SOMERS, Conn. - A man on Connecticut's death row for the murder of a suburban mother and her two daughters says he believes the only way he will be put to death is if he volunteers for lethal injection.
Joshua Komisarjevsky, who was condemned to die for a brutal 2007 home invasion, told The Associated Press in an interview that he considers volunteering to be executed on his darkest days, but not on other days.
In the last half-century, Connecticut has executed only one inmate — a serial killer who was put to death in 2005 after voluntarily waiving his appeals.
"I don't think I'll be executed against my will," Komisarjevsky said in his first interview since he was convicted last year. "I think if I volunteer, the state will execute me."
He said he tries not to think about the crime, he suffers no nightmares and has nothing to say to the only survivor of the attack. He said there isn't anything he could say to Dr. William Petit "that will restore the lives lost."
He also declined an opportunity to express remorse for the killings.
"I guess my reaction is not the reaction society expected," Komisarjevsky said.
By turns jovial and introspective, Komisarjevsky made references to an afflicted conscience but said he fills his time in solitary confinement by drawing, watching television and reading and responding to hate mail as well as notes from supporters.
"Some days you're just overwhelmed by the isolation and the difficulties in communicating with loved ones, dealing with your own crisis of conscience," Komisarjevsky said.
Komisarjevsky, 31, was convicted in a crime that unsettled notions of suburban safety and featured prominently in Connecticut's death penalty debate.
Komisarjevsky's lawyers are expected to file an appeal. But if he waived his appeals, that would remove a major obstacle to execution.
Source: AP, StarTribune, May 16, 2012
