NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The father of a woman brutally killed with her daughters shook hands with the father of one of her accused killers in a Connecticut courtroom Tuesday.
The Rev. Richard Hawke went up to Benedict Komisarjevsky before the start of testimony at the second day of Joshua Komisarjevsky's trial, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported. Soon after, Hawke's son-in-law, Dr. William Petit Jr., was on the witness stand, describing in graphic detail what he saw the day his wife and daughters died in 2007.
"I just wanted to say I am sorry about what happened," Hawke said, while the other man responded with a nod. "God Bless You."
Petit, who testified at the trial of Steven Hayes last year, once again described waking up in the basement of his home in Cheshire, Conn., tied to a pole and covered in blood, The New York Times reported. He eventually escaped and got to a neighbor's house.
Jacqueline Hawke-Petit and the couple's daughters, Michaela and Hayley, died when their killers set the house on fire.
Hayes has already received a death sentence. Komisarjevsky's lawyers cross-examined Petit on whether his recollection of what happened is accurate, given the physical and emotional trauma he suffered, ABC News said.
The defense is trying to convince the jury Komisarjevsky played a secondary role in the crime and does not deserve a death sentence.
