the first defendant, steven hayes, was convicted and sentenced to death last year.is alleged accomplice joshua komisarjevsky is set to get underway tomorrow. let's turn now to susan candiotti live outside the courthouse in new haven, connecticut. you talked to the jurors in the trial of steven hayes, and what did they tell you? >> reporter: you know, they talked about trauma that some of them still feel, and little things that trigger bad memories, like seeing the same model of the getaway car, or passing by the police station. they talked about painful memories that they share. they are three jurors who shared an experience that at times triggers haunting memories to this day. >> it's like a bad dream you can't wake up from and you can't control? >> reporter: serving on a jury who saw and heard painfully explicit evidence that steven hayes helped carry out the murder of jennifer hawke-petit, her 17-year-old daughter, hal hayley, and their other daughter, micaelmicaela. >> especially now seeing with new trial coming up, and i see flashes of josh on the television, t

the first man to stand trial in the case, steven hayes, was tried and convicted.dr. petit spoke about what helped him through that first trial. >> what matters to me most is my family and my memories, my memories of my family and trying to do good things through our foundation. i don't know. over the last couple of weeks, i just kept trying to tell myself that good will overcome evil and we'll keep trying to do good things and try to refocus myself on the positive and stay away from the negative. >> good will overcome evil. today, dr. petit testified in graphic detail about what happened the day the two men broke into his home, bringing his world crashing down around him. cnn's deborah feyerick was in the courtroom. >> my family is still gone. it doesn't bring them back. it doesn't bring back the home that we had. >> reporter: that's dr. william petit, the only survivor from a crime so tragic, so horrific, it defies logic. july 23, 2007, began as a normal summer day, dr. petit playing golf. his wife, jennifer, and daughter, michaela, at the beach. 17-year-old hayl

the first man to stand trial in the case, steven hayes, was tried and convicted.cted, dr. petit spoke about what helped him through that first trial. >> what matters to me most is my family and my memories, my memories of my family and trying to do good things through our foundation. i don't know. over the last couple of weeks, i just kept trying to tell myself that good will overcome evil and we'll keep trying to do good things and try to refocus myself on the positive and stay away from the negative. >> good will overcome evil. today, dr. petit testified in graphic detail about what happened the day the two men broke into his home, bringing his world crashing down around him. cnn's deborah feyerick was in the courtroom. >> my family is still gone. it doesn't bring them back. it doesn't bring back the home that we had. >> reporter: that's dr. william petit, the only survivor from a crime so tragic, so horrific, it defies logic. july 23, 2007, began as a normal summer day, dr. petit playing golf. his wife, jennifer, and daughter, michaela, at the beach. 17-year-ol

i mean we are talking about steven hayes, he was really portrayed as someone that wasn't very smart.history. just really someone on the outskirts of society. joshua on the other hand, the defense told us today, was working. was working in construction. had custody of his little daughter. a very, very different type of man. by all accounts, he grew up in cheshire, connecticut. affluent family. he was adopted by this family. and really seemed to be a part of the fabric of this community. so two very, very different men. and again, we're seeing something that i don't think any of white house reported about the first case expected joshua, never intended to kill anyone. so says the defense. >> i know i've read that some members of his familiar little be attending the trial bp but what about dr. pettit? was he there? was he there wearing his, you know, pettit foundation pin? >> he sure was. and you remember, brooke, he was there every single day of the hayes ial. listening to the details of the terrible tragedy that fell upon his family. his entire family was there. sister, jennifer hawk-p

bill: steven hayes out of washington. fox news is teaming up with google to host a republican presidential debate september 22nd in orlando, florida. you can submit your questions for the candidates. for the very first time you can actually vote on which questions you want the candidates to answer. love that, right? the topic, the questions. go to foxnews.com and online you can scroll down to the spotlight section and click on the presidential debate box and there is a link for to you submit your question. kick on the, ask a question tab. then you can either write us a question or submit a video for the candidates. you can also see other questions submitted and give them a thumbs up or thumbs down. the republican presidential debate hosted by fox news september 22nd along with google. give us a like or dislike. alisyn: great. i predict we'll get more creative suggestions. that's great. >>> there are serious new questions by a federal raid on the renowned gibson guitars. the government is questioning where the wood for gib

