Brian McDonald

if there ever was circumstance that warranted the death penalty, the home invasion murders in Cheshire, Ct. qualifies. from over use, the word "heinous" no longer does justice as a description of the crime. even anti-death penalty advocates seem reluctant to rally against the proceedings in New Haven Superior Court.

it is truly a test of the fabric of Christian beliefs.

in a jailhouse interview, Joshua Komisarjevsky, who along with Steven Hayes faces the death penalty for the murder of the Petit family, told me that he had long conversations with Jennifer Hawke-Petit during the six-hours he held her hostage. He said it was a mistake to engage Mrs. Petit. He "liked her," he said.

Komisarjevsky's recollection of Mrs. Petit during that horrible night and morning is an account of the purest form of Christian strength. she tried to put herself in the shoes of the men who would ultimately kill her. she empathized with their financial predicaments. She said she never understood why God seemed to provide more for some than others. she prepared something for them to eat. she never lost composure. almost to her very last breath, Mrs. Petit held steady in her faith that God would deliver her family to safety. and, no doubt, that there was something salvageable in the souls of her captors.

As it turned out, Mrs. Petit was wrong on both counts. God did not deliver her family safely, and her attackers appear as soulless as human beings can be. and yet somehow Mrs. Petit's misjudgments only make her seem more Christian.

members of her church contend that Mrs. Petit signed an anti-death penalty document called A Declaration of Life. But a copy of that document has yet to surface. if there is a copy out there, withholding it dismisses a faith in God for which Jennifer Hawke-Petit lived and died.

steven hayes' triple murder trial begins sept. 13th, joshua komisarjevsky's in jan.

if Jennifer Hawke-Petit signed A Declaration of Life, and members of her church contend that she did, then she probably did so in January, 2006, a year-and-a-half before she was murdered in the Cheshire home invasion. that January, a link to the document was made available on the Cheshire United Methodist Church's website. in the story that accompanies the link, prospective signers are urged to take the document home and "talk to your family."

but the document itself also has instructions to send a signed and notarized copy to the Cherish Life Circle, Convent of Mercy in Brooklyn, NY.

at the convent, Sister Camille D'Arienzo, the Roman Catholic nun who first conceived the idea of A Declaration of Life, said she could find no record of Jennifer Hawke-Petit's signed document.

this doesn't mean that Hawke-Petit didn't sign the document, Sister Camille said. Congregations are known to keep their own records, she said.

If Hawke-Petit's church, or a member of her church, has a copy of her signed document, and has decided for whatever reason not to reveal it, their actions would be in direct conflict to the Social Principles as set forth by the General Board of the United Methodist Church.

Steven Hayes' triple murder trial begins sept. 13th

the anti-death penalty document that murder victim Jennifer Hawke-Petit purportedly signed was first distributed in the mid-1990s by Sister Camille D'Arienzo, a Roman Catholic nun from Brooklyn, New York. the idea for A Declaration of Life came about as a result of the New York gubernatorial election. in 1994, George Pataki ousted incumbent Mario Cuomo. in no small measure, Pataki's pro-death penalty promise helped fuel his victory.

A Declaration of Life is an intensely personal plea that asks, should the signer be killed as the result of a violent crime, that his or her murderer not be subjected to the the death penalty, for it would "only increase my suffering," according to the document.

Tens of thousands of copies of A Declaration of Life have been distributed and signed since, including ones by Mario Cuomo, Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen. Sister Helen Prejean, the author of "Dead Man Walking," lent her name and has spoken on behalf of the document.

the popularity of A Declaration of Life crosses secular and state lines. the document has found an ardent following of signers even in Texas, which historically leads the nation in executions, and at the United Methodist Church of Cheshire, Ct. where the Petit family were enthusiastic members. According to Sister Camille, whole religious congregations have adopted use of the document. "Not a week goes by that someone doesn't inquire about the Declaration," the Sister said.

still, the influence of the document has not been tested in the fifteen years of its existence. until now. Jennifer Hawke-Petit is believed to be the only person who signed A Declaration of Life and whose alleged murderer is being tried on capital charges. There was one other known signer who was murdered. Sister Karen Klimczak was killed in a halfway house for prisoners in Buffalo several years back. but her attacker did not face the death penalty.

