Suspect in Triple Murder Trial Smiles and Waves

Feb. 15, 2011— -- A Connecticut judge who presided over a grisly trial of man sentenced to death for three murders during a home invasion will be allowed to preside over the trial of the man's accomplice, a court ruled today.

Accused killer Joshua Komisarjevsky, whose murder trial is scheduled to being March 14, appeared relaxed and smiled during the proceedings and waved to his father in the courtroom.

Komisarjevsky, 30, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted for the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters 11-year old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley in their Cheshire, Conn., home in 2007.

Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of the attack, was also in the courtroom today.

Komisarjevsky's alleged accomplice Steven Hayes was convicted last November and sentenced to death.

Both men were accused of breaking into the Petit home, beating Dr. Petit with a baseball bat and tying him to a post.

According to court documents, the two then ransacked the house, and at one point Hayes drove Hawke-Petit to the bank and forced her to withdraw money. The mother was later raped and strangled. One of the girls was also sexually assaulted. Both girls were tied to their beds, while the house and their beds were doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Only Dr. Petit was able to escape.

Hayes readily admitted his guilt, was meekly quiet during his trial and even said he was grateful for the death sentence. Komisarjevsky's trial, however, will likely be different.

"In ordinary cases you go out of your way to instruct your client on how to behave," said Hugh Keefe, a New Haven defense attorney who is not involved in the Petit trial. "The problem here is it doesn't make any difference because the evidence is so overwhelming... but I doubt that his antics or conduct will make any difference."

Komisarjevsky and his legal team has peppered the court with a series of motions that have already delayed the trial from Feb. 22 to mid March.

Among his requests was to remove Judge Jon Blue, who presided over Hayes' trial, from presiding over the new trial claiming the judge was too emotionally involved in the case.

The defense team cited examples of bias that included cookies being handed out during the trial and that some of the cookies were given to supporters of the Petit family, and that Blue creating reserved seating for family members and the media, and encouraged jurors to hug each other after some graphic testimony during the Hayes trial.