Joshua Komisarjevsky sentenced to death in Hawke-Petit Connecticut home invasion (VIDEO)

Joshua Komisarjevsky, convicted over the Connecticut home invasion murders, has been sentenced to death for raping and strangling a woman and killing her two daughters.

Twelve jurors took more five days to decide that Komisarjevsky, 31, should join his accomplice Steven Hayes on Connecticut's death row, CNN reported.

The grisly nature of the case, which included a six-week penally phase, led to the defeat of a bill to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut, the Associated Press reported, adding that:

The jury rejected defense attorneys' request to spare his life in light of the sexual abuse [Komisarjevsky] suffered as a boy.

The jury voted for death by lethal injection on each of the six counts against Komisarjevsky.

(GlobalPost reports: Second trial in Cheshire, Connecticut home invasion case begins)

Komisarjevsky and Hayes, both paroled burglars, were convicted separately for their parts in the 2007 murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and Hayley Petit, 17, and the sexual assault and murder of Michaela Petit, 11. 

Their bodies were found in the charred remains of the house. The girls were alive and tied to their beds when the fire began, and the triple murder has been called the most horrific crime in Connecticut's history.

The only survivor, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up but escaped.

Sitting in the courtroom's front row where he had been throughout Komisarjevsky's trial, he "displayed no emotion other than to put his arm around his sister" as the verdict was pronounced, according to ABC News.

The AP quoted a prosecutor as saying in closing arguments that the two men created "the ultimate house of horrors" by inflicting extreme psychological and physical pain.

"It was shockingly brutal. It was evil. It was vicious," prosecutor Gary Nicholson said.

Komisarjevsky's lawyers blamed Hayes for the killings, saying he was the criminal mastermind when the two men broke into the Petit family home. Hayes was sentenced to death last year.

They described their client as "doomed from birth," arguing that their client had no history of violence and had been committed to a mental hospital for depression.

They also said his strict religious family never got Komisarjevsky psychological help after he was repeatedly sexually abused as a child by his foster brother.

"The only option he ever had was to go through life damaged," defense attorney Walter Bansley said in his closing argument. 

Witnesses during the trial included Komisarjevsky's sister, who testified that he molested her as a young girl.

Testimony from Komisarjevsky's 9-year-old daughter was also shown to the jury.

(GlobalPost reports: Judge to decide if girl, 9, can testify in Connecticut home invasion murders) 

According to the AP:

Komisarjevsky will join 10 other men on Connecticut's death row. The state has executed only one man since 1960, and the 31-year-old Komisarjevsky will likely spend years, if not decades, in prison.