Convicted Cheshire Killer Komisarjevsky Heading to Court Seeking New Trial

Convicted Cheshire killer Joshua Komisarjevsky will be back in a New Haven courtroom next week as he attempts to get a new trial for the 2007 home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and daughters Hayley and Michaela, according to the Hartford Courant.

Komisarjevsky is claiming that the fact the some previously undisclosed Cheshire police dispatch tapes from the morning of the murders warrants a new trial.

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The Courant reports that a hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 23 and Superior Court Judge Jon Blue will listen to arguments on whether the recordings of phone calls between officers as the murders unfolded could have aided Komisarjevsky’s defense.

Related:

Cheshire Police Took Steps to Intercept Car Before 2007 Killings: Report

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

State lawmakers got rid of the death penalty in 2012, but made it so that inmates already on death row would be executed. The provision was added after the trials of Hayes and Komisarjevsky.

However, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ruled last August that the death penalty violates the state’s constitution and barred all executions.

Hayes asked a judge in November to vacate his death sentence and to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read more about Komisarjevsky’s bid for a new trial at the Hartford Courant here.