Community Corner
Komisarjevsky Defense Uses All 40 Peremptory Challenges
Attorneys have one last jury selection to make in the trail that's scheduled to begin in September.
Joshua Komisarjevsky’s defense attorneys used their last peremptory challenge Thursday with one more juror still needed for the capital murder trial.
Special public defenders Jeremiah Donovan, Walter Bansley III and Todd A. Bussert requested 40 more peremptories, but Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue denied their request.
State’s Attorney Michael Dearington and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Gary Nicholson also used a peremptory challenge Thursday, leaving them only one more.
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Attorneys use peremptory challenges during jury selection to excuse jurors they think would side against them. Blue gave each side 40 challenges at the start of jury selection.
No jurors were selected Thursday. However, two backup alternate jurors were picked on Wednesday, so only one more backup alternate is required.
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The attorneys have already picked 12 regular jurors and six alternates.
Komisarjevsky, 30, faces the death penalty for the Cheshire home invasion triple homicide in 2007. The co-defendant in the crime, Steven Hayes, was convicted in a separate trial and is on death row.