Steven hayes' triple murder trial begins sept. 13th

Below is sections of "A Declaration of Life," a document Jennifer Petit, who was killed in the Cheshire, Ct. home invasion murders, purportedly signed as a member of the United Methodist Church of Cheshire. There has been little mention of the document in the run-up to accused triple murderer Steven Hayes' trial that starts next month. Hayes has been charged with capital crimes and faces the death penalty. It will be interesting to see if prosecutors give any credence to this profoundly personal request from the grave:

"THEREFORE, I hereby declare that should I die as a result of a violent crime, I request that the person or persons found guilty of homicide for my killing not be subject to or put in jeopardy of the death penalty under any circumstances, no matter how heinous their crime or how much I may have suffered. The death penalty would only increase my suffering.

I request that the Prosecutor or District Attorney having the jurisdiction of the person or persons alleged to have committed my homicide not file or prosecute an action for capital punishment as a result of my homicide.

I request that this Declaration be made admissible in any trial of any person charged with my homicide, and read and delivered to the jury. I also request the Court to allow this Declaration to be admissible as a statement of the victim at the sentencing of the person or persons charged and convicted of my homicide; and, to pass sentence in accordance with my wishes.

I request that my family and friends take whatever actions are necessary to carry out the intent and purpose of this Declaration; and, I further request them to take no action contrary to this Declaration.

Steven Hayes' trial begins Sept. 13th

back in March, after speaking in front of the Connecticut legislature's Judiciary Committee, Dr. William Petit denied ever seeing the A Declaration of Life document that his wife purportedly signed. He also told reporters that he and his wife never talked about the death penalty issue, even though their church is a very active participant in the anti-death penalty movement.

if Jennifer Hawke-Petit's church, the United Methodist Church of Cheshire, used the most common of the A Declaration of Life documents, then it was signed in front of two witnesses and a notary public. More to come.

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according to members of her church, Jennifer Hawke-Petit signed A Declaration of Life, but there has been no sign and little talk of the document. A Declaration of Life is a contract of sorts that states a person's objection to the death penalty and requests, should that person be a victim of homicide, that the death penalty not be imposed.

along with her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, Hawke-Petit was murdered during the Cheshire, Ct. home-invasion in July of 2007. The alleged murderers, Steven Hayes, 47, and Joshua Komisarjevsky, 29, both face the death penalty in upcoming trials.

the mystery of the missing document raises several possibilities, among them are:

1. defense attorneys have the document and are waiting for the trial. Presenting such a document to the jury would provide an incredibly dramatic moment and perhaps a sentencing game-changer.

2. Hawke-Petit's church, the United Methodist Church of Cheshire, has the document and is conflicted over whether or not to release it. The United Methodist has a long anti-death penalty history, but the vicious cruelty of the Petit murders in its own backyard has tested the church's resolve.

3. Dr. Petit, Hawke-Petit's husband and lone survivor of the home invasion, has the document, and doesn't plan on showing it to anyone. Dr. Petit has become increasingly vocal over the past few months in his desire to see hayes and komisarjevsky executed.

4. lastly, and undoubtedly the most ironic of the possibilities, is that the document was destroyed in the fire that consumed the Petit home and killed Hayley and Michaela. presumably, the fire was set by komisarjevsky and hayes in an attempt to silence witnesses and cover their tracks. Hawke-Petit was raped and strangled before the fire was set.

steven hayes' triple murder trial begins on sept. 13th, komisarjevsky's in the beginning of next year.

