2017 Meat Cleaver Murder, Burlington Vermont
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| Aita Gurung |
On Wednesday, 12/20/20233, Judge John Pacht sentenced Aita Gurung to serve 27 years on a 35-life sentence for the 1st Degree killing his wife, Yogeswari Khadka, with a meat cleaver; and also sentenced him to serve 20-life for the attempted 2nd Degree Murder of his Mother-in-law that took place in October of 2017.
Aita will serve both sentences at the same time, and will receive time-served credit for the time he has been imprisoned awaiting trial.
"This case generated extraordinary public debate", Pacht said during thr sentencing hearing. "It exposed significant tensions between the uneasy intersection of serious mental health issues with brutal offence conduct and behavior. And it makes this sentencing particularly hard for the court".
In October, 2017 Gurung attacked his wife and her Mother in their home, with the meat cleaver attack spilling out into the street.
Witnesses told police that he struck his wife with the meat cleaver multiple times on the street in front of their home in Burlington's Old North End.
This brutal and vicious attacks happened just a couple hours after he voluntarily checked himself out of the University of Vermont Medical Center; where he had been hospitalized due to severe mental health problems.
Aita Gurung's mental health at the time of the killing was the main focus of the trial last year.
His attorneys argued that Gurung was insane, and provided testimony from doctors who described his long history of severe anxiety, depression and paranoia. They also tried to use his previous status as "refugee" for the insanity plea.
Vermont Attorney General's office prosecutors argued that alcoholism and a pattern of domestic violence led to the killing.
The jury rejected Guru's insanity plea, and found him guilty of 1st Degree Murder in the case of his wife, and guilty of 2nd Degree Attempted Murder on the case of his Mother-in-law.
But the jury did give the judge a note, which was read aloud during the sentencing, that said "even though there isn't enough evidence to prove him insane, his mental illness certainly influenced his actions".
The sentencing of Gurung was delayed due to his deteriorating mental health; raising questions as to whether or not he could understand thr sentencing process - according to court records.
According to prosecutors and the family, Gurung's sentences wasn't harsh enough.
Rimal - Gurung's Mother-in-law - asked the judge to impose thr harshest punishment possible.
"My granddaughter became an orphan", she said while speaking through an interpreter by video on Tuesday. "My daughter has been killed".
Gurung's 13 year old daughter also appeared by video and spoke directly to her father.
"My mom was a wonderful woman who had a bright personality", she said on Tuesday. "I feel a sense of emptiness and loss when I see other families together, and my dream of having my parents watch mr achieve my goals is broken".
In a letter to the court that was read aloud by one of his attorneys on Tuesday, Gurung said he felt "incredible guilt".
"I should have taken my medicine, I should have stopped drinking", he wrote in the letter. "And my wife and her mother became victims of my terrible actions".
After the letter was read, he, for the first time. Addressed the court. He apologized for his actions and said he wasn't in his right mind.
"My mind wasn't working", he said, speaking softly.
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