hawke-petit drive to the bank. you're watching a wife, a mother, in a desperate attempt to save her family. that's jenniferillance video telling the bank teller that her husband and two daughters are being held hostage and she needs to withdraw $15,000 in ransom money. minutes later, jennifer petit leaves the bank. police, alerted by the bank manager, were dispatched to surround the house but ordered not to approach it. they say that's normal protocol in a hostage situation. when steven hayes returns from the bank with jennifer hawke-petit, it is 10:00 in the morning, nearly seven hours after the intruders broke into the home. dr. petit hears a commotion and cries out. one of the men says, don't worry, it will all be over in a couple of minutes. that's when dr. petit hears a hissing sound and says, i realized, quote, i had to get out. in a burst of adrenaline, the desperate husband and father frees himself from his basement prison. he rolls to a neighbor's driveway, bleeding badly and calling out for help. by now, nearly 40 minutes have passed since the bank manager called 911. police are still outside. in

hawke-petit drive to the bank. you're watching a wife, a mother, in a desperate attempt to save her family. that's jennifer surveillance video telling the bank teller that her husband and two daughters are being held hostage and she needs to withdraw $15,000 in ransom money. minutes later, jennifer petit leaves the bank. police, alerted by the bank manager, were dispatched to surround the house but ordered not to approach it. they say that's normal protocol in a hostage situation. when steven hayes returns from the bank with jennifer hawke-petit, it is 10:00 in the morning, nearly seven hours after the intruders broke into the home. dr. petit hears a commotion and cries out. one of the men says, don't worry, it will all be over in a couple of minutes. that's when dr. petit hears a hissing sound and says, i realized, quote, i had to get out. in a burst of adrenaline, the desperate husband and father frees himself from his basement prison. he rolls to a neighbor's driveway, bleeding badly and calling out for help. by now, nearly 40 minutes have passed since the bank manager called 911. police are still outsi

it is heartbreaking as terrifying, joshua komisarjevsky is charged with killing jennifer hawke-petiter two daughters during a home invasion. she was strangled and her daughters tied to their beds died of smoke inhalation. steven hayes was sentenced to death last year. both men already had long criminal histories when their paths kroogsed. now a look at komisarjevsky and what brought him to the petit's home on the morning of july 23rd. >> a hint of violence, a disturbing prediction of what might come, buried in in letter from prison. >> i need someone like you to keepmy grounded in the future when my criminal demon starts to wander. >> reporter: joshua komisarjevsky accused of killing jennifer hawke-petit and her two daughters was worried about his criminal demon. days after the attack we interviewed this woman who told us she was a close friend. she asked us not to show her face but shared the letters she says he sent her from prison years before. >> prison was a hard pill for me to swallow, there isn't a day that goes by that i don't get angry or feel the pain of being taken from my

what might have driven them to sexually assault and strangle jennifer hawke-petit and leave her two beautifulo die in a fire they had set? forensic psychiatrist helen morrison has studied cases like this. >> it appears that both of them were really consumed with rage at the unfairness of their lives, so to speak. >> reporter: komisarjevsky was adopt z as an infant. his grandfather was a leading russian three at rickal director and the son of a princess. his grandmother a well known modern dancer. his parents, born again christians, had trouble controlling him. his friend told us that just five days before the murders, komisarjevsky was distraught over a breakup. >> he was really depressed. >> reporter: she said if he did kill jennifer hawke-petit and her girls, something snapped. >> he put the terror into these poor girls' hearts. he was a person that they spent their last hours in fear for their lives. and he left them to burn. >> reporter: a senseless act, not even a history of crime can explain. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> such a horrific crime. sunny hostin, legal contributor for "in se

what might have driven them to sexually assault and strangle jennifer hawke-petit and leave her two beautifule they had set? forensic psychiatrist helen morrison has studied cases like this. >> it appears that both of them were really consumed with rage at the unfairness of their lives, so to speak. >> reporter: komisarjevsky was adopted as an infant. his grandfather was a leading russian theatrical director and the son of a princess. his grandmother a well known modern dancer. his parents, born-again christians, had trouble controlling him. his friend told us that just five days before the murders, komisarjevsky was distraught over a breakup. >> he was really depressed. >> reporter: she said if he did kill jennifer hawke-petit and her girls, something snapped. >> he put the terror into these poor girls' hearts. he was a person that they spent their last hours in fear for their lives. and he left them to burn. >> reporter: a senseless act, not even a history of crime can explain. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> such a horrific crime. sunny hostin, legal contributor for "in session" on trutv joi

