Sophia Negroponte: Daughter of ex-intelligence director gets 35 years for fatally stabbing friend
MONTOGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND: The daughter of the former US National Intelligence Director whose "rage drove her" to stab her "best friend" to death in a Maryland Airbnb, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. Sophia Negroponte, 29 stabbed Yousuf Rasmussen, 24, multiple times and delivered a fatal blow to his neck when he returned to get his phone after an argument between the pair. Sophia was convicted of second-degree murder in January for the February 2020 incident.
Judge Terrence J McGann of Montgomery County Circuit Court ordered her to serve the time behind bars on Friday, March 31, and said that her anger issues were made worse by alcohol which eventually led her to claim the life of Rasmussen.
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Who is Sophia Negroponte?
Sophia is the daughter of John Negroponte, who served as a diplomat in Washington before being named the United States' first-ever Director of National Intelligence in 2005. President George W Bush appointed John Negroponte as the nation's first intelligence director. He later served as deputy secretary of state. He also previously served as ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. Sophia is one of the five girls along with George, John, Alexandra, and Marina adopted by Negroponte and his wife, Diana Negroponte during their time in Honduras.
According to Daily Mail, before the sentencing, McGann said, "Rage drove Ms. Negroponte to stab her friend in the neck." Both Sophia and Rasmussen attended the same Washington high school. They were drinking at a Maryland Airbnb, along with another person, on the night Rasmussen was killed, said Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy.
What happened on the night of the murder?
Rasmussen left after they argued a couple of times that night. McCarthy said that Negroponte "stabbed him multiple times, one being a death blow that severed his jugular," when Rasmussen returned to get his cell phone. The authorities said that when they arrived, they found her on top of Rasmussen screaming, "I'm sorry."
Negroponte told police during the investigation that she only remembers removing the knife from the victim's neck. Defense attorney David Moyse had urged jurors to consider that Sophia Negroponte was so inebriated that night that she couldn't form specific intent. "Alcohol pervades this case from the start; it pervades her life," he said, adding, "and it is absolutely at the heart of what happened there that night. And it´s one of the major reasons that this is absolutely not a murder."
Jurors did not find Negroponte guilty of first-degree-murder
According to Washington Post, Negroponte was not found guilty of the most serious charge she faced, first-degree, premeditated murder. Instead, jurors convicted her of second-degree murder, after concluding that she intended "to inflict such serious bodily harm" to Rasmussen "that death would be the likely result." Judge McGann ordered her bond revoked, noting that Rasmussen was "taken from this earth, at a very young age with his whole life ahead of him, in such a horrific way."
Rasmussen's family gives a statement
"Yousuf was a kind and gentle soul, a loving person who brought our family and his many friends great joy in his 24 years of life," Rasmussen's family said in a statement. "We will carry him with us forever."
Following the verdict, John Negroponte, 83, said his family will discuss a possible appeal with their attorneys. "Neither the prosecutors nor perhaps the jury took into sufficient consideration the complexities and mitigating circumstances of the case - Sophia's past trauma and other factors that led to a very troubled existence. She's had severe alcohol use disorder," John Negroponte said.
