A strange turn of events during Day 7 of the Steven Hayes trial, but it came outside the courtroom.
Hayes is on trial for the 2007 murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, inside their Cheshire home.
Lawyers for the other suspect in the crime, Joshua Komisarjevsky, sat in the courtroom Friday morning, and then said they wanted to set the record straight about their client.
Attorney Jeremiah Donovan told reporters he didn't want anyone hearing the testimony in Hayes' trial to come away with the perception that Michaela was sodomized.
The revelation seemed contradictory to testimony given Thursday, by the state's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Wayne Carver.
Carver testified there was evidence that Michaela had been sodomized.
Friday, Forensic scientist Joy Reho told jurors DNA evidence was found on Michaela to support that, though Donavan told reporters that the testimony so far proved otherwise.
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A detective who took the stand earlier in the trial, told jurors Hayes told him Komisarvejsky admitted to sexually assaulting Michaela, and that Komisarjevsky had ordered Hayes to sexually assault Jennifer Hawke-Petit to "square things up" between them.
The jury has heard a number of disturbing details about the deaths of the three victims inside the home in July 2007.
On Wednesday, Carver testified that Michaela died from breathing in smoke after the house was set on fire, and that she had likely died a painful, panic-stricken death.
He told jurors that Hayley had broken free of her restraints after being tied to her bed and walked through the fire, lost consciousness, and died from smoke inhalation.
An Associate Medical Examiner, who performed the autopsy on Hawke-Petit, said she had been strangled, and that she was burned beyond recognition.
Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor of the attack, said he hoped the judge who placed a gag order on everyone involved with the trial would find Donovan in contempt of court for making the statements about the testimony.
