Chris Rickert Wisconsin State Gazette
A Dane County jury debated about three hours Monday before finding a Madison man guilty of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in 2020 of a UW Health doctor and her husband.
Harry Sanford did not show any reaction to the sentences, which carry automatic life sentences. Dane County Judge Ellen Birz will decide at a later date when, if ever, Sanford will be eligible for extended custody.
The jurors began deliberating after concluding arguments that drew two radically different versions of the 20-year-old: a “silent killer” driven to kill his then-girlfriend’s parents, or “a typical teenager at an unusual time.”
Assistant District Attorney Tim Verhof returned the 13 men and three women back in late March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began and “anxiety was palpable.”
Sanford
DANE SHERIFF
Lara
DANE SHERIFF
Sanford and his girlfriend Miriam Carey were living on Airbnb, paid for by her parents, Dr. Beth Potter and Robin Carey, when Sanford went out on the night of March 30, took his girlfriend Alia Lara to van Potter and Robin Carey allowed him and Miriam to used and continued to Potter-Carre’s home on the Middle West Side of Madison, where Sanford had lived until recently.
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Citing videos, surveillance photos and cell phone location data provided during the last five days of the trial, Verhof led the jury across Sanford and Lara from Potter-Kare’s home, where Sanford abducted the couple with weapons, to the UW Arboretum, where he shoots. both in his head and let them die.
The state does not rely on one piece of evidence or one witness to prove its point, he said, but on many.
“All the pieces are there … to come to your conclusion,” he said.
Testimony during the trial and in the criminal complaint in the case shows frictions between Miriam Carey and the parents of Sanford and Miriam because of the pandemic restrictions. His girlfriend’s parents did not respect him and treated him like a “slave” while he lived there.
Dane County Assistant Attorney General Tim Werhof made his closing argument in the trial of Harry Sanford’s murder on Monday.
Chris Rickert Wisconsin State Gazette
“They lived in fear of COVID,” Verhof said. “They had to live in fear of Harry Sanford.”
Sanford’s public defender, Crystal Vera, dismissed the feature, calling Sanford a “typical teenager” who, like many teenagers, sometimes behaves disrespectfully toward adults. She said there was no evidence in the trial that anyone had perceived Sanford as a dangerous person before the killings.
“Would you let your daughter live with someone dangerous?” She asked.
She also questioned what she called the state’s “star witness” to Lara, who testified on Friday that he drove Sanford, Potter and Robin Carr to the Arboretum and watched his elementary school friend kill the couple.
Harry Sanford Public Defender Crystal Vera makes his closing argument in Monday’s Sanford murder trial.
Chris Rickert Wisconsin State Gazette
Laru, who pleaded guilty to premeditated murder last year, had many motives to be less than true, given that he decided to cooperate only after serving a year in prison and is still pending. to be convicted, Vera said.
Laru “told them everything they wanted to hear,” she said. “Because they wanted justice and he would give it to them.”
During his testimony, Laru said prosecutors had not promised what sentence to recommend and that he had decided to testify to take responsibility for his actions. He said he did not know that Sanford had planned to kill Potter, 52, and Robin Carre, 57, and that he feared for his own safety when Sanford abducted the two.
Sanford’s lawyers did not call witnesses, and in her closing remarks, Vera relied heavily on the state’s responsibility to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Sanford declined to testify in his own defense Monday.
Miriam Carey is not charged in the case and testifies that she knows nothing about Sanford’s plans.
After concluding arguments, but before the jury was sent to discuss, Bertz chose the names of four jurors from a hat and rejected them as deputies. This left a jury of 10 men and two women.
Victim debit cards
Earlier Monday, prosecutors tried to put Sanford at an ATM in southern Madison, trying to use the victims’ debit cards the day after they were killed.
A video of surveillance from a South Park Street ATM shows a man who appears to be Sanford trying to withdraw money seven minutes in several minutes, mostly in $ 300 bills, according to Scott Sandberg, manager of Park Bank’s ATMs and facilities. , which operates the ATM. The withdrawals were unsuccessful because Sanford did not have personal identification cards or PINs, he said.
Beth Potter and Robin Carey
UW-Madison police detective Peter Grimizer then testified that the hooded sweatshirt the man was wearing in the video appeared to be the same sweatshirt that Sanford was wearing on April 2, when he was …
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