Triple Murder Suspect Seeks Plea to Avoid Death

Darrin Klimek/Thinkstock (file)(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) -- A man who faces a possible death penalty when his trial begins Wednesday in the gruesome murder of Dr. William Petit's family is offering to plead guilty if prosecutors will agree to give him life in prison instead.

But prosecutors said that it's not Joshua Komisarjevsky's place to make a plea deal. Connecticut State Attorney Michael Dearington, who is prosecuting Komisarjevsky, makes it clear that "as a general proposition of law, only prosecutors can negotiate plea arrangements."

Komisarjevsky, 30, is the second person to go on trial for the July 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. All three were raped. Later, the mother was strangled while the girls, tied to their beds, died in a fire that was allegedly started by the two men.

His alleged accomplice Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted of the home invasion and murders last year and sentenced to death. Hayes also offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but prosecutors insist he have a jury trial.

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