. >> when no cash was found in the home he said hayes forced 48-year-old jennifer hawk petit to withdrawars from her bank while her family was found hostage. hayes later raped and strangled her. >> we have a lady in our bank right now who says her husband and children are being held at their house, that if the police are told they will kill their children and the husband. >> most disturbing of all his account of his assault on 11-year-old mckayla. >> did he just say he performed oral sex on this 11-year-old child with a pillow case over her head and cut her clothes off with scissors? >> it's a horrific event obviously with horrible consequences. >> new haven public defender thomas you willmallman received threats. >> the quote was you dirt bag i know where you and your family lived. i will be seeing you something to that effect. >> fearing reprisal allman was challenged to find representation for thomas. which he feels is costly and unnecessary. >> how is it impacting this community? is it pouring assault back into the wound? >> there is no question. you are traumatizing the entire publi

that sound he now knows was his wife, jennifer hawke-petit, being raped and strangled by steven hayes called out, someone called back, dn't worry, it will all be over in a minute. this was just after hayes returned home from hawke-petit from the bank and told her no one would be hurt if she withdrew $15,000. cross-examination today, aggressively so about how clear his memory is today after hearing previous courtroom testimony. now, the defendant's defense opened the trial yesterday by telling jurors it was hayes who escalated the violence in the petit home, that hayes is the one that poured the gasoline around the girls, the homes, the bed and lit the match and argued during the event repeatedly saying that hayes was the one that took off his gloves, spread his prints around and panicked and wanted to kill the family. petit says he only heard one voice throughout the ordeal. both defendants try today plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, but prosecutors both went forward as -- with trying this as a death penalty case. prosecutors

they're saying it was steven hayes who strangled, and raped jennifer hawke-petit.one that bought the gasoline and then lit the house on fire. the two daughters afsphyxiating because of the smoke. basically saying yes, joshua cokomisarjevsky saw mrs. petit d followed her home thinking it was and good target for a home invasion, yes, he did hit dr. petit in the head with a bat, but the defense is trying to soften his image by pointing out had he a job in construction and had physical custody of his daughter really an interesting dynamic. remember so much has already been heard in the first trial that they're really going to have to bring an energy so that the jurors will focus, pay attention so that it sounds fresh again. but right now the defense saying we will show that you cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that komisarjevsky intended to kill these people. >> it is interesting though to see how his own words, how komisarjevsky's own words might be used against him. because he has spoken about this case, he's written in a diary that cnn has actually gotten from

saw and heard painfully explicit evidence that steven hayes helped carry out the murder of jennifer hawke-petitr 17-year-old daughter hayley and 11-year-old michaela. murders described as pure evil. >> you are capturing all of what's said and processing it. and a lot of that was painful stuff. >> especially now with seeing the new trial coming up and i see flashes of josh on the television. that's when some of the bad feelings do come up. >> reporter: feelings from powerful testimony that mrs. hawke-petit was forced to withdraw money from a bank, take it home, raped and strangled. her daughters were tied to their beds and set afire. young michaela was sexually assaulted. mr. petit was severely beaten but escaped. some images are inescapable. >> when i look at fire now it almost always comes to mind. >> reporter: what was the experience like for you? >> i can imagine michaela was the same way as my daughter was. happy. had a good family. they did things together, and just to imagine the terror she was going through at that time and what she was thinking about. so that's -- i try not to think abo

saw and heard painfully explicit evidence that steven hayes helped carry out the murder of jennifer hawke-petitughter, hal hayley, and their other daughter, micaelmicaela. >> especially now seeing with new trial coming up, and i see flashes of josh on the television, that's when some of the bad feelings do come up. >> feelings from powerful testimony that mrs. hawke-petit was forced to withdraw money from a bank, taken home, raped, and strangled. her daughters were tied to their beds and set afire. the youngest daughter was sexually assaulted. >> when i look at fire now, it almost always comes to mind. >> what was the experience like for you? >> i could imagine michaela was the same way as my daughter was, you know, happy, had a good family. they did things together and just to imagine the terror she was going through at that time and what she was thinking about. so that's -- i try not to think about it, just because, like right now, i'm getting upset thinking about it. >> reporter: steven hayes was sentenced to death in december. now a second jury will have to face alleged mastermind, joshua k

