Raghu Yandamuri found guilty in murder of baby, her grandmother

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- A Montgomery County jury has found Raghu Yandamuri guilty of two counts of first degree murder in the killings of a baby and her grandmother in King of Prussia.

The case will now go to a penalty phase where it will be decided if Yandamuri should get the death penalty or life in prison.

Yandamuri was charged in the 2012 kidnapping and killing 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and with killing her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna.

The case went to the jury Wednesday evening.

After more than six hours of deliberations, the jury sent a note to the judge indicating that one of the jurors had become incapacitated for some reason. With no verdict reached Wednesday, the jury was sent home for the night.

Deliberations resumed Thursday morning, with the one juror replaced by an alternate with no explanation given.

Because of that replacement, the "reconstituted jury", had to start their deliberations all over again.

Yandamuri represented himself in the trial. During his closing argument he again attacked the credibility of the police investigators and tried to blame two strangers he says forced him into it.

The crime happened in October of 2012 at the Marquis Apartments in King of Prussia.

Police say it was a botched kidnap-for-ransom plot carried out by Yandamuri alone.

He claims he was forced to participate by two men. But he never explained how he encountered these strangers and how they forced him to go along. And he never explained why he didn't go to the police for three days.

The prosecution maintained that Yandamuri acted alone and was hoping to pay off gambling debts by kidnapping baby Saanvi, and that he had to kill her grandmother to eliminate the only witness.