Judge May Release Komisarjevsky Witness Lists This Week

This might be the week when the court releases witness lists for the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky to the media.

Judge Jon C. Blue ordered the witness lists released to the Hartford Courant last month, but stayed the order to allow defense lawyers for Komisarjevsky to seek a review by another court.

The stay has been extended at least twice. Last week, Blue extended it until Wednesday, April 20, following a motion by the Children’s Law Center of Connecticut to remove the name of Komisarjevsky’s nine-year-old daughter from the list.

Komisarjevsky faces the death penalty as the second defendant in the Cheshire home invasion triple homicide in 2007. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was found guilty last year and is on death row.

According to news reports, Komisarjevsky  put his daughter, then age five, to bed and read her a story from the Bible before committing the home invasion later that night.

News reports last week said the defense attorneys would not say if they intend to call the girl as a witness. Lawyers, prosecutors and others involved in the trial are under a gag order not to talk about the case.

Jury selection continues today. Last week, lawyers chose the sixth member of the jury, which now consists of four women and two men.