Judge Jon Blue stayed back on Thomas Ullman's curveball and hit it right out of New Haven yesterday. Ullman, as you might remember, tried to float an off-speed bender past the prosecution by arguing that the death penalty in Connecticut violates his client's rights. his client, of course, is accused triple-murderer, steven hayes.

part of ullman's argument centered around the words of Connecticut governor, Jodi Rell. In the wake of the Cheshire murders, Rell vetoed legislation that would have abolished the death penalty in Ct. in a press release and other documents explaining the reason behind her veto, Rell cited Dr. Petit, the lone survivor of the Cheshire home-invasion, who in turn cited Lord Denning, the Brit jurist who believed that some crimes just deserve the death penalty.

but only a handful of the thousands of prospective jurors interviewed for hayes' trial knew the wording of Rell's veto, Blue said (let alone who Lord Denning was).

the other part of ullman's argument was that the legislature that passed the bill abolishing the death penalty was representative of the will of the people of Connecticut. Not true, though. sixty percent of Ct. supports the needle, and that number has been constant for a lot of years.

so ullman falls behind one-ziltch in the opening inning and steven hayes' life is still at stake when his trial starts on sept. 13th

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according to members of her church who were interviewed by The New York Times, Jennifer Hawke-Petit believed fervently that the death penalty was wrong and probably signed A Declaration of Life agreement. Along with her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, Hawke-Petit was murdered during the Cheshire home-invasion.

today her husband, Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of that home-invasion, asked the people of Connecticut to support pro-death penalty candidates in the upcoming elections.

Petit's remarks came after a pretrial hearing where a judge heard arguments by the defense that Gov. Jodi Rell violated their client's rights when she vetoed legislation that would have abolished the death penalty in Connecticut. Rell cites Dr. Petit in the press release explaining her veto.

the trial of steven hayes, one of the two men accused of murdering Petit's family, begins sept. 13th. hayes is being tried for capital crimes and could face the death penalty.

maybe the most depraved detail in a morning filled with depraved details was steven hayes wearing Hayley Petit's school hat when he ran from the Petit house after setting it on fire. both the 18-year-old Hayley and her sister, Michaela, 11, died in the inferno. both had been tied to their bedposts. the detail of the Miss Porter's school hat was entered into court record today by testimony of a cheshire police detective who was outside the house on sorghum mill drive the morning of the murders.

the detective, and two other witnesses, testified as part of pre-trial hearing on motions made by the defense to suppress statements hayes made to police right after he was apprehended.

instead of his client's statements, hayes' attorney. thomas ullman, should have tried to have the hat removed from the record. ullman's trying to save hayes' life, not get him acquitted. in my opinion, the visual of hayes wearing the Miss Porter's hat makes a jury a lot more likely to give him the needle. then again, they may have already read about the hat in In the Middle of the Night.

hayes' trial begins on sept. 13th, joshua komisarjevsky's follows soon after.

Judge Blue denied the request to close the courtroom to press and the public made by Thomas Ullman, steven hayes' attorney--this is good news for all who put any credence into a little thing called the First Amendment. also, prosecution has decided not to enter the library book hayes was reading in jail in the months before the Petit murders into evidence--which is also good news. as evidence, the book no doubt would have caused a backlash against the prison library system in Ct. Connecticut's jails have taken a beating over their shoddy stewardship of hayes and komisarjevsky, and rightfully so. but this is an area where they don't deserve to take a hit. what hayes was reading didn't make him kill Jennifer Hawke-Petit any more than "Blackbird" instructed Charles Manson.

as jury selection for the steven hayes triple homicide trial creeps to conclusion (five more alternates and backups still to be chosen) and the summer months approach, this blog will take a short hiatus from murder and mayhem. of course, i will update you on any significant news out of New Haven Superior Court, and will start daily posting as the mid-Sept. trial date nears. have a nice summer true-crime fans.

after spending 18 years on death row for the rape and murders of eight women in Connecticut and New York, Michael Ross was executed on Friday, May 13th 2005. in prison, Ross had found religion and spent the last years of his life trying to convince the state of Connecticut to put him to death. after the jump is a portion of a statement Ross made concerning his wish to die: (more…)

over the past two weeks, two jurors have been excused by Judge Blue months before steven hayes' trial starts including a Guilford woman yesterday. our number is back down to 14.

maybe the court should take out an ad for jurors in the AARP mag. the commitment in Sept. could be as long as three months, an incredible burden on employee and employers. then again, defense counsel knows that the olds are more likely to vote for the needle. they could look for jurors within the roles of the unemployed--9.3 percent at last check in Ct. wouldn't suit prosecutors though. lacksters are traditionally anti-death penalty. it adds up to a slow slog in superior court.

