Joshua Komisarjevsky Denied Trial Delay in Cheshire Home Invasion Case

As closing arguments begin in the Cheshire home invasion trial, it amazes me what suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky will do to avoid the death penalty. Maybe he should have thought of that before he killed three innocent women and nearly killed a fourth man.

Today his defense team (who wants to defend this guy) tried to delay the trial by saying Komisarjevsky had convicted suspect Steven Hayes tell him before the crime that he had written a woman in North Carolina bragging about killing 17 people in the northeast, and raping many others. For more, click here.

Clearly, this is just a stall tactic by a desperate man and a desperate defense team. Komisarjevsky was hoping the trial would be delayed while police wasted their time to see if these allegations were true. Plus, by doing this it would force the state the keep Komisarjevsky alive by having to testify against Hayes if further charges were brought.

I am glad the judge was smart enough to see through this stall tactic. Most people feel Komisarjevsky, along with Hayes, cannot be convicted fast enough and put to death. Once they both are... goodbye and good riddance!

Warren Strips Brown

Both sides need to relax. What Elizabeth Warren told a crowd at a Democrat Senate debate at the University of Massachusetts when asked how she paid for college, was clearly meant as a joke. Senator Scott Brown's response later on a Massachusetts radio show was also clearly a joke.

The fact that both parties are now using this as political fuel for a fire seems ridiculous. It was nothing more than two possible political rivals taking a jab at each other. Besides Warren might not even be running against Brown in 2012 if she does not win the Democrat nomination. Plus, Brown's comment was not sexist or meant to belittle women. 

Was it smart for Warren or Brown to say what they said? Not really. Looking back, they would both probably take back what they said just so they could stop having to talk about this non-issue. Warren and Brown, plus the mainstream media, need to get back to the real issues, not only facing Massachusetts, but the United States in general.

Anwar al-Awlaki

Anwar al-Awlaki deserved to die. For the first time ever it seems that Fox News and President Obama were in agreement on something.

                US citizen or not, al-Awlaki had several ties to dangerous people and organizations. There had to have been reasons why he was number one on the CIA’s kill list. Citizens might not be fully aware of all of those reasons due to safety and security measures by the government.

                Besides that, it seems highly unlikely that US government or military officials would have been able to peacefully apprehend al-Awlaki. His apprehension probably would have ended with several casualties and injuries on both sides.   

                People are complaining that his killing was unconstitutional. The constitution also promises the right to a fair trial. Where would that trial have been held? In New York, where he praised 9/11, and the attack on the World Trade Center. How about Washington DC? Al-Awlaki had ties to at least three of the hijackers who attacked the Pentagon on September 11^th.  

               While it seems ironic for  President Obama, and Fox News to be in agreement, it seems they have it right. Normally, Fox News spends all day ripping Obama and his policies apart. While they pretend to be “fair and balanced”, they most certainly are not. Fox News is owned by Rubert Murdoch, one of the biggest contributors to the Republican party. Therefore, most of their stories and opinions lean to the right despite being “fair and balanced”.

                If two sides can agree on this, then why can’t both parties work together to tackle more issues together? The United States government has trouble finding solutions to any problem because the two major parties are unwilling to work with each other. Next time, hopefully they'll think of this issue before arguing with each other and getting no where.

FEMA and the United States Government

                Republican’s are once again missing the mark as to what the American people want. How are people supposed to repair their homes and business if FEMA is no longer able to hand out money. Now is not the time to be debating where the money is going to come from to help victims of Hurricane Irene. It should be debated when there are not any natural disasters that just happened, and when people do not need immediate assistance.

                I have a feeling if Republican members of Congress and the Senate were hit by the storm or knew somebody who was, they would have a much different opinion. It just goes to show the disconnect between Republicans and the American people. They are too busy trying to paint our President as a socialist and a terrorist and distracting the country with other non relevant issues instead of focusing on what our country wants and needs. 