. >> the new haven public defender received death threats for his defense of steven hayes in the first trial. >> the quote was you dirt bag, i know where you and your family live, i will be seeing you, something to that effect it was is scary. >> fearing reprisals he was challenged to find representation for komisarjeski. >> how is it impacting the community? pouring salt back into the wounds? >> no question. you are traumatizing the entire public for what reason. for what i look at as blood thirsty revenge. >> geraldo: sometimes revenge is sweet, greg. how much is the trial costing? >> well, the defense of hayes cost just in the defense $2.25 million. so there is a lot of money involved. he is saying with appeals it could cost up to $10 million per suspect? how many people executed in connecticut? >> since1960 only 1. >> so 5 million today's kill these guys basically. >> at least $5 million to $8 million. it would have been better to take life without parole wheret there could have been streettrs justice in jail. an >> that is okay but sometimesas the death penalty is worth it. andlin

steven hayes lis on death row for the triple homicide that occurred in july, 2007.ice faces the same fate in a trial forcing this community to relive the brutal rape and murders of a mother and her daughters that forever altered the peace and tranquillity of this neighborhood. >> justice is served that's all. >> hard having to go through this. >> we prefer not to. >> as in the trial of steven haze sole survivor william pettitte sat stoically in front of the courtroom as jurors hear chilling details of a dooef have yous plan that would destroy an innocent family. >> one reason i am here is to try to hear some of the facts but i am not sure everything i hear will be the truth. >> tears flowed as they heard first hand accounts of how the pettittes were shoet ensta chosd stalked. >> in the first few seconds when that tape was played it is almost as if you could feel the air being sucked out of the room. >> thomas cast blame on hayes for the deadly outcome in his chilling confession. fox connecticut reporter laurie sanchez. >> when they got to the photo of 11-year-old mc

a very engaged joshua komisarjevsky, much different than we saw with steven hayes. >> it's interestingyes, his defense tried to lay the blame on komisarjevsky. now they're trying to blame hayes. any chance that will be more effective than it was the last time? >> you know, i have to tell you, i was very surprised in the courtroom when i saw the blame game being played out. you're right. they're saying that komisarjevsky was not the ring leader that, in fact, he had no intent to go in and murder these women. he only had the intent to go in and break in and steal. i will tell you the jury is certainly listening. the prosecution didn't give an opening statement, which is a bit unusual. the defense opening statement wasn't long, but it was pretty effective in painting joshua komisarjevsky as an almost sympathetic character in the sense that he had sole custody of his little girl. he was working at the time. and he was really only interested in stealing. he certainly wasn't interested in murder. so very, very different picture of komisarjevsky than i thought we were going to see based on th

a very engaged joshua komisarjevsky, much different than we saw with steven hayes. >> it's interestingse tried to lay the blame on komisarjevsky. now they're trying to blame hayes. any chance that will be more effective than it was the last time? >> you know, i have to tell you, i was very surprised in the courtroom when i saw the blame game being played out. you're right. they're saying that komisarjevsky was not the ring leader that, in fact, he had no intent to go in and murder these women. he only had the intent to go in and break in and steal. i will tell you the jury is certainly listening. the prosecution didn't give an opening statement, which is a bit unusual. the defense opening statement wasn't long, but it was pretty effective in painting joshua komisarjevsky as an almost sympathetic character in the sense that he had sole custody of his little girl. he was working at the time. and he was really only interested in stealing. he certainly wasn't interested in murder. so very, very different picture of komisarjevsky than i thought we were going to see based on the evidence we

