Thirty-one-year-old Joshua Komisarjevsky is set to go on trial Monday in New Haven Superior Court and faces a possible death sentence if convicted. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year.
Authorities say the two paroled burglars broke into a Cheshire home in July 2007, beat Dr. William Petit and killed his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their two daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley. Dr. Petit survived.
Prosecutors say Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, and Komisarjevsky sexually molested Michaela. The two girls were tied up and died of smoke inhalation after the home was set on fire.
