Second Conn. home invasion killer is sentenced to death
A Connecticut man was sentenced Friday to die for killing a woman and her two daughters during a night of terror in their suburban home, a gruesome crime that unsettled the suburbs and halted momentum to abolish the death penalty in the state.
Joshua Komisarjevsky will be joining Steven Hayes on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. He is scheduled to be executed in July.
The girls were tied to their beds and doused in gasoline before the house was set ablaze; they died of smoke inhalation. Komisarjevsky was convicted of the killings and of sexually assaulting Michaela.
The only survivor, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up but escaped.
“I will never find peace within. My life will be a continuation of the hurt I caused,” Komisarjevsky said in court. “The clock is now ticking and I owe a debt I cannot repay.”
Komisarjevsky said he walked out of court condemned to die by 12 members of the community.
“It’s a surreal experience, being condemned to die,” Komisarjevsky said.
Forgiveness is not his to have, he said, and he needs to forgive his worst enemy — himself.