Telugu Bidda Raghunandan Yandamuri

The murder-kidnapping drama involving Telugu bidda Raghunandan Yandamuri is wearily trudging into the trial phase.

Raghunandan Yandamuri has been charged with the murders of baby Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna during a botched kidnapping for ransom incident on October 22, 2012 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Montgomery County (PA) prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Yandamuri.

Jury selection commenced yesterday and it appears five jurors have been selected as of 15:00 hours September 17, 2014.

Trial Start

Already marked by repeated postponements, it seems unlikely that the Telugu bidda’s trial will start before next week.

But Judge Steven T. O’Neill could throw the spanner in the works by ruling in favor of Yandamuri’s motion seeking an alternative venue or getting jurors from another county given the prejudicial publicity the Venna murders have received in Montgomery County.

Raghunanda Yandamuri’s trial is the most high-profile criminal case involving an Indian in the U.S.

3 Responses to "Raghunandan Yandamuri – Jury Picture"

alphaalpha September 19, 2014 at 8:23 pm

Typically jury selection in a criminal trial is an art form involving a host of attorneys, psychologists, other experts etc., ,

Now that the Telugu bidda has fired his attorney and assumed the role, I wonder if he would be also assuming the roles of all the other experts too. Bad for the bidda, but good for justice and very good for the taxpayers who do not have to shell out money for his defense.

Searchindia.com Responds:

Oh, No!

There’s no relief for taxpayers.

Yandamuri still has the two lawyers on the state’s payroll. One of them (the one he fired) is on “standby” and the other is Mitigation Counsel since this is a death penalty case.

If Gabriel Garcia Marquez were still alive, he write a new book titled Chronicle of a Death (Sentence) Foretold.

I can’t see how this Telugu bidda will beat the death penalty rap.
rvasam September 22, 2014 at 5:07 pm

I know this is crazy but a hypothetical situation – can his wife be an alibi and get her to say he was somewhere else when the actual crimes were perpetuated (assuming the jury is led to believe about Mr. Matt & Josh).

I have seen it in a few movies where the culprit actually gets exonerated due to an “false alibi” given by a pastor.

I know this is far fetched but hey never know “innocent until proven guilty”.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

In theory, all things are possible in a court case. More so, if you’re a regular Law & Order viewer. 😉

But in the Vennas murder case, Raghunandan Yandamuri crucified himself with the below video confession.
http://www.searchindia.com/2012/11/28/telugu-bidda-raghunandan-yandamuri-is-hoisted-with-his-own-petard/

Subsequently Yandamuri tried hard to get the confession video suppressed but the judge disallowed his motion and said it could be shown to the jury.

The video is a killer for the prosecution side! Plus there’s the gambling issue.

So there are now only two possible outcomes – Life in Prison or Lethal Injection.

If I were the betting kind, I’d bet on the injection outcome. With all the appeals possibilities, he’ll be around for another two decades.

I’ll be long gone before his D-Day or to be more precise E-Day.
rvasam September 22, 2014 at 6:06 pm

It’s amazing how calm both the police and he are in that confession video.

Must be the police tactics to ensure he gives out everything thinking they’ll let him go if he tells the truth.

He should have taken training from Casey Anthony on how to lie.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

I agree…he should have kept his lips sealed.

He should have known his fate was doomed by blabbing!

Anyway, not to worry. After watching the Yandamuri video, the next Indian to kidnap/murder/rob will keep his mouth shut! 😉

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