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Keith L. Alexander
Journalist covering crime and the courts, especially the Superior Court cases at the D.C.
A man from Maryland was found guilty of murdering three members of a wealthy family in northwestern Washington and their governess, the violent crimes of 2015 that struck the capital.
Thursday's verdict by the jury in the Daron Wint case came after an emotional – and often graphic – trial of six weeks, which included hundreds of evidences and dozens of witnesses.
Wint was the only person charged with the murder of the married couple Savvas Savopoulos, 46, and Amy Savopoulos, 47; their son, Philippe, 10 years old; and the family's cleaning lady, Veralicia "Vera" Figueroa, 57 years old.
Wint has been convicted of several counts of murder as well as kidnapping, burglary and arson. Wint, 37, observers in court, did not react audibly to the reading of the verdict. He was holding his head slightly inclined.
A dozen family members and friends of the victims appeared in court, including the parents of Amy and Savvas Savopoulos. Some cried and kissed, as well as prosecutors. The parents refused to comment.
"We hope the verdict will bring some comfort to the families of the victims," said US lawyer Jessie K. Liu in a statement. She called the crime "insane house invasion".
Daron Wint is photographed in this undated photo published by the Metropolitan Police Service. (Document / Reuters)
Federal prosecutors at the trial described Wint, a former employee of a Savopoulos family business, as a man driven by greed and revenge.
The defense told the jurors that Wint was innocent. They said that his brother and half-brother were the murderers and that Wint had been set up to take the blame.
Prosecutors claimed that Wint had broken into Savopoulos' house in May 2015 and held the victims hostage while he was demanding a $ 40,000 ransom Savvas Savopoulos had delivered in the hope that the intruder left them unharmed.
The victims were beaten with baseball bats and stabbed repeatedly before their bodies were sprinkled with gasoline and burned. The fire ravaged the floor of the Savopoulos House, on Woodland Drive NW.
[[[[Prosecutors say Daron Wint is guilty, even if someone else was involved in murders]
US Deputy Attorney Laura Bach told the jury that Wint desperately needed cash at the time of the crimes. His family had him out of their home, he had no stable work and he was facing life in his van. Wint had previously worked for the Savopoulos company, American Iron Works, in Maryland, but had been fired in 2005 after two years. Prosecutors said he later tried unsuccessfully to find his job.
"He had no option anymore. He did that. He was the one who killed those people, "Bach told the jury in his final argument in the Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday. "Now you hold him responsible. Hold him accountable for what he did. "
Savvas Savopoulos, President and CEO of American Iron Works, was interested in martial arts and was opening a center in Virginia. Amy Savopoulos was a devoted mother who, according to her friends, was interested in the prevention and treatment of concussions in the child.
Philip was a student at St. Albans School, a private boys' school in the district. At trial, his grandfather testified about the boy's love for Harry Potter, Washington's trains and sports teams. The couple's daughters, Abigail and Katerina, who are now in college, were in boarding schools during the attack.
Figueroa, wife, mother and grandmother, had left El Salvador to settle in the Washington area and hoped to return to her homeland, according to her family. Her DNA, found on the handle of one of the baseball bats used as a weapon, showed that she had been trying to fight Wint, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that Wint had entered Savopoulos' home on the morning of May 13, 2015 and had been able to control Philip and Figueroa. Amy Savopoulos, who had gone for coffee, went home and was also restrained, prosecutors said.
Towards the end of the afternoon, prosecutors said that Wint had forced Amy Savopoulos to phone her husband and summon him home, without worrying that she, their Son and Figueroa were in danger.
Firemen called to the house in flames the next day found the four bodies inside.
Prosecutors said Wint's DNA was found on a slice of discarded Domino pizza that had been delivered to the house the night the victims were taken hostage. Authorities said they also found Wint's DNA on a knife in the basement of the house and a matching hair to Wint on a bed where the bodies of adults were found.
[Suspect in D.C. quadruple killing testifies he was lured to crime scene, never saw victims]
In an unexpected move, Wint stood up and told the authorities that his half-brother, Darrell, had persuaded him to go home in anticipation of a drywall and painting job. After their arrival, Wint testified that Darrell told him he was planning to rob the house.
Wint testified that while he was there, he ate a slice of pizza but left when his brother mentioned the burglary plan. He said that he has never seen or heard the victims.
Judith Pipe and Jeffrey Stein, two public defenders of Wint, told the jurors that they had to be skeptical about the government's file, arguing that it was impossible for Wint, acting alone, to break into the house, hold three adults, cut the security system of the house and set the house on fire.
But prosecutors told jurors that even though they believed that Wint would not have been able to commit these crimes alone, he should still be found guilty.
"Even if Daron Wint had help, he's still guilty," Bach said.
Prosecutors brought in numerous witnesses, including computer and forensic experts and family members from Wint. Wint's brothers, Darrell and Steffon, testified that they had nothing to do with the murders.
According to reports, a few days after the murders, Wint used his mobile phone to search Google, including "How to beat a lie detector test" and "10 towns-dens for fugitives."
Wint showed little emotion during the trial, focusing instead on the paperwork that lay before him. He briefly tore up when his fiancee of the time, Devonie Hayles, testified.
Hayles told the jury that three days after the murders, Wint had taken a bus to visit him. Of the $ 100 bills that prosecutors claimed to have come from ransom, she said that Wint had told him that he had won the lottery and sold his van and that he had money. to take him shopping.
The verdict of the jury was delivered after less than two full days of deliberations. Judge Juliet McKenna set the penalty on February 1st.
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