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Petit's wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were slain in the July 23 home invasion that led police to charge Joshua Komisarjevsky, 27, of Cheshire and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted with capital felony and multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault.
Police said the two men broke into the Petit home, sexually assaulted Hawke-Petit and Michaela, strangled Hawke-Petit, set the house on fire, and left Hayley and Michaela to die from smoke inhalation. William Petit was badly beaten.
In his letter, Petit didn't specifically endorse any of the 15 bills presented for public review Tuesday during a committee hearing in the Legislative Office Building.
But some of these proposals - to expand the list of violent felonies, set new mandatory sentences for certain crimes, and toughen parole standards - have prompted considerable speculation.
Democrats, who hold majorities in the House and the Senate, have said they fear some Republican proposals involving mandatory minimum sentences would force construction of new prisons.
The legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates it could cost an extra $5 million per year to prosecute additional dangerous felony charges and about $4.3 million per year to incarcerate the additional inmates.
That doesn't include the cost of building a new prison.
Lawmakers asked OFA how much it would cost to construct a 1,000-bed, medium-security prison and a 1,200-bed secured medical and mental health facility for inmates. The estimated price tag totaled $400 million.
But Petit urged lawmakers Tuesday to keep a narrow focus.
"I know that the legislative process and the political process are closely intertwined," he wrote. "I firmly believe that political considerations should have no place in this debate. From my perspective, the sole issue and the only legitimate focus should be public safety and the protection of the citizens of Connecticut from those who do not respect them or our laws."
Petit added that the tragedy that struck his family "exposed some glaring defects in our laws and their ability to adequately ensure our public safety."
Komisarjevsky and Hayes had more than 40 convictions between them, most involving burglary. Both men were on parole when they killed Petit's wife and daughters, police said.
Neither had been convicted of the most serious felonies that could trigger a potential life sentence under current law, such as kidnapping or robbery. The most frequent crimes they'd been convicted of involved various degrees of burglary.
After the Cheshire slayings, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles acknowledged it had failed to review the sentencing transcripts for both men, including one in which a judge referred to Komisarjevsky as a "cold-blooded predator."
"History has shown us that reputations are made and legacies are established by how the needs of the people are addressed by those responsible for shaping our government's response to tragic events and the crises that follow them," Petit added.
"That opportunity exists now for you and our legislature, and I strongly urge you to recognize your potential to do significant good and to seize the opportunity to put aside political differences in order to make our state safer."
Petit's message wasn't the only one from the Cheshire community. His neighbors, Joseph and Marilyn Bartoli, met with reporters prior to the public hearing to urge swifter action. The Bartolis organized an Aug. 15 rally in their home town in support of a so-called "three strikes law" with a mandatory life sentence for repeat violent offenders.
"I urge you and I beg of you today to focus on this issue," Marilyn Bartoli said. "We're looking to be safe in our homes."
Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pledged lawmakers would do all they could to respond to the Cheshire slayings.
"Who knows? Maybe this was not preventable," he said. "But to the extent that it was, to the extent there were flaws ... we have an obligation to set policy to provide the resources. We will do what Dr. Petit asked us to do."
House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, said the legislature already should have tougher sentencing laws on the books.
"The time to reform these fatally flawed laws has long since passed," he said. "What happened in Cheshire cannot be rationalized, but we must insist on tougher laws to make sure that dangerous felons are kept behind bars and not serving relatively small fractions of their sentences."