i might have been presumptuous in inferring that the ullman/culligan team will step on the gas as the patio party season nears. yesterday, 24 jurors were interviewed and none chosen. the process of seating a murder jury in Connecticut is catatonic in its pace--you could paint a house with Wite-Out quicker.

i still think a panel of 20 jurors (reg.,alternate and backups) will be completed by the end of May,

lawyers on both sides of the case agreed on two more alternate jurors yesterday. so far, 12 regular and three alternate jurors have been chosen. the new jurors are described as a North Haven, Ct. man in his 60s, and Madison, Ct. woman in her 40s. a panel of twenty regular, alternate and backup jurors are needed. selection continues today. the regular trial begins in mid-Sept.

ok, up until the beginning of last week there was at least one and sometimes AS MANY AS 600 news stories A DAY about the jury selection of the steven hayes trial. but for the past week there has been nothing. not a single new word about the trial in the press or on the web. it's as if jury selection for the hayes trial has disappeared. (more…)

still no news out of steven hayes' jury selection. i can't help thinking that something's up. soon as i get anything i'll let you know.

there hasn't been news out of Superior Court in New Haven for days now, and I can't find any indication that jury selection has been interrupted. this might be the longest stretch since the selection process began without a juror being chosen. maybe hayes' defense is reverting back to the stall tactics it implemented earlier on.

while we wait for things to heat up (and they will), there is a terrific piece about an excused prospective juror for the hayes trial in The Yale Herald by Cassie Crockett. It's required reading for any informed hayes trial-watcher.

in the wake of the Petit murders, Connecticut legislators passed a bill that invented a new category of crime called "home invasion." the burglary of someone's home was reclassified as a Class A felony.

Last week in Connecticut there were two home invasions of note. the men responsible for the break-ins are both now in prison. One turned himself in because he "felt guilty," the other had some type of seizure in the house and was held down by occupants until police arrived.

these two knuckleheads could face 25 years in prison.

no news out of new haven, juror count still stuck on 12

journalist Greg Berger did a nice job in his piece on the political implications of the Petit trial in The Dartmouth

quiet couple of days in New Haven Superior Court as the jury selection stalls at 12. guaranteed though, by the end of May they'll have the panel wrapped-up and ready to go. there's no way the defense would let this process bleed into June. The summer season of patio parties beckons and with a client as high-profile as hayes, the ullman-culligan team are sure to head up all the important guest lists. and why not? they're armed with enough courtroom anecdotes about nutty hayes to fill a whole season of summer sunsets.

but as the curtain comes down on the first act in new haven, i wonder how the star will be spending his intermission. (more…)

i was reading a blog yesterday written by a Connecticut defense lawyer who shall remain nameless mostly because i think he's a self-important blowhard and i have an aversion to any man who wears a ponytail and is not playing a violin. it's closed-minded of me, i know. but i'm a work in progress.

anyhow, he mentioned in his piece that there are "grisly photographs" of hayes "participating in the carnage," presumably on the morning of July 23rd, 2007 in Cheshire. (more…)

a new haven woman chosen today. eight more needed to complete the jury panel for steven hayes' triple murder trial.

Judge Jon Blue pulled something of a Pontius Pilate yesterday by washing his hands of the "how nuts is hayes" question. in his refusal to allow hayes to skip jury selection, Judge Blue cited Suzanne Ducate (you remember her, right? the DOC psychiatrist?) who back in March gave hayes the thumbs up to continue the trial, and the defendant's own lawyers who waived the last hearing on their client's competency.

in essence, the judge said in his eight page decision, if hayes does something crazy from here in, don't blame me. go see Ullman or the prison shrink.

it's good to be king (or Prefect).

according to his lawyers, hayes hasn't showered or brushed his teeth in weeks. they say he eats little, and has trouble keeping whatever he eats down. he rarely sleeps. he spends his time rubbing his face and hands and pinching his fingers. in court, he rocks back and forth on his chair, and yawns. he cares nothing about his trial, they say. (more…)

think i liked this guy patrick j. culligan, hayes' co-counsel, better when he wasn't saying anything. an "incredibly stressful" situation? that's his argument to get his client excused from having to watch jury selection?

