Seattle, Nov. 09, 2005
Abrar khan
NRI press
NRI, (non-resident Indian) Neelesh
Phadnis, 24, is accused of fatally shooting his father
and mother, Ravindra, 53, and Surekha Phadnis, 49,
on Aug. 24, 2002, in the family’s Avon Court
home in Kent.
Neelesh Phadnis who thought
he could do a better job than four court-appointed
attorneys at defending himself on charges he murdered
his parents was found guilty Friday in King County
Superior Court.
Members of the jury, who took approximately eight
hours to reach their verdict, said Neelesh Phadnis's
broken, often contradictory testimony and questioning
of witnesses was self-defeating and highlighted his
arrogance.
According to Seattle Times staff, Neelesh Phadnis
repeatedly perched the reading glasses he'd borrowed
from the judge on his forehead and looked at the men
and women inside the jury box.
"You guys," he said during closing arguments,
"I mean, I hope you guys are sharp. I mean, I
want to have children. I mean, I want to fall in love
with a female. I want to have a happy life. I mean,
my life is on the line here. I hope you understand
that."
Phadnis, 24, is accused of fatally shooting his father
and mother, Ravindra, 53, and Surekha Phadnis, 49,
on Aug. 24, 2002, in the family's Avon Court home
in Kent.
Phadnis, who has no legal training, insisted on defending
himself against the two aggravated first-degree murder
charges despite warnings from King County Superior
Court Judge Helen Halpert and his former attorneys.
He opted to act as his own attorney, he said, because
he had "issues" with all four public defenders
assigned to him.
David Roberson, Phadnis' most recent public defender
who was assigned as standby counsel, said the trial
has been a tragedy.
"It's a shame because he has no idea what he
is doing, and there is obviously something wrong with
him," said Roberson. "What can I say? It's
not fun. It's like watching a train wreck."
Nevertheless, dozens of attorneys and other spectators
have sat in on the two-week trial. "I've never
seen anything like this," said one courtroom
regular.
Phadnis claims he was kidnapped and tortured for
three days by a gang of 400-pound Samoans who eventually
killed his parents in front of him. At one point he
tried to keep prosecutors from showing the jury a
picture of one of his father's handguns by saying,
"Your honor, that's not even the murder weapon,"
which implied that he had personal knowledge about
the gun that was used in the killings.
Another time, Phadnis put his finger in his mouth,
like a gag, to show jurors how he was supposedly silenced
by the Samoan gang. He then proceeded to talk while
his voice was muffled, making it difficult for jurors
to understand him.
The number of people Phadnis claimed were involved
in his parents' slayings, as well as their ethnicity,
changed daily, according to Phadnis' testimony. One
day, the gang was comprised of a handful of Samoans
and their girlfriends. Later that same day, there
were also two whites, a couple of blacks, one Native
American and, perhaps, even one transgendered individual
in the gang. By the end of the trial, Phadnis was
saying there were more than 30 armed Samoans involved.
Phadnis, who frequently asked the judge and prosecutors
for help throughout the trial, was allowed to walk
around the courtroom, sit on the witness stand and
speak freely during his defense.
Under cross-examination by Deputy Prosecutor Don
Raz, Phadnis explained his calm demeanor after the
slayings because he had "been trained all the
way through junior high to stay calm when you deal
with fire, crime, drugs and earthquakes." He
then launched into a long discourse on how he learned
to "stop, drop and roll."
Police and prosecutors said Phadnis was completely
calm when he knocked at his neighbor's house late
on the night of the slayings and asked to use the
phone, saying he was trying to reach his parents.
He left, returned a short time later and called 911.
Police said that when officers responded, Phadnis
never said anything about a kidnapping or the slayings.
Instead, he said he was too tired and hungry to talk
and that they should "go home."
In addition, Phadnis said though he had seen someone
fire a gun at his parents, he didn't realize they'd
been hurt.
"You're telling me that you saw them come out,
stand behind your dad and pull the trigger, that you
heard the shot and saw blood, and that you didn't
know they were injured?" Raz asked incredulously.
Phadnis said it didn't occur to him that his parents
had been shot.
Phadnis has had several mental-health evaluations
that determined he was competent to make legal decisions
for himself. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a competent
person the right to have an attorney, but also guarantees
the person the right to waive the attorney and defend
himself.
2002:
In 2001, a judge ordered Phadnis to undergo a mental
evaluation at Western State Hospital when he was facing
a drug charge. He was found incompetent to stand trial
in July. He was treated and found competent last month.
The charge, however, was dismissed.
Details of the man's apparent mental-health problems
are sealed.
Phadnis' friend told police that he took a gun away
from Phadnis earlier this year, concerned that he'd
hurt someone.
He said Phadnis retaliated by trying to set fire
to his house.
Late last month, the friend and others beat and slashed
Phadnis as some kind of ritual retribution, according
to court documents. Police say Phadnis hung around
afterward, staying with the friend until Aug. 24.
Two other people told police Phadnis had been talking
about killing his parents, but they thought he was
joking or trying to seem important, according to court
documents.
Ravindra Phadnis, 53, owned Key Customs Brokerage,
a SeaTac company that helped expedite shipments through
customs. His 48-year-old wife worked at Sears.
They had lived in their Avon Court cul-de-sac for
more than a decade
