Convicted Cheshire Killer Joshua Komisarjevsky Seeks New Trial

CHESHIRE, CT — Attorneys are seeking a new trial for convicted Cheshire killer Joshua Komisarjevsky on claims that his original trial was “both unfair and unconstitutional,” according to the New Haven Register.

Randall Beech of the Register reports attorneys for Komisarjevsky this week filed a motion with the state Supreme Court requesting the new trial based on alleged judicial errors during the pretrial process and the trial, including denying the trial to be relocated to another part of the state.

Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were both convicted, in separate trials, with felony murder and sentenced to death for the 2007 home invasion killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17.

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State lawmakers got rid of the death penalty in 2012, but made it so that inmates already on death row would be executed. However, the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the death penalty violates the state’s constitution and barred all executions. Both Komisarjevsky and Hayes were later resentenced to six consecutive life sentences without the chance for parole.

As part of the 140-page argument for Komisarjevsky’s new trial, his attorneys claim that he was unfairly portrayed as “the mastermind” of the home invasion and killings, contending that Hayes was the one who intended to carry out the murders and set the house on fire, according to Beech.

Beech reports the attorneys argue that state prosecutors didn’t show Komisarjevsky’s defense lawyers 132 pages of hand-written letters Hayes sent to a woman, in which he portrayed himself to be the leader of the crimes, until after evidence had concluded in Komisarjevsky’s trial in 2011.

Hayes dropped his appeal for a new trial last year, telling a Superior Court judge that “I’m guilty,” the Register previously reported.

Hayes told Judge Jon C. Blue that he “played a part” in the 2007 triple homicide home invasion and all that would be accomplished in a second trial would be arguments over who did what between him and Komisarjevsky, which would be “petty” on his part.

Read more on the attorneys’ argument for Komisarjevsky’s new trial at the New Haven Register here.