Religious director: Killer a typical troubled teen

Religious director: Killer a typical troubled teen

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The director of a Christian residential program says a Connecticut man convicted of killing three in a home invasion was a typical troubled teen, despite claims he heard voices and was found with bomb-making materials.

Alfred Tomaselli testified today in New Haven Superior Court in the sentencing phase of Joshua Komisarjevsky’s trial. He faces life in prison or the death penalty for killing a woman and her two daughters in 2007.

Komisarjevsky’s family sent him to Tomaselli’s program, called the Fold, in 1996 after he burned down a vacant gas station. His defense argues Komisarjevsky’s religious family never got him proper psychological treatment.

Tomaselli says Komisarjevsky was a troubled kid who “had a lot of pain” but says troubled teens often express themselves in inappropriate ways.