Convicted Baby Killer Raghunandan Yandamuri Loses Appeal to Have Two Death Sentences Overturned

[Srimantudu]

Apr 29, 2017

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Raghunandan Yandamuri is the first Indian to receive the death penalty in the U.S. Yandamuri – convicted of killing an Indian American baby girl and her grandmother in Pennsylvania – lost his appeal to have his two death sentences overturned. (India-West file photo)

 

 

 

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Raghunandan Yandamuri – convicted of the 2012 murder of an Indian American baby girl and her grandmother in Merion County, Pennsylvania – lost an appeal April 26 to have his two death sentences overturned.

Yandamuri, an Andhra Pradesh native, is the first Indian to receive the death penalty in the U.S. He is currently incarcerated at the Greene State Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

In 2014, Yandamuri was sentenced to die by lethal injection for murdering 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna. A jury deliberated for just three hours before declaring Yandamuri guilty. He was sentenced to die by lethal injection. (See earlier India-West story here: http://bit.ly/1D6RNR6)

 

After he was arrested in 2012, the killer provided a chilling account of how he entered the Vennas’ apartment while Saanvi’s parents, Venkata and Latha, were at work. He fatally stabbed Satyavathi – who was attempting to protect her granddaughter – before kidnapping the baby, which he hoped to use to obtain $50,000 in ransom from her parents.

Yandamuri and his wife Komali were friends with the Vennas and lived in the same apartment building in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

After kidnapping Saanvi, Yandamuri covered her mouth and stuffed the baby in a suitcase, then left her at a basement gym in the apartment building, where she suffocated to death. During a frantic three-day search by police and the local community, Yandamuri handed out missing baby flyers.

The H-1B tech worker was arrested later that week at a local gambling casino. Earlier India-West stories reported that Yandamuri had accrued $35,000 in gambling debts and had filed for bankruptcy while working in Northern California. His wife Komali was pregnant at the time of the murders.

At his appeals hearing, Yandamuri told Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judge Max Baer that police had coerced a confession from him. He claimed they paid no attention to his claims that two white men forced him to commit the murders by threatening to harm his wife.

 

But the judge noted that Yandamuri had made a lengthy confession to police, and led them to baby Saanvi’s dead body. After his initial confession, Yandamuri recanted and told police about the other men, said Baer, also noting that an alibi he presented to police was contradicted by statements from his wife.

Baer upheld both death sentences.

In a 2012 interview, Venkata Venna told India-West he had treated Komali like a sister. His mother Satyavathi had taken the expecting wife under her wing, offering advice on her pregnancy and cooking her favorite foods.

Jurors reportedly wept as Venkata Venna testified at the 2014 trial about finding his mother lying in a pool of blood.

“I’ll never forget that moment in my life,” said Venna, tearfully. “I don’t know how I’m living, how I’m working,” he said.

[Kontekurradu]

matter in 2 lines please 

[Neutral]

2 minutes ago, Kontekurradu said:

matter in 2 lines please 

edi raase lopala chadavachu....injection ichi paiki pamputhaaru antaa

[Kontekurradu]

2 minutes ago, Neutral said:

edi raase lopala chadavachu....injection ichi paiki pamputhaaru antaa

adi 2014 lo injection istam ani rasarugu, appudu iyylaeda? 

matter mottom sudala, maa manager vundi pakkane 

[nandananditha]

6 minutes ago, Kontekurradu said:

adi 2014 lo injection istam ani rasarugu, appudu iyylaeda? 

matter mottom sudala, maa manager vundi pakkane 

appeal ki pothe pakaki pomanaru

[Kontekurradu]

Just now, nandananditha said:

appeal ki pothe pakaki pomanaru

oh, ayithe iipudu adiki injection iichi lepestharu anamaata 

[nandananditha]

7 minutes ago, Kontekurradu said:

oh, ayithe iipudu adiki injection iichi lepestharu anamaata 

ani unadhi TS vesina message la

[megadheera]

Veedi body ni India ki pampistara leka ikkada chestara? India ki pampalante gofund create cheyala 

[ronitreddy]

11 minutes ago, nandananditha said:

appeal ki pothe pakaki pomanaru

India la anna sampi bhayata paddochu emo kaani..eeda no way 

[Kontekurradu]

1 minute ago, ronitreddy said:

India la anna sampi bhayata paddochu emo kaani..eeda no way 

[samaja_varagamana]

  intha chinna cute pilla ni ela champabudhi ayindo

[nandananditha]

3 minutes ago, ronitreddy said:

India la anna sampi bhayata paddochu emo kaani..eeda no way 

elanti lk lani india lo aina marder seyali vuncle

bb2 ki poyinava

[ronitreddy]

Just now, nandananditha said:

elanti lk lani india lo aina marder seyali vuncle

bb2 ki poyinava

anthe anthe..Kani mana Indian penal code chala great kada..anduku ala anna

poyina..Nu mari?

 

[nandananditha]

1 minute ago, ronitreddy said:

anthe anthe..Kani mana Indian penal code chala great kada..anduku ala anna

poyina..Nu mari?

 

karaste le , ayisha case close chesi 10garu , culprit kadhu ani vadilesaru mari asalu vadu yevadu ani court kuda adagale

 

ticket paisal ki biryani 12 pack beer asthadi ani intlo ne kurchuna

[siru]

9 minutes ago, megadheera said:

Veedi body ni India ki pampistara leka ikkada chestara? India ki pampalante gofund create cheyala 

will take atleast 20 years to actually get to implementing death sentence to him