Joshua Komisarjevsky sentenced to death for home invasion murders

Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, was sentenced on Friday to death for the brutal home invasion murder of a woman and her two daughters at a Connecticut home in 2007.

“May God have mercy on your soul,” Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue told Komisarjevsky after the sentence was handed down. “This is a terrible sentence, but it is a sentence you indeed wrote for yourself,” the judge said.

Throughout the hearing, Komisarjevsky maintained that the blame for the murders falls on his accomplice, Steven Hayes, who is also on death row for the home invasion murders.

“I know my responsibilities, but what I cannot do is carry the responsibilities of the actions of another,” he said during the hearing, as reported on by the Associated Press. “I did not want those innocent women to die.”

In July of 2007, Komisarjevsky and his accomplice, Hayes, burst through the front door of the Petit family’s home. Dr. William Petit, the only survivor of the horrific ordeal, was beaten with a baseball bat and was left tied up in the basement of his home.

Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, was forced by the two men to go to a bank and withdraw money. Hayes then raped her before strangling her and ultimately killing her.

Petit’s daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, were both tied up in their bedrooms, where Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted the youngest of the two. Both little girls died due to smoke inhalation after the two men set the house on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.

As Petit testified during the hearing, he described the events as his “personal holocaust”.

“I lost my family and my home,” he said. “They were three special people. Your children are your jewels.”

[Image credit: AP]