                I am hoping that the Republicans will come to their senses by Friday in order to help out people who really need it. If not, I am afraid for not only what will happen to victims of Hurricane Irene, but victims of future natural disasters as well.

Video Shooting Experience

For this assignment I tried to shoot video of the first round Class LL boys basketball tournament game between Cheshire and Southington. Mostly I experience a lot of problems trying to do this. First I forgot to check to see if the batteries were charged, which is something I will remember in the future. When I got to the game both of the batteries were not working so I had to find an outlet to charge them in the gymnasium before the game. I only had 15 minutes to charge the batteries and had the Southington athletic director yelling at me on top of that. Since I only had this small amount of time I did not have much battery to shoot video. I probably only got about six minutes worth of footage.

When I went to edit the video the footage was not that usable. Plus, since I didn't have enough battery I couldn't really interview the coaches on film which was pretty essential to this assignment. I did write a script that described what shots I would have used had I been able to. I'm looking forward to the next assignment, where I can take the lessons I learned and apply them to do the assignment more effectively.

Here is the script I would have used had I had the ideal footage for the story:

{ANCHOR INTRO}

IT WAS A BACK AND FORTH MATCH UP ALL NIGHT, IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE CLASS LL BOYS BASKESTBALL PLAYOFFS. ADDING TO THE STAKES WAS A HEATED CROSS-TOWN RIVALRY. QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY’S ROBERT HELD HAS MORE ON THIS STORY.

{PKG}

{SHOW SHOT OF GAME FOOTAGE}

{TRACK}

SOUTHINGTON DEFEATED THEIR MAIN RIVAL CHESHIRE 57-53, IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE  BOYS BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS ON MONDAY NIGHT. IT WAS A TOUGH DEFEAT FOR CHESHIRE WHO LED MOST OF THE GAME.

{SOT: DAN LEE CHESHIRE HEAD COACH}

“WE FELL A LITTLE SHORT TONIGHT BUT I DON’T THINK THAT IS BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T AT THEIR BEST, THEY TOOK GOOD SHOTS THAT DIDN’T GO IN AND THE OTHER TEAM CAPITALIZED…”

{SHOT OF SOUTHINGTON FANS CHEERING}

{TRACK}

THE WIN FOR SOUTHINGTON PUT THEM AT 16 AND 7 ON THE SEASON. IT WAS ALSO THEIR FIRST WIN IN A CIAC STATE PLAYOFF GAME SINCE THE 2003-04 SEASON FOR THE BLUE KNIGHTS. IT WAS ESPECIALLY EXCITING FOR ELEVEN YEAR HEAD COACH BOB LASBURY.

{SOT: BOB LASBURY SOUTHINGTON HEAD COACH}

“THE FACT THAT IT WAS AGAINST CHESHIRE WAS EXTRA SPECIAL, OUR GUYS ALWAYS GET UP MORE IN RIVALRY GAMES.”

{SHOW GAME FOOTAGE OF CHESHIRE PLAYERS}

{TRACK}

AFTER FALLING BEHIND EARLY 7-2, CHESHIRE WENT ON A 10- 0 RUN AND CLOSED OUT THE FIRST QUARTER UP 21-19.

{SHOW FOOTAGE OF CHESHIRE’S MATT BAILEY}

{TRACK}

MATT BAILEY OF CHESHIRE HIT BACK-TO-BACK THREE-POINTERS TO GIVE THE RAMS THEIR BIGGEST LEAD OF THE NIGHT 44-34, MIDWAY THROUGH THE THIRD QUARTER.

{SOT DAN LEE CHESHIRE’S HEAD COACH}

“WHEN IT CAME TO BEING UP 10, THAT WAS GREAT BUT WE KNEW THEY HAD A COUPLE OF THEIR BEST PLAYERS ON THE BENCH. WE KNEW THAT THE PUSH WAS GOING TO COME. WE HAD A COUPLE OF REALLY GOOD LOOKS THAT DIDN’T GO IN AND MAYBE IF THEY DO IT’S DIFFERENT. YOU KNOW THEY’RE THE KIND OF TEAM THAT GAVE EVERYTHING THEY HAD.”

