A man convicted of killing a baby and her grandmother during a kidnapping plot gone wrong will die by lethal injection.
A Montgomery County judge told Raghunandan Yandamuri that whoever killed 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and 61-year-old Satayrathi Venna in October 2012 "deserves punishment."
A jury found the 27-year-old killer guilty last month then suggested he be sentenced to death.
The convict said nothing as he entered the courtroom Thursday and he sat quietly as O'Neill handed down the death sentence.
Judge Steven O'Neill agreed with the jury and sentenced Yandamuri to death for the two murders. O'Neill also gave Yandamuri a total of 31 to 62 years on other charges including kidnapping, burglary and abuse of a corpse.
Yandamuri then told the judge that someone else committed the crime but thanked prosecutors for a fair trial.
O'Neill added the Yandamuri has a wicked heart.
Prosecutors said Yandamuri hatched the kidnapping plot to pay gambling debts after losing at least $15,000 at a casino near his office. He told investigators that he panicked during the kidnapping attempt.
He told investigators that he accidentally dropped the baby, put a handkerchief over her mouth to quiet her and tied a towel around her head, then left her in a trash-strewn, unused sauna in a basement fitness center. He said he returned hours later with milk for her, but she was unconscious.
Defense Attorney Henry Hilles said that if Yandamuri didn't represent himself at trial that he could have possibly been spared the death sentence.
Earlier, Hilles called the botched kidnapping a “horrible plan that went wrong,” and called Yandamuri’s apology to the victim’s family, “the lamest apology the jury is going to hear in this case.”
He also assured the jury that regardless of what decision they made, the only way Yandamuri would leave a state correctional facility was “in a pine box.”
Hilles acknowledged his client didn't put up much of a fight however. After his conviction, Yandamuri even told the judge he wanted to die.
"I believe if he expressed remorse we would have had a better chance to save his life," Hilles said. "But that wasn't his strategy and accordingly, here we are."
Yandamuri knew the baby's parents from his King of Prussia apartment complex. Like him, they were young technology professionals from India. He had gone to a birthday party for the baby's mother, met the visiting grandmother and used family nicknames in a ransom note demanding $50,000, authorities said.