jennifer hawk petit's father also spoke to the father and there was a bit of compassion between the twoional day between the two men. >> we'll check back in with you tomorrow. thank you so much and thank you for watching. time to turn things over to wolf blitzer. "the situation room" starts right now. wolf? -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

we now know that was jennifer hawke-petit being raped by steven hayes before he strangled her and afterer to withdraw $15,000 from the bank. accused of assaulting the youngest daughter, michaela, has been blaming hayes for escalating the violence and being the one who poured the gasoline and lit the fire that ignited the home and left the daughters to die of smoke inhalation. the defense is taking a much different approach than the trial last year, they are aggressive and will cross-examine pettitte today. they've also been complaining about the doctor and his family members wearing pins to honor his family calling them the posse. the prosecution clearly objecting to that type of language being used in front of jurors, the judge is allowing them to leave those pins on. and also the defense is about to cross-examine dr. pettitte, that was something that they had wanted to limit the testimony today in describing his life before the home invasion. they lost that bid. the doctor just telling jurors about his life before this home invasion. he had a home that is no longer standing, an occupa

describing how he and his convicted accomplice steven hayes then creeped up the stairs to find jennifer-hawk petit and her youngest daughter a sleep in the master bedroom. he says haze put his hand over the mother's mouth an did the same to 11 years michaela. >> they were very confused as to what was going on but very compliant. i told her to roll over on her stomach and put her hands behind their back. >> reporter: his version of events in the audiotape include the sexual assault of 11-year-old michaela before the house was set on fire. jurors have seen for the first time the last images of michaela with her mother in a surveillance video taken at a grocery store the day before the home invasion. it was at this grocery store that the defendant admits to zeroing in on the petits as a target for a home invasion after thgot to their family car. the two were shopping for what would be their last meal. jurors are now hearing testimony about evidence found inside the home, including ropes and scarfs found tied to the bed posts that the suspects used as restraints. jon back to you. jon: that is so awful

finish jurors were shown graphic photos of jennifer hawke-petit and her daughter.man, shown op your screen, faces the death penalty if convicted. jon: amanda knox will soon learn whether she goes free or back to jail, perhaps for life. the american student is appealing her murder conviction in italy, and a judge will announce on monday whether knox goes free. she's serving a 26-year sentence for the murder of meredith kim cher. diana ten is a criminal defense attorney. fred, it's going to be all up to this judge now. he has heard the appeal, what does he rule? >> well, you know, it's interesting, jon, you know, i was able to call blagojevich, madoff, even lindsay lohan, but this case, i think s a little more difficult to call. i still think there's sufficient evidence to convict her of murder. i think these court-appointed experts, all they did was throw rocks at the dna science. they really didn't come out and directly contradict it. at the end of the day, the one fact i keep pointing to is what did amanda knox do when she got arrested? she pointed the finger at a

and it's such a hard thing to talk about, and then in a remarkable gesture of goodwill, jennifer hawke-petit'ssle and shook hands with the father of the defendant. when i asked the reverend late wlaer they spoke about, reverend hawke told me he must be hurting as much as us and paused and said, well, maybe not as much. >> you know what i was thinking through all that, the person with the life sentence is dr. petit. he's got live with this the rest of his life. no way out for him. what's this trial exactly trying to prove? >> the second of two trials. the first defendant was convicted, now on death row. the likelihood the same will happen, what komisarjevskys lawyers, they're trying to get him to avoid the death penalty. >> say heg wasn't interested in killing anybody. involved in everything else but didn't want to kill anybody. >> exactly right. intent. they did show the ties used to bind dr. petit, those were not ties originally in the house. in fact, these two invaders, they did bring certain equipment, certain things that clearly showed that this wasn't just, let's get in, let's get out. ta

petit, his sister, father, mother, jennifer hawk pettit's father and mother.iends and family. it was a packed seating for that side of the family. >> what about the family of the suspect. i understand they are expected to appear during the trial. were they there today? >> they are expected to appear and during prelimb preliminary. there was a woman who sat on his side briefly, but she left and we were never able to figure out who she was. >> you tweeted that judge said they expect this case it take no more than three weeks. bottom line, since there are so many similarities, as you point out, helen, what is the biggest different this go-round to you? >> you're right. in a lot of wayes this is a very similar trial as the one for steven hays. last year. the same horrific details of a home invasion gone bad. today we heard from witnesses we heard from during the first trial. the biggest differences right now is we have a very different defendant. unlike steven hays, joshua was very engaged. he was listening, came in with his suit and tie. where steven hays came in