case, laura ingle, jennifer, says that the defense in this case is being more aggressive than steven hayesas the first time around. i suppose that when you saw the sentence that hayes got, that's kind of the only approach you can take? >> i think, i think it really is. i mean, because if they want to protect him and they saw what happened to the other person, to hayes, i mean, clearly, they do have to be more aggressive. and i think you're dealing with two different people, and from what i understand is that hayes was sort of, he kind of knew and even sort of wanted the death penalty. he was looking for a punishment whereas this defendant, i don't feel, has that same feeling about it. he wants to be, to get off, to get out of this and not receive the death penalty. so i think you dealing with -- you're dealing with two different individuals as well, and maybe that's what's driving the defense to approach it differently. jon: the doctor has heard the testimony of other witnesses in another trial, does that bring up an appealable point in any way because he heard other witnesses' testimony i

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

his co-defendant steven hayes was sentenced to death last year.o men broke into the petit home. they made the mother go to the bank and withdraw money. while the suspects then killed her and set the house on fire killing their 11-year-old and 17-year-old daughters. our deborah feyerick just came out of the courtroom in new haven, connecticut. deborah, it is clearly one of the worst cases we've ever seen here, ever heard of. what do we know about what's going to happen with this guy? >> reporter: well, first of all the opening is today. very interesting. prosecution didn't even give one. they said the evidence is going to speak for itself. the defense on the other hand said the evidence is not in dispute. what's at issue is whether the suspect on trial joshua komisarjevsky, whether or not he intended to murder the wife in this particular tragedy. they said that according to the confession -- we're going to hear some of that -- according to the confession that in fact the plan was changing and as it changed, the two suspects became increasingly agit

you will recall his alleged accomplice, steven hayes, was convicted and sentenced to death last year. family of the -- of four was beatn in their home by two men who later set the house on fire. the father is william petit. he escaped the burning home but his wife and three daughters all died. he will be allowed to testify at the trial. and joining me from new haven, connecticut, a close friend of jennifer petit. her name is marilyn bartolli. how do you think that dr. petit will handle having to relive the death of his family, the murders all over again? >> don, i think he will handle it with the same grace and courage he's demonstrated throughout. it's been a long road for him and all of us who love him and the girls and the petit family. i'm sure he will handle it superbly as he always does. >> what can you share about the family and your connection to jennifer? >> i knew jennifer throw cheshire academy, through my son who is a graduate there and justin gravitated to jen as all the students did. she had a special way with children. we are both registered nurses and had a lot in comm

the argument in this case is unlike steven hayes, the original co-defendant.saying joshua komisarjevsky, who is the other defendant, is actually the principle defendant here. not only graphic evidence they are saying it's going to be worse. exactly right. it's going to be horrendous. >> no one can imagine how william petit can go through this again. he had to relive this again to hear these details. he's living with that kind of survivor's guilt, too, because he managed to live and his entire family was wiped out. is it going to be difficult to see the jury, richard? difficult to seat the jury? >> in any death penalty case, you would think difficult to seat the jury. there are a lot of jurors who want to be a participant in a death penalty case. they are not going to have a problem seating a jury there. this is quite a different scenario with the earlier case. here they could vote tomorrow and give the guy the death penalty. the judge put a gag order on me. if the public wants to convict him and punish him immediately. >> avery, real quick on that. >> judge jo

. >> reporter: serving on a jury who saw and heard painfully explicit evidence that steven hayes helpedry out the murder of jennifer hawke-petit, her 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 thinki

steven hayes a senior writer at "the weekly standard," is he a great republican flirt or are we movingit sounds like a campaign speech but that don't mean it was a campaign speech. it was funny monitoring twitter. some headlines said chris christie leaves the door open. chris christie loning towards getting in the race. others saying chris christie rules out a run for the white house. he's basically the rorschach test for republicans right now. it depend on whether you want to see him get in the race. bill: what does it say about how republicans feel about the current field? >> i believe there is some dissatisfaction about the current republican field. i think herman cain had a strong message and that's part of the reason he won. but there is no question there is dissatisfaction with the current field. and there has been this timing for chris christie and other candidates before him. bill: does it suggest a feeling of desperation? >> certainly the woman who asked the question last night sound desperate. practically begging chris christie to get in the race, saying the country needs him

