Komisarjevsky's Defense Seeks to Suppress His Post-Arrest Statements

Defense lawyers for Joshua Komisarjevsky have asked to suppress his post-arrest statements, including his confession, on the grounds that police violated his Miranda rights during their interrogation.

A defense motion filed Wednesday (see attached pdf) claims that a Cheshire Police detective and a State Police detective who interrogated Komisarjevsky questioned him without a lawyer present after he had crashed an automobile and gone without sleep for nearly two days.

Komisarjevsky had waived his right to have an attorney present, but the defense motion said because of his mental and emotional condition, it was questionable whether he could validly waive his Miranda rights.

Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty as the second Cheshire home invasion defendant, charged with kidnapping, robbing and murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. He is also charged with severely beating Dr. William Petit and sexually assaulting Michaela.

His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted last year and is on death row.

Komisarjevsky’s trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 19 in New Haven Superior Court.

"Whether the defendant has knowingly and intelligently waived his rights under Miranda depends in part on the competency of the defendant, or, in other words, on his ability to understand and act on his constitutional rights," the defense motion says.

According to the defense, Komisarjevsky made two statements, the first about the home invasion murders and the second about burglaries he and Hayes allegedly committed the previous day.

When the first statement was concluded, the defense attorneys said Komisarjevsky had not slept for 29 to 31 hours. When the second statement concluded, they said he had not slept for 41 to 43 hours.

The defense said the effect of the lengthy interrogation during such a long period without sleep is similar to sleep deprivation techniques used by the CIA when questioning terrorist suspects.

"Although the defense does not claim that the Cheshire and state police consciously utilized sleep deprivation in order to obtain Mr. Komisarjevsky’s statements, the defense does contend that because of both lack of sleep and the effects of the accident in which Mr. Komisarjevsky had just been involved, the state failed to establish that Mr. Komisarjevsky’s waiver was knowingly made and that his statements were voluntarily made," the motions says.

An article this week in the Hartford Courant reported that the material the defense wishes to suppress includes Komisarjevsky’s 90-minute tape-recorded confession and drawings he drew of the layout of the Petit’s house where the murders took place.

An article by the Associated Press said in his statements, Komisarjevsky claimed that murdering Hawke-Petit and her daughters was Hayes’ idea, something he never intended to do and did not participate in.

The AP said it has obtained a copy of Komisarjevsky’s statements. Prosecutors read excerpts from them in court in March.

In those statements, Komisarjevsky told police that Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, Hayes doused the victims with gasoline and Hayes lit the fire.

Komisarjevsky admitted to beating Petit with a baseball bat and molesting 11-year-old Michaela.