i'm gonna go out on a limb here, patrick, but i think stress is part of the job description of a defendant in a triple murder trial.

so the defense wants Judge Blue to allow their client to stay in his cell for jury selection. Blue will hear arguments today.

can't blame ullman for not wanting hayes in court. heck, the guy might stand up and yell "guilty!" again. have a heart, judge. hayes is in such a delicate condition, it's inhumane to make him sit in the same room with the victim's family.

when it comes right down to it, defense doesn't need hayes to participate at all. this trial isn't about him, it's about ideals. so just put a crash-test dummy with a Steven Hayes name tag and sit it at the defense table. don't want to let a death-penalty debate get all messy with real live people.

eleventh juror chosen yesterday. a woman from Wallingford, Ct.

a Hamden, Ct. man was chosen Wed. as the 10th juror. we are now halfway home to the 20 needed for a panel complete with back-ups and alternates.

this milestone warrants a quick re-cap:

jury selection for steven hayes' triple murder trial began four months ago. there have been two extended delays, one because of (more…)

a new haven women was chosen as the ninth juror yesterday. eleven more to go

interesting opinion piece in today's Waterbury Republican American by Lee Grabar (sorry, link not available). It seems that thomas ullman had to talk long and hard to get hayes to change his mind about pleading guilty. the piece also talks about the death penalty being the lesser of two evils to some convicted murderers, like Michael Ross who was executed in Ct. in 2005. It made me wonder if hayes sees a freedom in death that he knows he'll never experience serving a life sentence. (more…)

two more jurors were chosen yesterday for hayes' murder trial bringing the total now to eight. 20 are needed for a panel complete with alternates and backups. all i know about yesterday's picks is that one is a woman, the other a man. if i get any more info i'll of course pass it on.

so far, 207 perspective jurors have been interviewed. if i haven't forgotten all my math, that means 1 out of every 27 perspective jurors have been chosen. no doubt this is a time-consuming process, but it's certainly not a completely tainted jury pool.

in a voice that one observer called soft but confident, steven hayes changed his plea to guilty of all capital charges against him. he made the statement right after Judge Jon Blue had declared him competent to stand trial. Hayes' words stunned everyone in the courtroom, even his own counsel.

a lot of things have to happen before hayes is strapped to a gurney. but one thing is for certain, this evening Steven Hayes is a lot closer to being executed than he was yesterday.

ok, one of three scenarios will begin to play out Thursday at steven hayes' competency hearing in New Haven Superior Court: One, hayes will be found competent, in which case the trial will start up again. Two, hayes will be found incompetent, in which case the trial will be postponed and a treatment of psychotropic drugs and therapy proscribed to help him back to competency, or, Three, defense will argue that steven hayes is permanently incompetent, and that the charges against him should be dropped. (more…)

so as we turn the corner on March and head into April and presumably the restart of Steven Hayes' trial, I thought I would take this time to list some of the key players in Act 1 of The New Haven drama. As Shakespeare said...

Principals:
1. Thomas Ullman: Hayes' attorney, death penalty opponent and master of the four-corner offense
2. Michael Dearington: state's attorney, and tepid death penalty crusader
3. Judge Jon C. Blue: his honor
4. Dr. William Peit: survivor, victim's rights spokesperson
5. Steven Hayes: accused, suicidal and incompetent?
6. The jury (so far, six have been chosen) (more…)

judge Jon Blue scheduled the next court hearing in the wandering preamble of steven hayes' triple murder trial for April 1. in the meantime, a crack team of psychiatrists and social workers will try to get to the bottom of the defendant's suicidal depression and determine whether or not he's fit to be tried.

just a layman's opinion, but maybe he's depressed because he has to live the rest of his life thinking about the lives that he ended.

lost in yesterday's headlines: a sixth juror was chosen, only 14 to go.

the judge and lawyers from both sides in the steven hayes murder trial are supposed to meet in court today to try and sort things out. the trial process has been on hold for weeks now, first because of hayes' apparent suicide attempt, then by a series of blunders by officials. the judge, jon (more…)