<< A Tale of Two Riots | Main | DSK and the SoL >>


Second Petit Killer Convicted

| 3 Comments

As reported in the News Scan, a Connecticut jury has convicted the second killer in the Petit murder case, a man named Joshua Komisarjevsky.  Komisarjevsky and  another man, Steven Hayes, had a good 'ole time on July 22 and 23, 2007, as  they raped  and murdered three members of Dr. William Petit's family, those being his wife and only daughters, 17 year-old Hayley and 11 year-old Micheala.

The jury will deliberate handing down the death penalty, which a separate jury imposed on Hayes.

A couple of paragraphs of the story caught my attention (emphasis added):

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.

And then there was this:

Jeremiah Donovan, Komisarjevsky's attorney, said his client admitted to molesting Michaela and assaulting her father, but he never intended to kill anyone.

Hey, look, he only molested her, and he didn't intend to kill anyone when he bound all the victims, doused them with gasoline, and set the house on fire.

I have a feeling the moralizing and chest-thumping by abolitionists is about to go quiet for a while. 

3 Comments

That there is even a sentencing phase required is an indictment of our Supreme Court's 8th Amendment "jurisprudence." A mandatory death penalty ought to be allowed in cases like these.

As a matter of historical interest, does anyone here know when the last time was that an American state had a mandatory death penalty and actually carried it out?

Not exactly, but it was a long time ago. See Woodson v. North Carolina.

Leave a comment

Monthly Archives