NEW YORK: The jury on Thursday found Raghunandan Yandamuri guilty in the murder of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother Satyavathi Venna, 61, two years ago in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
A jury in the Montgomery County Courthouse found 26-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, burglary and abuse of a corpse in the deaths of a 10-month-old baby and her grandmother in October of 2012.
After deliberating since morning today, Yandamuri, 28, was given guilty verdict of two counts of first degree murder in the killings of the Vennas.
Yandamuri in his closing arguments on Tuesday proclaimed innocence. Representing himself, as his court-appointed lawyer sat on the side lines watching, the former IT worker who came to the US from Andhra Pradesh on an H-1B visa, blamed the police for cherry picking evidence and blaming him for the heinous crimes. He said two white men, whom he named as Matt and Josh, coerced him to help them in their bid to kidnap Saanvi, which ended horribly wrong, in a double murder.
His mother, who flew in from India, was the first on the stand in his penalty hearing Thursday.
In an emotional plea to spare her son's life, she explained to the jury that her husband was a police officer in India and was murdered during a terrorist attack in the country. Since then, she said her son has been depressed, even once trying to kill himself by drinking kerosene at 11 years old.
The penalty hearings continue in Montgomery County Court tomorrow. A verdict is expected early next week.
