Friends of William Petit, who was beaten and whose wife and two daughters were murdered when their Cheshire, Connecticut, home was robbed in July 2007, have asked Cheshire Public Library not to stock a book about the crime.
The book, In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood by Brian McDonald, is based on interviews with and letters from Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of two men awaiting trial for the crime, the New Haven Register reported October 16. “We ordered the book after we received requests for it,” Library Director Ramona Harten told American Libraries. “Our strategic plan states that we will purchase items related to Cheshire.” Harten added that the book sold out in bookstores around the state within days and that most other libraries in the area have also ordered it, although the book is on back order and not yet on CPL’s shelves.
Residents have started a petition that so far has 300 signatures against the book, the Register reported October 19.
“The Cheshire Library is under no obligation to carry this illegally obtained book,” said Christina Gilleylen, a former neighbor of Petit, told the Register. “It’s reprehensible that they would even consider carrying this under the guise of civic duty. There’s plenty of other places to get it.”
Harten told AL that while she and other library staff shared the complainants’ personal reactions to McDonald’s book, professional duty requires her to put those feelings aside. “Our job is to put the information out there,” to let residents decide for themselves if they wish to read it, she said.
The case did have a gag order, and an October 21 hearing will determine if Komisarjevsky’s participation in the book violated the order, the Meriden Record-Journal reported October 14. Harten told AL that she consulted the town attorney’s office about the library’s responsibilities. “Their response was that the gag order does not apply to libraries,” but only to the principals of the case, she said.
The book’s inclusion in the library collection was scheduled to be discussed at an October 19 library board meeting. However, the crowd that showed up was too large for the meeting room, so the discussion was rescheduled for October 22. Harten told AL that she was unaware that opponents of the book were encouraging like-minded people to attend the meeting until about eight hours before it began, which made it impossible to clear a larger room in the library that had been set up for a book sale.
Marilyn Bartoli, a library board member and friend of Petit, has also expressed her opposition to the book, although she said that her position was not an attempt at censorship. “This has to do with protecting a member of our community who has experienced an atrocity in his family,” she told local ABC affiliate WTNH-TV October 20.