Pre-trial Motions from Komisarjevsky In Petit Home Invasion Case

One of these animals has already been tried and convicted.  The one with the easy name--Steven Hayes.  The trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky is due to start soon, and the pre-trial motions have been flying thick and fast.

Komisarjevsky appears to be a real piece of work.  The New York Post has an article about the motions he has been filing.  This is truly outrageous!  It seems he wants to more-or-less run the trial.

~He wants the witnesses and jury sequestered, including Dr Petit.  The trial is scheduled to start next month, and expected to be long.  "The better part of the year," is the quote in the article.

~He wants his chair in the courtroom moved so he is in a better position to stare down the witnesses.

~He wants to limit the number of seats available to Dr Petit's family and friends, move them away from the jury, and forbid them from wearing any sort of memorial symbols.

~He wants the trial moved from New Haven to Stamford.

~He wants the judge to step down...due to "lack of objectivity."

~He wants the capital charges dropped because he didn't kill Mrs Petit...and didn't intend that they girls should die.

Pretty cocky, huh!  The judge has not yet ruled on these motions, as far as I can tell.  The story I've linked is four days old.  I guess this accused killer is running off of the old saw that the best defense is a good offense.

Let's review.

~He was caught running away from the burning Petit home.  If he didn't kill Mrs Petit, he sure didn't try to stop it, and he did nothing to save the girls.  Of course, Hayes said it was all Komisarjevsky's idea/plan/fault (but he got the death penalty anyway). 

~He and Hayes beat the crap out of Dr Petit and tied him up in the basement while they raped his wife, forced her to drive to an ATM and withdraw money, raped one of his daughters, and tied the girls up to their beds, poured gasoline on them and set them on fire.

~Dr Petit managed to get loose and get to a neighbour's home, in spite of having lost up to seven pints of blood.


Komisarjevsky is trying to set the stage for an appeal.  He cannot reasonably expect that these motions be granted.  He is whining and whingeing about getting a fair trial...trust me--this guy doesn't really WANT a fair trial. 

The fact that he was caught driving away from the scene of the crime, if I remember rightly, in the Petits' car, and the fact that Dr Petit can identify him, the fact that his partner in crime has already been convicted...I think he's toast.  Both of these animals were willing to plead guilty in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.  It was the prosecution that has pressed for trial.  Basically, there is no doubt that the cops nabbed the right guy, so this is all sound and fury, signifying nothing.