A suburban Philadelphia judge has postponed the trial of a man accused of having killed a baby and her grandmother in what authorities allege was a botched ransom kidnapping.
KYW says the Montgomery County judge agreed to a defense motion to delay the trial of 27-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri, which was slated for Sept. 9.
The defendant could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in last October's killings of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and 61-year-old Satayrathi Venna.
Defense attorney Stephen Heckman said he wants his client to have a mental health evaluation.
Prosecutors allege that Yandamuri kidnapped the girl from her family's King of Prussia apartment, killing her grandmother who tried to protect the child. The girl's body was found several days later.
Yandamuri hatched a plan to exort money from the Venna family by kidnapping their daughter and holding her for ransom to pay for his overwhelming gambling debt, according to police.
The suspect admitted to "accidentally" slitting Satyavathi's throat and to stuffing a handkerchief in the baby's mouth and wrapping a towel around her head.
Heckman also said that his client was coerced into confessing to the murders.
Trial Postponed for Man Accused of Killing Baby, Grandmom
Copyright AP - Associated Press
