New Haven, Conn. — A man was convicted Thursday of murdering a woman and her two daughters in a gruesome 2007 home invasion in which family members were tied up, molested, doused in gas and left to die in a fire. He now faces a possible death sentence.
Joshua Komisarjevsky, whose accomplice is already on Connecticut's death row, stood and faced the jury as they declared him guilty of all 17 charges he faced, including capital felony killing, kidnapping and sexual assault. After the verdict was read he sat back in his chair, rocked slightly back and forth and glanced briefly at the jury. He yawned as he was led out of the courtroom.
The only survivor of the attack, Dr. William Petit, bit his lip at times and closed his eyes as the verdict was read.
"I thought from the beginning that he was a lying sociopathic personality and probably at this moment he doesn't think he is guilty of anything," he told reporters outside the courthouse.
The New Haven Superior Court jury deliberated for about eight hours over two before delivering a verdict and will later decide whether Komisarjevsky should be executed or sentenced to life in prison.
The New Haven Superior Court jury deliberated for about eight hours over two days before delivering a verdict and will decide later whether Komisarjevsky, 31, should be executed or sentenced to life in prison. The penalty phase will conclude the second and final trial in a case that unsettled suburb dwellers across the country and bolstered efforts to retain the death penalty in Connecticut.Komisarjevsky's co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year after he was convicted of raping and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killing her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, who died of smoke inhalation.
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Source:MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44894512/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.TpeFNJviGU8