Conn. jury in fatal home invasion case hears testimony on defendant’s belief in angels, demons

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/drug-counselor-testifies-that-conn-man-convicted-in-fatal-home-invasion-did-well-in-treatment/2011/11/15/gIQAvcJzON_story.html

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, November 15, 1:47 PM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A jury heard testimony Tuesday about angels and demons as lawyers for a Connecticut man charged in a deadly 2007 home invasion introduce evidence about his family’s religious beliefs.

A religion expert testified that Joshua Komisarjevsky grew up in a family whose religion was a mix of evangelicalism and fundamentalism. The expert said the family believes that demons battle angels for people’s souls, and that Komisarjevsky was afraid as a child that a demon would make him hurt his family.

The jury is hearing evidence on whether Komisarjevsky should get the death penalty or life in prison after being convicted last month in the killings of a woman and her two daughters in their Cheshire home. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, is already on death row.

The defense says Komisarjevsky’s family was opposed to psychological counseling and medications.

[HopeHoops]

1. Okay. I've heard some weird shit before, but that really ranks up there.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. This was the awful Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders

Joshua A. Komisarjevsky (born August 10, 1980) was Hayes' accomplice in the home invasion and murder of William Petit's wife and two daughters. He was born in 1980 and adopted<31> by the son of playwright Theodore Komisarjevsky.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_invasion_murders
The Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders occurred on July 23, 2007, when a mother and her two daughters were murdered during a home invasion in Cheshire, Connecticut.<1> The Hartford Courant referred to the case as "possibly the most widely publicized crime in the state's history".<2> In 2010, Steven Hayes was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. His accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, was found guilty on October 13, 2011.


In the late afternoon of July 22, 2007, Jennifer Petit and her daughter Michaela went to a local grocery store in Cheshire. They picked up food for the evening meal which would be prepared by Michaela. They, along with Jennifer's other daughter Hayley, would be killed several hours later in a home invasion.<3>
As Jennifer Hawke-Petit and Michaela Petit shopped at a local supermarket, unbeknownst to them, they had been targeted by Komisarjevsky, who followed them home, and planned to later rob the family by home invasion.<4> Anticipating their deeds, Hayes and Komisarjevsky exchanged text messages that were later introduced in court. Hayes first messaged Komisarjevsky: "I'm chomping at the bit to get started. Need a margarita soon". Hayes then texts: "We still on?" Komisarjevsky replies "Yes". Hayes' next text asks, "Soon?", to which Komisarjevsky replied with "I'm putting the kid to bed hold your horses". Hayes then asserts "Dude, the horses want to get loose. LOL."<5><6>

According to Hayes' confession, the two men planned to rob the house and flee the scene with the family bound and unharmed. Hayes attributed the outcome of the spree to a change in their plan. Upon their early morning arrival, they found William Petit sleeping on a couch on the porch.<7> With a bat Komisarjevsky had found in the yard, he bludgeoned William and then restrained him in the basement at gun point. The children and their mother were each bound and locked in their respective rooms. Hayes says he and Komisarjevsky were not satisfied with their haul, and that a bankbook was found which had an available balance. Hayes convinced Jennifer to withdraw $15,000 from her line of credit.<1><8> A gas station's video surveillance shows Hayes purchasing $10 worth of gasoline in two cans he had taken from the Petit home. After returning to the house, and unloading the gas, he took her to the bank. The prosecution later entered this as evidence of premeditation.<9>