Conn. suspects showed no violent signs

State officials are re-examining their policies after learning two convicted burglars out on parole are accused of killing three family members during a home invasion and arson.

But Robert Farr, chairman of the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Parole, said the task would be difficult because neither suspect had a history of violent crimes.

"That's why this is sort of shocking _ because it doesn't fit a normal mode," Farr said.

Joshua Komisarjevsky, 26, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted, were arraigned Tuesday on charges of assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, arson, larceny and risk of injury to children. More charges are pending, state police said Tuesday night.

The state medical examiner confirmed that Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, was strangled and that her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, died of smoke inhalation. The deaths were ruled homicides.

The girls' father, Dr. William Petit Jr., a prominent endocrinologist, remained hospitalized with head injuries. He was in serious but stable condition on Wednesday.

"He's doing OK physically. Emotionally he is devastated and still worried about others," said Petit's pastor, the Rev. Stephen Volpe.

Prosecutor Michael Dearington said he had not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty.

"I know the public consensus is they should be fried tomorrow," he said.

The suspects entered the Petits' Cheshire home at about 3 a.m. Monday, planning to burglarize it, state police said. When they found the family at home, they beat Dr. Petit, then tied up his wife and daughters, police said.

Employees at a bank called police after one of the suspects forced Hawke-Petit to make a withdrawal around 9:30 a.m., officials said. The men were caught in the family's car after ramming several police cruisers as they fled the burning home, authorities said.

Hawke-Petit and her daughters were found dead inside. Dr. Petit escaped the blaze and told police what happened.

The suspects did not enter pleas Tuesday, and their public defenders declined comment. Bail was set at $15 million apiece. Their next court appearance was scheduled for Aug. 7.

Hayes and Komisarjevsky each have more than 20 prior burglaries on their records. At the time of the killings, both were free on parole after serving prison time for burglary convictions in 2003, Bail Commissioner Garcia Harris said. They spent time last year in the same halfway house in Hartford before being paroled in the spring.

"We certainly don't get guys with a history of violence in prison," said Robert Pidgeon, chief executive officer of Community Solutions Inc., which runs the halfway house. "There's nobody that would have predicted this."

Prison officials said they reported each week to their parole officers and were employed full-time, a requirement of their release.

Farr said the parole board's staff scoured its files Tuesday to see whether any mistakes were made and couldn't find any obvious problems.

"But three people died," Farr said. "We're not going to say, `Those things happen.' We've got to see if there is anything we can do that would reduce the likelihood of this happening in the future."

In 2002, a Bristol Superior Court judge called Komisarjevsky "a cold, calculating predator" before sentencing him to nine years in prison with six years of special parole for a string of burglaries. Komisarjevsky wore military night vision goggles, broke into homes and stole electronic items while victims slept, police said.

Prosecutors said at the time that Komisarjevsky started robbing homes, his first in Cheshire, when he was 14.

In Connecticut, prisoners may be released from confinement and receive parole after serving more than half of their sentences.

Komisarjevsky lived less than two miles from the Petits' home, but authorities have not said what they believe led Komisarjevsky and Hayes there.

Petit, president of the Hartford County Medical Association, is a specialist in diabetes and endocrinology and is the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. Hawke-Petit, 48, was a nurse and co-director of the health center at Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school.

The attack stunned Cheshire, an upper-middle class community of 29,000 just east of Waterbury and about 15 miles north of New Haven.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins contributed to this report.