The murder conviction of former President George W. Bush's Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte's adopted daughter will be appealed Tuesday by the state of Maryland, citing content that should not have been revealed to jurors in the trial, according to reports. It was rejected by the court.
Washington, D.C., radio station WTOP reported that three judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals issued an opinion on Sophia Negroponte's conviction, and that jurors watched part of the interrogation video in which detectives question Negroponte's credibility. As a result, the case was transferred to a lower court.
Jurors also heard testimony from expert witnesses for the prosecution who questioned Mr. Negroponte's credibility.
Daughter of former US intelligence chief sentenced to 35 years in prison for stabbing death
Sofia Negroponte (left) was found guilty of second-degree murder in the February 2020 stabbing of her former high school classmate, Yusuf Rasmussen (right). On Friday, Negroponte was sentenced to 35 years in prison for murder. (Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office)
In January 2023, Negroponte, then 30, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2020 death of 24-year-old Yusuf Rasmussen. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Negroponte and Rasmussen attended the same high school in Washington state and had been drinking with another person on the night of the February 2020 stabbing. They argued twice that night, prosecutors said.
At some point, when Rasmussen returned to the house to retrieve his cell phone, Negroponte stabbed him multiple times, including one that severed his carotid artery, authorities said. Negroponte, then 27, was found inside the home, covered in blood, lying on top of Rasmussen and screaming, “I'm sorry,” according to an indictment previously obtained by Fox News Digital.
Maryland robbery suspect drags police officer off highway in stolen church van: authorities
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – MAY 14: McLarty Associates Vice Chairman John D. Negroponte speaks at the 2019 Concordia Americas Summit Forum “Concordia Americas” held in Bogotá, Colombia on May 14, 2019. Attended “Cordia Americas: Partnership for the Future”. (Photo by Gabriel Aponte/Getty Images for Concordia Summit) (Photo by Gabriel Aponte/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)
She allegedly confessed to the murder to investigators. The defense argued that her client was heavily intoxicated at the time and was unable to form any specific intent.
Her lawyers argued on appeal that the jury should not have seen some statements made during questioning by detectives, casting doubt on Negroponte's version of events.
The court agreed that the detective's comment that Ms. Negroponte's inability to remember parts of that night was “weird” should have been excluded from the trial.
Baltimore police clear charges in shooting death of suspect during foot chase
On Tuesday, an Illinois man appeared in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to face criminal charges alleging he tried to hire someone to kill a business associate in Florida. (St. Petersburg)
The court noted that while detectives did not necessarily use inappropriate questioning, there were some questions that the jury should not have been exposed to.
The appeals court also found fault with one of the prosecution's experts, a forensic psychiatrist, who argued that Mr. Negroponte's memory of events was unreliable.
“Her statements should be taken with a grain of salt because she is in that situation and has an incentive to exaggerate or diminish the amount of alcohol she used,” the expert said in her testimony. Ta.
The appeals court opined that the expert testimony provided by the prosecution was inadmissible because Negroponte's credibility was “at the heart of this case.”
Click to get the FOX News app
Negroponte was one of five Honduran relinquishes or orphans adopted by John Negroponte and his wife Diana after he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Central China in the 1980s. Ta.
