Guyanese convicted of murder in U.S. loses bid for new trial

TIMES INT'L

A Guyanese man lost a last-ditch effort for a new trial on Monday in Waterbury Superior Court in the United States. He now faces life in prison when he is sentenced on Friday.

A jury convicted Parasurama Rabindranauth, 28, of murder in January, after a prosecutor argued he had shot 38-year-old Michael Sembhudyal to death while the two were in an apartment in 2009. The jury took about an hour and a half to return its verdict, but Rabindranauth’s attorney, Matthew DiVito, argued Monday that Judge Juliette Crawford had improperly instructed its members before they began deliberations.

Before juries begin to discuss a case to reach a verdict, judges will give them the definitions of the charges the defendant faces. In Rabindranauth’s case, he faced murder, but his attorneys wanted the jury to consider lesser offences, such as manslaughter and negligent homicide, if they cleared him of that crime.

Rabindranauth’s attorney, Martin Minnella, said his client never meant to kill Sembhudyal when he shot him while the two stood inside a third-floor apartment. Ultimately, the jury believed the argument by Senior Assistant State Attorney Patrick Griffin, who said Rabindranauth was trying to kill when he fired the .38-calibre revolver that sent a lead slug into Sembhudyal’s chest, heart, lungs and liver.

Rabindranauth was arrested in Miami five days after the January 3, 2009 shooting, by multiple law enforcement agents, who took him into custody before he could board a South America-bound jet.

Police said Rabindranauth shot and killed his ex-girlfriend’s cousin, Sembhudyal, at the victim’s home following an argument over the telephone. Police said Rabindranauth went to Sembhudyal’s home with a handgun. Their argument escalated and the suspect shot the victim once in the chest.

Rabindranauth fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Waterbury Police Lt Christopher Corbett says the men had a history of disagreements over money and property.

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