Komisarjevsky's Lawyers Use More Challenges

The defense for Joshua Komisarjevsky used two more peremptory challenges during jury selection Tuesday, coming closer to its limit without picking a juror.

A source knowledgeable about jury selection for Komisarjevsky, the second Cheshire home invasion defendant, said the defense used two challenges while prosecutors didn’t use any Tuesday.

That means the defense has used 25 challenges, almost two-thirds of its limit. The prosecution has used 19, the source said.

Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty for the 2007 home invasion robbery in which Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, were killed.

Each side gets a maximum of 40 peremptory challenges, which it can used to excuse a juror without giving a reason. Usually the reason is the lawyers believe the juror would favor the other side.

Prosecutors use their challenges to excuse jurors who are against the death penalty, even if they said they could sentence Komisarjevsky to death according to Connecticut’s capital punishment law.

Defense lawyers have a tougher task. They must weed out jurors who might want to be on the trial jury because they already decided the defendant should be sentenced to death, based on what they have heard or read about the case.

The ninth juror was picked last Thursday. So far, six women and three men have been picked.

Jury selection resumes today in New Haven Superior Court.