Posted on 09/26/2011 11:44:13 PM PDT by KingofZion
A 17-year-old girl who died in a gruesome home invasion that also killed her sister and mother likely took up to several minutes to die of smoke inhalation after her house was doused in gasoline and set on fire, a medical examiner testified Monday.
Dr. Malka Shah could not say if burns found on Hayley Petit's body occurred before or after she died. Shah testified in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, who faces a possible death sentence if he's convicted. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted last year and is on death row.
Hayley had been tied in her bed and left to die in the fire that prosecutors said both men set, but her body was found at the top of the staircase. Her 11-year-old sister, Michaela, also died of smoke inhalation in her bed. The girls' mother was raped and strangled.
Hayley's clothes smelled of gas, she had remnants of rope tightly tied on her, burns all over her body and her lungs were filled with carbon monoxide, said Shah, of the chief medical examiner's office. Inhaling smoke and hot air would have been painful and such deaths can take anywhere from a few to several minutes, Shah said.***
Jurors were shown the autopsy photos and a few fought back tears.
Authorities say Komisarjevsky and Hayes broke into the house in Cheshire in July 2007, beat Dr. William Petit with a bat, then tied him, his wife and two daughters up as they looked for money. Hayes later drove the woman, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to a bank so she could make a withdrawal and then raped and strangled her after they returned to the house, police said.
Komisarjevsky and Hayes have blamed each other for escalating the violence, but prosecutors say both men are equally responsible.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Not that I'm an advocate for vigilantism, of course. I believe in the rule of law, but let's be honest here: those deputies who transport prisoners make sure to keep several feet distant from their perp for good reason.
I wonder if the father is now pro-gun?
There is a level of visceral anger stirred up by nightmares like this that make my own thoughts uncomfortable.
These guys should die in the same way that they killed
no mercy what-so-ever
Actually, if convicted, I’m all for impalement, followed with a nice bonfire around each stake. But that’s just me...
In the case of Hayes, jury took about 4 hours before returning a guilty verdict. Sentenced to 6 consecutive death penalties plus 106 years.
I wouldn’t have taken 4 hours. I’m guessing they probably took an hour break for lunch.
On the other hand, they were ruling on 16 counts. So that’s about 15 minutes per count.
I’m an advocate of swift execution by next of kin, given legitimate sentencing of course.
Decent parents would be assisting the prosecution of these animals.
Oh...I’m perfectly comfortable with the thoughts this inspires. In a better world I’d be ashamed of myself for thinking the,. But I’m not in a better world.
You know some Native American tribes, when they took a warrior from a rival tribe hostage, would bring the guy to the women to torture. Women can be quite vicious when their families are threatened. Perhaps they should tie these two to a chair and bring in a few female members of the Petit family. I guess the family had no guns for protection?
Cindie
The sad part is how much I would probably enjoy meting out justice here. I logged on just for this story, it bugged me that much.
Skin color does not denote evil from my understanding.
Juries like to make it look good, like they’re not actually anxious to get the heck out of there and go home. So they take a vote and play cards for a couple hours.
These guys sound like Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ killers - - two guys, each of whom thinks the other is so cool they need to constantly impress him. They end up trying to outdo each other.
Logically, she would not have gotten free of the bed until the ropes burned through, by which time she would have been considerably burned herself.
Very little chance that even Connecticut will let these blatant murderers skate the chair (or the needle).
Reading the details encourages the belief that we may have, in fact, become too civilized. Start em off with a good stretch. Just before the swim...
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