Before the second day of Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial began on Tuesday, Rev. Richard Hawke made a gesture that surprised many in the courtroom. He went over to the father of the man accused of killing his daughter and granddaughters, introduce himself and shook his hand.
The action caused many in the courtroom to comment on the grace of the Petit and Hawke families.
Joshua Komisarjevsky is the second man to be tried for the deaths of Richard's daughter, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and his granddaughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, on July 23, 2007.
Dr. William Petit, was the only family member to survive the attacks and the fire at the home that day that killed his wife and daughters.
He testified in court on Tuesday, despite the defense's attempts to limit Dr. Petit's testimony.
When Komisarjevsky's attorneys accused Dr. Petit of altering his testimony, he defended himself and said he was testifying to the best of his ability.
He took the jury back to the night before the home invasion. It was a family night, Dr. Petit testified. The Petits had dinner together, then the girls watched TV. Dr. Petit read the newspaper and fell asleep on the porch. When he woke up, he was in pain and bleeding. At first, he saw one person, then he saw two. A cloth was put over his head and his feet were bound.
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"If he moves, put a bullet in him," Dr. Petit heard one of the men say. Then, he was told to go to the basement.
Dr. Petit said, at another point, he heard his wife upstairs and one of the intruders said that, if they got the money, no one would be hurt. Later, he heard loud thumps, what sounded like his wife moaning and a sinister voice say that it would be over soon.
Dr. Petit said he knew he needed help because he could not take two men who had a gun. He managed to escape from the house and get to a neighbor's. It was there that he saw police and told them the girls were in the house.
Dr. Petit was taken to St. Mary's Hospital and was there for five days.
The defense had argued that Dr. Petit's wwould be too emotional and emotions should be kept out of the guilt or innocence phase.
The judge denied the request, but said the defense could offer objections during the testimony. Among the objections the defense made, one was to photos of Dr. Petit's injuries. Judge Jon Blue overruled the motion and allowed them.
The defense's argument is based in part on who escalated events in the house. Komisarjevsky's attorneys admitted in court on Monday that their client struck Dr. William Petit over the head with a baseball bat when he and Steven Hayes broke into the home, but their client was not the ringleader and never intended to kill anyone. That very baseball bat was brought into the courtroom on Tuesday.
The defense said Komisarjevsky went into the home to rob the family but the plan changed when he and Hayes found a bank book with $40,000 and Hayes said they needed to kill the family and burn the house down. Hayes was tried and convicted last year and is on death row.
The case is expected to last three weeks, not including closing arguments.
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