Second trial in Cheshire, Connecticut home invasion case begins

A second man charged in connection with a gruesome 2007 home invasion in Connecticut, in which a mother and her two daughters were killed, will go on trial Monday.

Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, faces a death sentence if convicted in the attack on the Petit family, the Associated Press reports. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year.

Police say that Komisarjevsky and Hayes, both paroled burglars who had met at a halfway house, broke into a Cheshire, Connecticut home in July 2007. They beat Dr. William Petit with a baseball bat, and raped and killed his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

The two daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17, were tied up and died of smoke inhalation after the home was set on fire, the AP says. Prosecutors say Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit, and Komisarjevsky sexually molested Michaela.

Dr. Petit survived the attack, and fled to a neighbor's house to seek help. He is attending the Cheshire trial with several members of his family, the Hartford Courant reports.

Komisarjevsky faces 17 counts in the home invasion, including kidnapping, burglary, arson, assault and capital murder, The New York Times reports. 

Prosecutors are seeking the death sentence for Komisarjevsky, who has been described as "the smarter and more manipulative of the two," the Times reports. 

“I am not the monster that Josh is,” Hayes once wrote, according to the Times.

Last month, five armed men broke into a home in a wealthy North Branford neighborhood, about 15 miles from Cheshire. The intruders tied up the family for hours and threatened to kidnap a 3-year-old boy if they didn't get money. The residents were able to free themselves and call police.