone it.”

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2...titboycott.txt

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http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2...a3-nepetit.txt


Cheshire suspect’s lawyers fighting subpoena

Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Randall Beach, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky, a defendant in the Cheshire triple homicides, filed a motion Wednesday seeking to quash co-defendant Steven Hayes’ subpoena of prison communications between Komisarjevsky and an author.

Attorneys Walter Bansley III and Jeremiah Donovan said in their filing that a subpoena cannot be used to “conduct a fishing expedition” into somebody’s “personal and private information.”

Hayes’ attorneys, Thomas Ullmann and Patrick Culligan, several weeks ago filed the subpoena against a state Department of Correction security official. They seek records of all visits and letters between Komisarjevsky and Brian McDonald, who has written a book about the slayings.

The newer motion was filed just before a pre-trial status conference Wednesday during which prosecutors, attorneys for both defendants and Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue discussed the cases behind closed doors.

Four DOC representatives delivered materials to the court clerk Wednesday, but only Blue can now see them because subpoenaed data is automatically sealed.

Bansley and Donovan alleged in their writ that the subpoena is overly broad and violates Komisarjevsky’s “privacy rights and interests and could very well adversely affect the effectiveness of his defense.”

Blue did not rule on the Bansley and Donovan motion Wednesday. He scheduled another pre-trial conference for Nov. 6.

Dr. William Petit was in court with other members of his family but had no comment on the proceedings. He is the lone survivor of the 2007 attack that ended in the deaths of his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17.

Hayes, 46, of Winsted and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, have pleaded not guilty to murder, arson, sexual assault and other counts. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

In the book, Komisarjevsky said he planned the invasion but blamed Hayes for the three deaths.

Ullmann believes McDonald’s book will make it more difficult for him to find an impartial jury for Hayes, a process which is tentatively scheduled to begin in January. Komisarjevsky is scheduled to be tried about 12 months later.

In their motion seeking records of the prison interviews and letters, Ullmann and Culligan described the book as “a fictionalized account” of the slayings. They charged Komisarjevsky violated the court-imposed gag order by talking about the case.

But in their motion, Bansley and Donovan wrote, “While agreeing that portions of the book do present as ‘fictionalized’ and might even be seen as sensationalistic, we submit respectfully that the book offers a largely even-handed review of these terrible events.”

As for Komisarjevsky’s allegation in the book that Hayes was responsible for the slayings, Bansley and Donovan wrote, “This position is not new to Hayes, and his motion fails to acknowledge that the book contains numerous purported admissions damaging to Mr. Komisarjevsky that were heretofore not public.”

Those two attorneys also wrote it’s unclear if Komisarjevsky violated the court order because dates of purported communications between he and McDonald were not established.

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By ALAINE GRIFFIN The Hartford Courant

October 22, 2009

NEW HAVEN — - Accused killer Joshua Komisarjevsky wants the court to keep evidence about jailhouse communications he allegedly had with the author of a book about the July 2007 Cheshire home invasion out of the hands of Steven Hayes, his co-defendant in the case.

Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, both face the death penalty in the slayings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 on July 23, 2007, inside their Cheshire home. Dr. William Petit was beaten with a baseball bat during the attack, but survived.

In a motion filed Wednesday in Superior Court, Komisarjevsky is asking a judge to quash a subpoena from Hayes' lawyers seeking information from the state Department of Correction about visits and correspondence between author Brian McDonald and Komisarjevsky when Komisarjevsky was jailed at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

McDonald used that information to write "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood." In the book, released last month, Komisarjevsky blames Hayes for the slayings.

The subpoena, served on the DOC earlier this month, seeks all correspondence between Komisarjevsky and McDonald, including "all taped inmate phone and visiting room communications," communications with "law enforcement personnel and/or the state's attorney's office regarding" the visits and "all inmate trust fund records documenting funds received from McDonald."

