Upper Merion Man Convicted In Double Murder To Defend Self Before State Supreme Court: Report

A Montgomery County judge has granted an Upper Merion man’s request to represent himself before the state Supreme Court in the appeals process to overturn a double murder conviction, according to The Intelligencer.

Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29, had been convicted of the October 2012 stabbing death of 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna, as well as the suffocation death of Saanvi Venna, her 10-month-old granddaughter. The killings were part of a botched kidnapping- for-ransom plot attempted by the defendant, the report said.

The jury last year convicted Yandamuri, a friend of the Venna family, of first-degree murder for each slaying, handing down a pair of death sentences.

While Yandamuri will represent himself before the state Supreme Court, he will be assisted by defense attorneys Henry S. Hilles III and Stephen G. Heckman, who will serve as standby counsels.

Read the full story at The Intelligencer.

Photo courtesy of the Upper Merion Police Department.