Joshua Komisarjevsky, Conn. home-invasion killer, tries not to think about murders

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: 911 ,; Daily Blotter

Joshua Komisarjevsky

/ WSFB/Connecticut State Police

(CBS/AP) SOMERS, Conn. - Joshua Komisarjevsky, convicted killer of Connecticut woman Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, said in a death row interview that he suffers no nightmares and has nothing to say to the only survivor of the brutal 2007 attack.

Pictures: Petit Family Murders

"I try really hard not to think about it," Komisarjevsky said Monday of the crime.

Komisarjevsk, 31, told The Associated Press in his first interview since he was convicted that there isn't anything he could say to Dr. William Petit "that will restore the lives lost."

He also declined an opportunity to express remorse for the killings.

"I guess my reaction is not the reaction society expected," Komisarjevsky said.

He was convicted last year in a crime that unsettled notions of suburban safety and featured prominently in Connecticut's death penalty debate. He said he agreed to speak to a reporter out of curiosity.

Komisarjevsky and his co-defendant, Steven Hayes, were both convicted of the murders. Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, while Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter, Michaela. The preteen girl and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, were then tied to their beds and died of smoke inhalation after the house was doused in gas and set on fire.

Last month, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a new law that ends the state's death penalty for future crimes but does not apply to those already on death row. Many had insisted that the death penalty remain for previous cases so that Komisarjevsky and Hayes would not be spared.

"In order for some to swallow this bitter pill, it was inevitable that we would be left out," Komisarjevsky said.

In the last half-century, Connecticut has executed only one inmate - serial killer Michael Ross, who was put to death in 2005 after voluntarily waiving his appeals.

"I don't think I'll be executed against my will," Komisarjevsky said. "I think if I volunteer the state will execute me."

Asked if he would consider volunteering, Komisarjevsky said, "I have my days. I think everybody on death row has their days. Some days you'd consider it. Some days you don't."

Still, he said he feels a responsibility to "those who stand behind me," saying they would be hurt by his execution. He didn't specify who his supporters were, although he said his parents and a few friends visit him in prison.

"The reality of my situation is that I'm going to die in prison," he said. "It's simply a matter of what age. It's a very surreal experience to be judged so worthless that society wants you dead."

Asked if he is remorseful, he did not offer a direct answer. He said he has trouble expressing emotion.

"I like everyone else has to get up every day and look in the mirror," Komisarjevsky said.

Complete coverage of the Petit family murders on Crimesider

Pictures: Petit Family Murders

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by Kichi7 May 16, 2012 10:49 AM EDT

From everything I've heard about this case, Komisarjevsky and Hayes were responsible for their actions. They attacked, tortured, and killed the three members of the Petit family without any provocation and merely in order to gratify themselves. Whatever the general merits of the death penalty as a legal form of punishment (maybe it runs too great a risk of killing the wrong person, maybe it's just too expensive, etc.), when a morally sensitive person examines the details of this particular case, he or she must conclude that Komisarjevsky and Hayes deserve an extremely severe form of punishment. I would submit that from a strictly moral point of view they deserve a punishment that our current system of law does not allow, for what they truly deserve is to be tortured and killed themselves.

In response to slatep, who claims the death penalty is "relative," I cordially disagree. I would consistently hold that anyone who commits a crime this horrible morally deserves death even if that person happens to be a loved one. I could continue to love someone even if I found out he had tortured and cold-bloodedly murdered someone else, but I would realize that regardless of my love, my loved one morally deserved to be executed. I would hope my loved one would come to that realization himself and volunteer for the execution he so richly deserved.

Perhaps, despite his apparent lack of remorse, Komisarjevsky dimly perceives that morality requires him to give up his own life and that by killing the Petits he has made his own life into one that is not worth living. Then again, perhaps he is little more than a beast without conscience at this point, and maybe he merely pities himself and finds his isolation oppressive and boring. Either way, he should die: If he retains a shred of humanity, then he deserves death as his proper due for his crimes. If he is merely a beast in human form, then he should be euthanized. Either way, death in prison (hopefully soon) is an appropriate end for him.

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by ahendryx819 May 16, 2012 3:10 PM EDT: Absolutely. I agree 100%.

With such technology as DNA that is often used in these cases, the chances of someone not guilty of a crime being sent to death row have basically diminished completely. Therefore, if a loved one of mine was sent to death row, I'm certain it would be because their own actions landed them there, and I am a strong believer in accountability. It's those who know that a loved one is guilty, yet want leniecy anyway that are part of the reason there are so many sociopaths running around now.

by ahendryx819 May 16, 2012 10:36 AM EDT

Wow, he thinks there are people who would be "hurt" by his execution?! NOt only is he a straight sociopath, he's delusional as well. I want to know why someone took the time to interview this p.o.s. WHO CARES what he has to say? His reactions and answers are exactly what I expected: that of a sociopath. All an interview did was make him feel important and allow his narcissism to kick in. I would gladly volunteer to be his executioner, on the grounds that I got to administer a slow, painful death like the ones his victims suffered.

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by wallygeez May 16, 2012 11:03 AM EDT: Totally agree with you ahendryx819. This just goes to show how reporters are willing to do ANYTHING to write something where their name as "author" shows up. Debate the death penalty??? We should instead be discussing the reviving of Medieval torture for human scum like this guy!!!


by ahendryx819 May 16, 2012 3:06 PM EDT: Amen to that. This country's gotten too soft, is the problem.


by BapPas May 16, 2012 8:36 AM EDT: Why do we feed and care for people who are worse than a rabid wolf? There is absolutely nothing one of those animaLs could ever do to pay down even one cent of their debt to humanity. I am sick of our increasingly effeminate society where people don't have the backbone to do the right thing -- which in the case of murder means executing the murderer.; Reply to this comment


by askagain May 15, 2012 8:50 PM EDT: Why wait for the execution? After an incident like this, how could the state of Connecticut eliminate capital punishment? The state of Commecticut must believe that there will never be gruesome murders again. Apparently, fools never learn.; Reply to this comment