INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Joshua Komisarjevsky: Connecticut Murderer’s Death Sentence Commuted After State Abolishes Death Penalty [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 10:00 PST, Jul 26, 2016

In 2015, the State of Connecticut abolished the death penalty; as a result, convicted murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky just saw his capital punishment sentence commuted to six consecutive life terms instead. Joshua Komisarjevsky participated in one of the most heinous crimes in the history of the State of Connecticut, the torturous triple home invasion-related murder of a mother and her two daughters. He is now the third Connecticut death row inmate to have his sentence commuted. Eight more inmates waiting to die for their crimes will also be resentenced in the aftermath of a decision by the state’s Supreme Court that determined the death penalty is “cruel and unusual punishment.”

As Fox News reports, Connecticut murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky was sentenced to die in 2012 for the part he played in the unthinkable, torturous murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley.

His partner in crime, Steven Hayes, was also convicted in 2012 for his part in the horrific murders. Hayes was originally sentenced to death, but also saw his death sentence commuted to life in prison last month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWQFiyqMgeQ

Despite the fact that convicted Connecticut murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky has now had his death sentence commuted to six consecutive life sentences, he is also currently appealing his murder conviction. The appeal was filed prior to the decision to commute Komisarjevsky’s sentence.

The crimes committed by Joshua Komisarjevsky were some of the most heinous ever recorded in Connecticut judicial history. They involved a terrifying and deadly home invasion, robbery, sexual assault, and murder.

The situation began when Joshua Komisarjevsky tailed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her 11-year-old daughter Michaela from a grocery store to their Cheshire, Connecticut home. Later, in the middle of the night, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes returned to the home to burglarize the residence while the family was sleeping.

During the home invasion, Dr.William Petit Jr. (husband of Jennifer, the girls’ father, and the only surviving member of the family) was beaten severely, bound, and left in the basement of the home. Joshua Komisarjevsky and his accomplice tied the girls up in their respective beds.

The next day, Jennifer was forced by Hayes to accompany him to the bank to withdraw money, presumably a ransom that would result in the family being freed. While Hayes was out of the house with Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter. At some point, Hayes also sexually assaulted Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

When Hayes and Jennifer returned to the home with the cash, Hayes murdered her by strangulation. While the deceased woman’s daughters were tied to their respective beds and her husband was beaten and bound in the basement, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Hayes lit the house on fire using gasoline as an accelerant.

Before striking the fateful match, the pair of Connecticut murders soaked the girls’ beds with gasoline. Because they were unable to free themselves, both girls died as a result of smoke inhalation. Their father miraculously survived the carnage by managing to escape the inferno from the basement.

Komisarjevsky and Hayes, the pair of soulless Connecticut murderers, were arrested by law enforcement after they crashed a car stolen from the terrorized family into police vehicles.

At Joshua Komisarjevsky’s sentencing, his legal team tried to circumvent a death sentence because they claimed, he had been sexually abused as a child. Neither the jury nor the presiding judge at the trial bought into the defendant’s sob story, and Komisarjevsky was aptly sentenced to die for the 2007 Connecticut murders.

Neither Dr. Petit, who is seeking a seat in the Connecticut legislature, nor any members of his family attended the hearing that overturned the convicted murderer’s death sentence in accordance with the Connecticut Supreme Court decision.

“July 23, 2007, was our personal holocaust. A holocaust caused by two who are completely evil and actually do not comprehend what they have done.”

Not surprisingly, Dr.William Petit adamantly opposed the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut. Unfortunately, the 2015 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court has resulted in a denial of justice for both himself and everyone who knew and loved his wife and daughters.

What do you think? Is Joshua Komisarjevsky’s new sentence just, or was sparing the convicted Connecticut murderer the death penalty a miscarriage of justice?

[Photo via Claudia Wolf/AP Images]

Share this article: Joshua Komisarjevsky: Connecticut Murderer’s Death Sentence Commuted After State Abolishes Death Penalty [Video]
More from Inquisitr