Convict sentenced to death for murder of grandma and 10-month old criticizes his lawyers and says execution would be better than his appeal

  • Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29, sentenced to two death sentences last year
  • Montgomery County, Pennsylvania man acted as his own lawyer during trial 
  • Killer knew victims, 10-month-old Saanvi and 61-year-old Satayrathi Venna
  • Appellant accused the attorneys of not responding to his calls or letters
  • He asked for death during sentencing and had previously tried to kill himself

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Published: | Updated:

A man sentenced to death in the killings of a baby and her grandmother said he's so dissatisfied with his attorneys he'd rather be executed now than continue seeking a new trial with them.

Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29, who had served as his own lawyer before being convicted of murder, accused the attorneys of not responding to his calls or letters.

He said Monday in Montgomery County Court if his appeal keeps going the same way he would rather be executed immediately. 

 Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29 (left), of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is appealing his death penalty sentence for a murder but says that he would rather be executed than continue with his lawyers. Above, Nov 2012

 Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29 (left), of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is appealing his death penalty sentence for a murder but says that he would rather be executed than continue with his lawyers. Above, Nov 2012

Yandamuri was convicted in the grisly stabbing death of Satayrathi Venna, 61 (left) and the suffocation death of her grandchild Saanvi, 10 months (right)

Yandamuri was convicted in the grisly stabbing death of Satayrathi Venna, 61 (left) and the suffocation death of her grandchild Saanvi, 10 months (right)

Judge Steven O'Neill called that 'a little dramatic.' 

Attorney Henry Hilles said he and colleague Stephen Heckman have spent more time with their client 'than has ever occurred in Montgomery County history.'

'Mr. Heckman and I met with Mr. Yandamuri at the prison tens and tens and tens of times at his request over the two plus years that we were representing him. It boggles my mind to hear him claim that we have not made ourselves available to him,' Hilles told the Times Herald.

Yandamuri was a technology professional outside of Philadelphia and knew the baby's parents in what prosecutors called a botched kidnapping plot.

The Indian national was given two death sentences in the 2012 slayings of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and 61-year-old Satayrathi Venna.

He was expressionless as the verdict against him, which included up to 62 years in prison for kidnapping, burglary, and abuse of a corpse, was read in October.

Prosecutors argued Yandamuri hatched the kidnapping plot to pay for a gambling habit. 

They said he was mired in gambling debts and told police he committed the crime after losing at least $15,000 at a casino.

He told investigators he panicked after the grandmother, who had opened her family's apartment door to him, was killed in a struggle over a kitchen knife he had carried.

Yandamuri, an Indian national, was working as a technology professional outside of Philadelphia
He acted as his own lawyer during his trial before his post-conviction hearings were taken over by lawyers

Yandamuri, an Indian national working as a technology professional outside of Philadelphia, acted as his own lawyer during his trial before his post-conviction hearings were taken over by lawyers

Yandamuri told police he accidentally dropped the baby, put a handkerchief over her mouth to quiet her and tied a towel around her head.

He said he then left the baby — with her dark hair, huge dark eyes and white dress — in a trash-strewn, unused sauna in a basement fitness center and when he returned hours later with milk for her she was unconscious.

Prosecutors said that the man kept the baby in a suitcase in the trunk of his car for days and slashed the elder Venna's throat to the bone. 

Yandamuri knew the baby's parents, who also were young Indian tech professionals, from his King of Prussia apartment complex. 

The defendant had gone to a birthday party for the baby's mother, had met the visiting grandmother and used family nicknames in a ransom note demanding $50,000, authorities said.

'They both are working, so I thought maybe they have some money,' Yandamuri told police in a videotaped statement. 

'My intention was not to kill anyone or not to harm anyone. I only tried to kidnap the baby.'

At trial, though, Yandamuri argued two other men forced him at gunpoint to help and said he was pressured into confessing.

'Mr. Heckman and I met with Mr. Yandamuri at the prison tens and tens and tens of times at his request over the two plus years that we were representing him,' attorney Henry Hilles (pictured) said

'Mr. Heckman and I met with Mr. Yandamuri at the prison tens and tens and tens of times at his request over the two plus years that we were representing him,' attorney Henry Hilles (pictured) said

He also said during a post conviction sentencing hearing that he would rather receive the death penalty than sit through the hearings where relatives spoke about the victims, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

His mother Padmavathi traveled from India took the stand and said that her son had been traumatized since age ten after his father was killed in a terrorist attack. 

She said that he had previously tried to kill himself by drinking kerosene.

Yandamuri has tried to file motions on his own since the beginning of his appeal, but they cannot be accepted because he is not representing himself.

Hilles and Heckman plan on challenging the death penalty as well as alleged bias during Yandamuri's trial. 

All death penalty cases in Pennsylvania are given automatic appeal up to the state supreme court level.

Earlier this year Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on the death penalty, citing bias in proceedings, expense and inefficiency in repeated appeals.

The state has not executed anyone since 1999. 

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