Final Juror Selected for the Komisarjevsky Trial

Jury selection has wrapped up for the Joshua Komisarjevsky trial, as the final backup alternate juror was picked Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court.

Jury selection started on March 16 and took nearly three months, to the day, to conclude. The panel now consists of 12 regular jurors, six alternates and three backup alternates.

Before the final juror was selected, state prosecutors used their 40th and final peremptory challenge to excuse a juror. The defense attorneys used up their remaining challenge last week.

Komisarjevsky is the second defendant accused in the Cheshire home invasion triple homicide in 2007.

He faces the death penalty for the murders of a doctor’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.

His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted last year and sentenced to death row.

Komisarjevsky’s trial is scheduled to begin in September in the courthouse on the corner of Church and Wall Street in New Haven.