Hayes' subpoena followed defense motions filed in response to McDonald's book that ask the court to reveal what, if any, information prosecutors had about the book before it was published. Hayes' attorneys, Thomas J. Ullmann and Patrick J. Culligan, also are seeking an arrest warrant for Komisarjevsky for criminal contempt of court, claiming his conversations with McDonald violated a court-imposed gag order in the case.

Komisarjevsky's motion says parts of McDonald's book are "fictionalized" but states the book "offers a largely evenhanded review" of the crime. The motion says it is unclear whether Komisarjevsky violated the gag order "due to the lack of an established timeline" for the communications. Those communications "were likely a byproduct of long-standing mental health issues that were exacerbated greatly in the period following arrest," the motion says.

DOC officials brought a stack of documents to court Wednesday, where a status conference hearing was held for Hayes and Komisarjevsky, who were not present.

According to Komisarjevsky's lawyers, Walter C. Bansley III and Jeremiah Donovan, the DOC is complying with Hayes' subpoena. DOC officials have repeatedly declined to comment on the matter, citing the gag order.

The DOC documents were submitted to the clerk's office under seal until a judge rules on whether they will be made public.

Judge Jon C. Blue scheduled another status conference for Nov. 6. Blue is expected to preside over the trial for Hayes, which is scheduled for jury selection in January.

http://www.courant.com/community/che...0,579770.story

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Rick Green

October 23, 2009

Every so often we are reminded what a public library stands for.

Nowhere was this more obvious than at the wrenching and deeply emotional debate Thursday night in Cheshire over whether to place a revolting book about the 2007 Petit family murders on the shelves of the local library.

Sometimes it is a courageous librarian who must remind us what libraries mean.

"Libraries exist to provide information for residents and to let them make their own judgments on the content of the information," Ramona Harten, director of the Cheshire Public Library, told me hours before Thursday's heartfelt meeting of the town's library board began.

Harten, neck-deep in the essence of all this, faced a tearful, earnest crowd of people speaking out about Brian McDonald's book detailing the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters.

The book is "outside the range of protection of free speech," Leslie Marinaro told the library board. She urged the board not to put "this garbage on the shelves" for the sake of William Petit, who survived the attack in which his family was killed.

"How does [Harten] feel about the rights of victims?" she asked.

Kim Erickson, who taught Sunday School to Michaela Petit, seemed to reflect the feelings of about half of the crowd when she expressed the deep pain many still feel.

"To think that this book is going to appear in our local library is just appalling to me."

Cheshire, though, is sharply divided over this book, with many speaking up for both Harten and for free speech — despite the obvious deep reserve of compassion for the Petit family.

"The library must present all points of view," Joan Shapiro said. "If you ban one book, no matter how insensitive that book is, no matter how disturbing, where do you stop?"

The library board will take a month to consider what it heard Thursday night before it makes an advisory recommendation on the book, which is on order. The final decision could rest with the town manager, Harten's supervisor.

Earlier Thursday I spoke to the deputy librarian for Jefferson County, Colo., who oversees the library in Columbine, near the high school where the shootings occurred a decade ago.

The library has a collection on the Columbine attack. Some of the materials include painful texts about many families in the Columbine community. Nothing has ever been withheld.

"A library has a role in maintaining the history of the community," Ann Cress told me. "That history can involve popular and unpopular events. That is our responsibility."

Another expert, Peter Chase, the librarian in William Petit's hometown of Plainville, told me bluntly when I called that "libraries are the pillar of American democracy."

"The people in the state of Connecticut need to decide for themselves what books to read," said Chase, who chairs a library association committee on intellectual freedom.

"When you make that one exception … it is censorship. Now and again libraries have to buy books that are controversial. We have to do that. That's our mission."

In Cheshire — not a neutral place when it comes to discussion of this searing crime — people are justifiably still angry, sad and depressed about these killings.

We should all respect the pain and suffering of the Petit family. But that doesn't mean we give up on the basic values found in every town with a public library.

Many at Thursday's public hearing said they were not in favor of censorship or book banning. Others cited the judge's gag order in the case and urged the library board to wait until after the trials.

Except that's not the way the First Amendment and access to information work. Harten understands this.

