On Wednesday afternoon, the medical examiner took the stand as a long day of difficult testimony continues and the judge warned the jury that they will be seeing some "clearly disturbing photos."
Before the medical examiner began to testify about the autopsy or the autopsy photos were shown, the Petit and Hayes families left the courtroom for the first time since the case began.
The new testimony and graphic images come after police addressed Steven Hayes'emotional state as he was questioned about the July 2007 Cheshire home invasion that left Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 dead. Testimony also centered on the sexual assaults of two the three victims.
Hayes told police that he and Joshua Komisarjevsky had planned to break into the Petits’ house, tie people up, take their money and leave as fast as they could, according to testimony in court on Tuesday.
But, as Hayes has reportedly told police, “things got out of control.”
When fire responders arrived at the Petit home, they found three people dead. The house that had been burned to the ground. Dr. William Petit was the only survivor of the attack.
Detective Anthony Buglione said on Wednesday that Hayes was alert and coherent as police questioned him about the Cheshire home invasion.
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"There was no emotion I would describe it as being flat,” Buglione said.
Hayes told the detective that he and Komisarjevsky had met a year before, at a halfway house where they attended Alcoholics Anonymous together.
Buglione testified that Hayes told him: "My life sucks." He had no money, barely enough to eat and his mother had given him until the end of the week to use the car.
Buglione said the story of how he Komisarjevsky met up before the crimes varied, but Hayes told police he called "Josh" and said he was desperate. Komisarjevsky asked how serious and Hayes said very.
The two men were in Komisarjevsky’s mother’s van when they ended up in neighborhood, walked up to the backyard yard of house, saw light coming from the back porch and man asleep on porch.
They entered through the basement and searched for money before the violence began, according to testimony.
You can read the tweets below as Diana Perez tweets live from the courtroom.
Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, who awaits trial, face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of the capital felony, murder and sexual assault charges.
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