Before the jury watches a videotape testimony from the 9-year-old daughter of a man convicted in a brutal Cheshire home invasion, they heard directly from Joshua Komisarjevsky.
Despite his attorneys’ successful fight for the jury to hear the recording, Komisarjevsky made a plea against it on Wednesday. He called himself as one of the “most hated people in America” and said that any negative consequences to his daughter “far outweigh the benefits” of helping saving his life.
"I am not at all comfortable putting my daughter in a position wherein she may feel that she has to explain or justify herself to anyone who perceives her statements to somehow help one of the most hated people in America," he said in court, reading from a written statement. "It should also be considered how her memorialized words will affect her emotionally and psychologically in the future if she believes she's party to assisting the effort to put me to death."
Komisarjevsky and co-defendant Steven Hayes were convicted of capital felony and other charges stemming from the killing of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, at their Cheshire home. Hayes is on death row.
The penalty phase for Komisarjevsky is now underway.
"This isn't just some detached intellectual argument on my part. Of all the parties involved I have the most at stake. My life is quite literally on the line," Komisarjevsky said. "In this particular situation I have carefully weighed the potential risks and have found that those risks and negative consequences to my daughter far outweigh the benefits of helping to save my life."
Judge Jon Blue has ruled that only the jury will be allowed to see the video. Everyone in the courtroom will hear it and credentialed members of the media can watch it sometime later.
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"The fact that it's gotten this far and a recording has been made has already caused significant damage in my daughter's relationships with family members," Komisarjevsky said.