{SHOW GAME FOOTAGE OF SOUTHINGTON’S JORDAN CHAPMAN}

{TRACK}

CHESHIRE WAS HELPED BY THE FACT THAT SOUTHINGTON’S LEADING SCORER, JORDAN CHAPMAN HAD TO SIT OUT MOST OF THE FIRST HALF DUE TO EARLY FOUL TROUBLE. DESPITE THIS, CHAPMAN STILL HAD 11 POINTS IN THE GAME.

{SHOW SHOT OF LASBURY PACING THE SIDELINES}

{TRACK}

SOUTHINGTON NEXT TAKES ON HOLY CROSS IN WATERBURY ON WEDNESDAY AT 7PM. THE GAME HAS SPECIAL MEANING FOR LASBURY, WHO NOT ONLY IS AN ALUMNUS OF HOLY CROSS, BUT ALSO WAS AN ASSISTANT THERE FOR 5 YEARS.

{SOT: BOB LASBURY SOUTHINGTON HEAD COACH}

“IT WOULD BE A SPECIAL FEELING TO GO INTO MY OLD HIGH SCHOOL AND BEAT MY OLD COACH.”

{SHOW FOTAGE OF LASBURY AGAIN}

{TRACK}

THIS IS ROBERT HELD REPORTING TO YOU FROM QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY.

John Charlton Stories

The first video on the mail delivery I thought was a good use of natural sound.  When he was talking about mail being delivered he left in the sound of the mail box opening and shutting.  Also, when he was talking about the streets that were not receiving mail in Hartford he left in sound of cars going by.  I thought this was good to reiterate the fact that this was regular neighborhood with real people being burdened by this problem.  Another thing I liked about this story was how he got both sides of the story.  He talked to people who were not getting mail and let them explain why they thought they should.  Then he allowed the Hartford postmaster to explain her side of the story, and what was being done to fix the problem.

Visually I felt the best shot was when they were trying to demonstrate how much room needs to be left in order to get mail delivered.  By using the Fox 61 news truck it helped everyone watching the story realize just how much room needs to be left for a mail truck.  I do not think this is something that people always consider after a snow storm.  Also, when he interviewed the people in the neighborhood he did a good job of keeping tight shots on them.  I feel if he did not do that it would be distracting to see what was going on behind them, and the viewer would not be listening to what they are saying.


For the second story about the dog stopping the armed robber I noticed two parts with natural sound being used effectively.  The first was at the beginning of the VO package when they play and showed the cash register in the package store opening and closing.  I felt that it set a good scene for where the story took place.  Plus by showing that it helps a viewer realize who might have missed the beginning of the story that this story is most likely about a robbery.  The second natural sound I noticed was when they were talking about the dog they left in the sound of the dog drinking out of its water bowl.  I thought it was a good decision to do that as well, since the focus of the story was the dog.

Visually I noticed they used a lot of close up or tight shots of the dog, which I thought was the best way to show her.  This way viewers got a good look at the dog who was the hero in the story.  I also liked how they mixed in security stills of when the actual attempted robbery took place.  Since it was from a security camera those were good distance shots that were usually followed by medium shots and then a tight shot. It made the story much more real and visually appealing by doing this.

JRN524

I have always been interested in journalism. From a young age I was always told that I was a good writer so I decided to pursue it more. When I was in high school I wrote a variety of stories for my high school newspaper and really enjoyed it for the three years that I did so. When I was an undergrad at Southern I originally pursued journalism as my major. However I ended up switching it but thoroughly regretted doing so. That is why I immediately applied to Quinnipiac's journalism graduate program upon graduating from Southern.

With this class I am hoping to acquire more journalistic skills to help advance my career. I have never done any type of broadcast journalism, filming, or video editing. This class should help me learn how to do all three. Using this newly acquired knowledge I feel will not only help me with my job at Patch, but with other future employers as well.