. >> steven hayes reported this of the weekly standard that bonservative group freedom wors that promised to oppose mitt romney, they are rethinking that notion in the wake of perry's performance at the debate and so are the voters. we'll put it occupant screen. when perry announced his candidacy mid-august, rasmussen pol leading romney but look. daow perperr has only a 4-point lead. 28% and that was before the i t meate 28% to bu4%. is romney looking better and better perry shows up at debate? >> that is what wong ve seen. i also thi: l that ultimately. if there is one things that republicans want partiseclaa badm can defeat barack obama in the next year. off the past year and with the i t meate performanoffs there hs been a waning of that confidence that initialm had in governor perperr or they thought that was going to be there. they didn't see it on tful?rsda. >e saieactregg let's talk aboute of the other people in the lorida.ld. michele bacbalann, initialm a strong start. seems to be falling behind in the polls. she is having trouble raising money reportedly. how do you handicap her

steven hayes was sentenced to death last year.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 daughter. >> reporter: he writes about his dreams of becoming a real estate developer. >> my daughter needs me and can't ak kplish my goals when i'm locked up. he is now beh

and it's fascinating because steven hayes didn't really have anyone there to support him.ach other and our in session camera man, we saw his father leaving the courtroom. our camera man asked him how do you feel and in response, he asked him, how would you feel. his family is there and i think that adds a different dynamic and one quick thing. jennifer hawk petit's father also spoke to the father and there was a bit of compassion between the two men, so a very emotional 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

the defendant goes on in his monotone delivery 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 use

cross-examination of witnesses, the defense continues to hammer home the theory that it was the other suspect, steven hayes inside the home. now jurors are hearing it from the defendant himself. he told detectives that hayes was, quote, freaking out over leaving behind dna during the home invasion and told him, we have to kill them. he then says that hayes got frustrated and said, quote, i'll take care of everyone and said hayes was the one who poured gasoline on the stairs and all through the bedrooms and is the one who lit the match. it continues now. we'll bring you the latest as it develops from connecticut. jon: laura ingle, such an awful story. thanks for that report. jenna: you have to take a breath after it, don't you? it's intense. but we're going to continue to follow the developments and see how justice will be served there in that case. >>> in the meantime, we're going to turn back to politics now. there won't be any gloves in tonight's presidential debate, but rick perry and mitt romney will surely be trading jabs, hoping to score points with the voters. chris wallace is going to join us with

stevens hayes sentenced. the alleged mastermind is about to go to trial.haven, deb feyerick. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. one of those crimes that simply defies imagination, because it was so random. you have two convicted felons out on parole. 's they decide to burglarize a home in a quiet, peaceful connecticut neighborhood. what ensued was the torture and murder of a wife and two children while the husband defenseless in the backyard beating bloody almost beyond recognition. now, today the trial of joshua begins. the alleged mastermind. 26 years old at the time this crime took place about four years ago and it's his own writing that could convict him. he first of all did a 90-minute taped statement followed by a 40-page written letter and journals that were apparently found in his cell. in it he details the crime, how it took place. how they burglarized the home and went upstairs tying up the children, forcing the wife to a bank to withdraw cash so they could get some $15,000 as part of this crime. in it he describes the 11-year-old girl as "

steven hayes joining us from milwaukee.he u.s. open but she surely stole the show. >> her new opponent, the ref and she didn't let up and the president is about to hand over his jobs to all the congress b at the cost of nearly a billion dollars. joining us shortly. ♪ okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole gin oats that can helpower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing businesses use machine-to-mhine technology from verizon wireless. susie ! the vending machine... already filled. cool bike. because the business with the best technology rules.