Jury finds daughter of former Cabinet official guilty in fatal stabbing of Maryland man – WTOP News

A Maryland jury discovered the daughter of a former director of nationwide intelligence responsible within the deadly stabbing of a Montgomery County man.

Sophia Negroponte, 29, of D.C., was discovered responsible of second-degree homicide almost two years after the loss of life of 24-year-old Yousuf Rasmussen, of Bethesda. Negroponte is scheduled to be sentenced on March 31, and she or he faces as much as 40 years in jail.

Montgomery County State’s Lawyer John McCarthy stated the trial, which started on Dec. 6 and was separated by Christmas and New Yr, was particularly lengthy. He thanked the members of the jury, who deliberated for 16 hours, for arriving at an “applicable verdict.”

Rasmussen’s mother and father, Dr. Zeba and Stephen Rasmussen, spoke at a information convention following the decision.

“Youssuf was a sort and mild soul, a loving one that introduced household and lots of buddies nice pleasure,” Dr. Zeba Rasmussen stated.

Rasmussen had graduated from school two months earlier than he was killed on Feb. 13, 2020.

“He was making his approach in his life,” McCarthy stated.

Negroponte is the daughter of John Negroponte, who was the first-ever director of nationwide intelligence beneath President George W. Bush and a former United Nations Ambassador. She and Rasmussen knew one another and attended the identical highschool, McCarthy stated. They’d been consuming, together with one other individual, on the evening Rasmussen was killed.

Negroponte and Rasmussen argued on two events that evening; and in some unspecified time in the future, Rasmussen determined he was going to depart. He left however got here again to get his cellphone. That’s when Negroponte, “armed with a knife, stabbed him a number of instances, one being a loss of life blow that severed his jugular,” McCarthy stated.

Six hours of video confirmed how Negroponte continued to operate even if she had been consuming.

“There was a protection of voluntary intoxication, however that protection was rejected by the jury, it appears,” McCarthy stated.

Dr. Zeba Rasmussen thanked the police and the primary responders who rushed to the scene to attempt to save her son’s life.

“We’ll carry him with us without end,” his mom stated.

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