Diary of Co-Defendant Grabs Spotlight in Conn. Murder Trial

(Oct. 20) -- The Connecticut home invasion and murder trial got still darker this week, as defense attorneys for convicted murderer Steven Hayes read aloud from the diary of the other accused killer in an attempt to prove that he and not Hayes was the mastermind behind the brutal 2007 crime.

"The awakening of my shaddow [sic], repressed within, reaching its zenith that morning with the rapturous control of Michaela," accused killer and rapist Joshua Komisarjevsky wrote of the murders in his journal while in prison, according to the New York Post.

Hayes, 47, was convicted of capital murder earlier this month and could face the death penalty. Prosecutors say he and Komisarjevsky, 29, broke into the Cheshire, Conn., home of Dr. William Petit and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, in July 2007 and began a horrifying campaign of terror that left Jennifer and her daughters -- Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 -- dead.

Only Dr. Petit, who was badly beaten with a baseball bat, managed to escape. Hayes raped and strangled Jennifer, and prosecutors say Komisarjevsky raped Michaela.

In the sentencing phase of the closely watched Connecticut trial, defense attorneys presented some of the most disturbing evidence yet in the hopes of proving Hayes was less depraved than Komisarjevsky and should not be executed for his crimes.

Tuesday, that strategy meant that the disturbing rants of Komisarjevsky, who wrote in his diary that he "lost control" that night and enjoyed it, were front and center.

"Hayley is a fighter," Komisarjevsky wrote in one entry, according to the Hartford Courant. "She continually tried time and time again to free herself and reach help for her family." In the end, though, prosecutors say the men tied Hayley and Michaela to their beds, doused them with gasoline and set them on fire.

Petit sat in the courtroom in silence as he listened to the defense read from the diary of Komisarjevsky, who called the husband and father a coward. "Mr. Petit is a coward, he ran away when he felt his own life was threatened," Komisarjevsky wrote, according to ABC News. "Time and time again I gave him the chance to save his family."

The 46-page diary was filled with poetry about the night of the attacks.

"My pain to yours does not compare/How could I have turned my back, walking out that door/Knowing your fear and sorrow," Komisarjevsky wrote in a poem about Michaela, according to the Post.

After the day's testimony, Petit told reporters he had little to say about the journal entries of one of the men accused of destroying his family. "I really don't want to dignify the ravings of a sociopath who appears to be a pathological liar as well," he said.

The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Nov. 1 on whether Hayes should receive the death penalty.