Daughter Of Former U.S. Diplomat Found Guilty In Murder Retrial

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The daughter of a former U.S. diplomat was found guilty of second-degree murder on Thursday following her retrial in the fatal 2020 stabbing of a Bethesda man, according to prosecutors.

Sophia Negroponte, 32, was convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Thursday, State's Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement. The verdict came nearly two years after a state appeals court tossed her conviction in the stabbing death of 24-year-old Yousuf Rasmussen and ordered a new trial.

Negroponte faces up to 35 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 19.

Negroponte is the daughter of John Negroponte, who was appointed as the country's first director of national intelligence in 2005 by President George W. Bush. He also served as an ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, Iraq and the United Nations.

On Feb. 13, 2020, police were called to the 400 block of West Montgomery Avenue, where Negroponte was staying in a short-term rental located behind the property. According to McCarthy, Negroponte and Rasmussen, who had been friends since high school, were together at the rental and consuming "substantial amounts of alcohol."

McCarthy said Negroponte and Rasmussen fought on two separate occasions that night before Rasmussen decided to leave. Rasmussen returned to the house after forgetting his cell phone, which is when authorities said Negroponte stabbed him several times in the neck with a knife.

Negroponte was initially convicted of second-degree murder in January 2023, three years after Rasmussen's death.

In January 2024, a three-judge Appellate Court of Maryland panel sent the case to a lower court for a new trial after police and an expert witness for the prosecution questioned Negroponte's credibility, The Washington Post reported. The court also ruled that comments made by detectives during Negroponte's trial questioning her recollection of the stabbing should not have been heard by a jury.

“The fact that appellant repeated an allegedly implausible story — that she did not remember the moment of the stabbing — and that she changed her recollection of detail was relevant,” the court wrote, according to the Post. “The expressions of disbelief by the detectives, however, were not.”

In a statement released after Thursday's verdict, McCarthy said prosecutors were "looking forward" to Negroponte being held accountable for her actions.