"Libraries," Harten told me, are "a neutral place where people can obtain information and exchange ideas and broaden their horizons and form their own opinions."

"I love my job. I love this town. It is a town of readers and I am proud to work here. I am proud that people are exercising their free speech rights," said Harten. "I do understand the emotions of everyone involved. I am a mother. I have a family."

Ramona Harten, who might have quietly bypassed this whole event by ignoring the publication of McDonald's paperback, stepped up and did her job.

The truth is we forget about librarians, until they stand up for us.

http://www.courant.com/community/che...5769627.column

[Bailey]

Associated Press

November 6, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The lone survivor of a deadly 2007 Connecticut home invasion wants an investigation into why prison officials let an author interview one of the defendants behind bars for a book on the case.

William Petit, whose wife and daughters were killed in their Cheshire home, is asking state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to investigate what he calls "gaffes" and "miscues" involving Joshua Komisarjevsky's interviews with Brian McDonald.

McDonald recently published a book detailing Komisarjevsky's version of the events, in which he blames his co-defendant, Steven Hayes.

Komisarjevsky and Hayes face the possibility of the death penalty in the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.


http://www.courant.com/community/new...,6971423.story

[Bailey]

Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

By Susan Misur, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Defense attorneys for Steven J. Hayes, charged with murder in Cheshire’s triple homicide, filed a motion Monday to postpone jury selection because of publicity surrounding the recently released book about the killings.

Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges in the July 2007 deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Their father, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat, but fled his burning home.

New Haven Chief Public Defender Thomas Ullmann and Patrick J. Culligan, chief of the capital defense and trial services unit, are requesting jury selection be postponed for four months, according to the motion. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in January.

They also submitted a memorandum supporting a prior motion seeking all information concerning interviews and letters between Komisarjevsky and author Brian McDonald.

On Sept. 29, McDonald’s book, “In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood,” was released. It was based on four private interviews McDonald had with Komisarjevsky in prison and hundreds of pages of letters the suspect sent to McDonald.

Ullmann and Culligan have alleged that in completing those interviews, Komisarjevsky violated a gag order imposed in 2007 by Superior Court Judge Richard Damiani. On Monday, the attorneys filed another motion asking that Damiani handle all litigation regarding the gag order, rather than Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue, who was named the presiding judge for the cases last month.

The motion to delay jury selection says this widespread attention the book has received and Komisarjevsky’s “self-serving interviews” taint a potential jury pool and threaten Hayes’ right to a fair trial.

A delay between the majority of the book publicity and trial will “lessen the likelihood of jury bias,” the motion says.

It continues that Ullmann, Culligan and Hayes have “assiduously strived to obey the ‘gag’ order” Damiani imposed.

The memorandum Hayes’ attorneys submitted Monday further supports September’s motion, stating that Komisarjevsky defied the gag order.

Attorneys for Komisarjevsky, Walter Bansley III and Jeremiah Donovan, filed a motion Oct. 21 seeking to quash Hayes’ subpoena of Komisarjevsky’s communications with McDonald for the book. They claim it’s private information and that the subpoena violates his privacy rights and potentially affects his defense strategy.

Ullmann and Culligan’s motion disputes that, and says that by giving interviews for McDonald’s book, Komisarjevsky “attempts to lay all the blame for the intentional murders upon Steven Hayes.”

However, his denial “to the most serious allegations is contrary to evidence, some of which is scientific in nature, strongly implicating Komisarjevsky,” according the memorandum. It goes on to say that the public, the jury pool, has been “inundated with inflammatory prejudicial assertions,” though the gag order was supposed to prevent that and allow for fair trials of the co-defendants.

Information on who initiated the home invasion and who was responsible for the slayings could be the difference between life in prison and the death penalty, the motion says.

The second motion submitted Monday says that because Damiani handed down the gag order, he should determine what sanctions or other judicially ordered remedies should be enforced, rather than Blue.

Ullmann said Monday he could not comment on the motions. A message left for State’s Attorney Michael Dearington was not returned.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2...gs_motions.txt