NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – A Connecticut judge ruled Tuesday that three police recordings were not given to lawyers for convicted killer Joshua Komisarjevsky before his trial, bolstering his pending appeal before the state Supreme Court.
Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were convicted of murdering a woman and her two daughters during a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, after terrorizing the family for hours. Both are appealing their convictions.
The police recordings are of calls between Cheshire police officers during the response to the home invasion. Komisarjevsky’s appeal lawyers said the recordings would have helped his trial attorneys because they boost the defense claim that the police response was inadequate, which they said casts doubt on the credibility of officers who testified for the prosecution.
Prosecutors say nothing on the recordings warrants a new trial.
New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue said the failure to provide the recordings to Komisarjevsky’s lawyers was the result of human error and not deliberate.