Book details Cheshire home invasion

Cheshire (WTNH) - A book hitting stores Tuesday about the Cheshire home invasion features jailhouse interviews with one of the suspects in the case, and raises questions about whether the trial could be delayed.

According to the State Department of Correction, Cheshire home invasion suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky is at Northern Correction Institution -- the state's maximum security prison -- and it is here that he was interviewed for the book, "In the Middle of the Night, The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood."

There is a gag order in place on everyone involved in this case. But it apparently didn't stop Komisarjevsky from talking with author Brian McDonald.

Komisarjevsky explains in shocking detail the beating of Dr. Petit with a baseball bat, of the murders of a mother and two daughters, of the mother pleading for her life, of taking cellphone photos and spreading gasoline and setting the house afire to cover up the evidence of the crimes.

McDonald claims that in addition to the jail-house interviews, Komisarjevsky corresponded through the mail with him several times, also providing details for the book.

"I think this will definitely make some arguments for the defense that there ought to be a change of venue," Quinnipiac University Law School Professor Bill Dunlap said, "that it's likely to create even more publicity, bring out some facts, or alleged facts that we weren't already familiar with."

Dunlap said it's unlikely, even if the book is a best-seller, because there is no corner of the state that has not heard a lot about this case. He said the fact that the Department of Correction was apparently hoodwinked by this author is another big problem for the case moving forward.

"That sounds like a real mistake," Dunlap said. "They've been going out of their way to avoid pre-trial publicity because the [prosecution], even if it thinks it could benefit from pre-trial publicity, knows it can only create problems for them."

A spokesman for the State Department of Correction said there is no investigation underway, but other than that they would have no comment.

A spokesperson for St. Martin Press, the publisher, was unable to contact the author Brian McDonald Monday.