Man Accused Of Killing Wife & Children
On Tuesday, June 3rd, the trial began for Lakshminivasa Nerusu, who the prosecution is charging with the 2008 murder of his family. Nerusu was recently extradited from India, where he has been living since he fled the country, the day after his wife and children were stabbed to death in their home in Novi, Michigan.
According to the opening statement of Assistant Prosecutor Tricia Dare, Nerusu stabbed his wife 59 times and then waited several hours for his children to come home from school. His 14-year-old daughter arrived first, and Nerusu waited for her to come inside and take off her shoes before slitting her throat. Another 40 minutes elapsed before his 12-year-old son arrived home. The boy only got one shoe off before Nerusu slashed his throat so deeply that he was almost decapitated.
Apparently Nerusu had spent the previous night on the internet, researching human anatomy, human dissection, and airline schedules. The jury of seven men and seven women were shown horrific pictures of the crime scene and the bodies, which were found two weeks after the fact.
According to Lawrence Kaluzny, Nerusu’s defense attorney, Nerusu had been laid off and was suffering from severe stress due to the family’s dire financial situation, when he “blacked out” and went insane, killing his entire family. Kaluzny filed a notice of insanity, but Nerusu was later found competent to stand trial.
According to Novi Police Chief David Malloy, authorities found the murder weapon with the bodies, and were able to “recover a significant amount of evidence linking Mr. Nerusu to those events.” Malloy has said that he believes the prosecution has a solid case against Nerusu.
“There is no getting around the fact that the cause of those deaths was my client, Mr. Nerusu.” said Kaluzny while addressing the jury. “But in spite of what he did, he is still entitled to a fair trial.” Dare, however, does not echo Kuluzny’s sentiments. “Your verdict should be nothing short of three counts of first-degree murder.”
This Novi murder trial is anticipated to take about two weeks. Nerusu is facing three counts of murder in the first degree. Under Michigan law, first degree murder is a felony punishable by imprisonment for life without the possibility for parole.