Man accused of law student's murder says his girlfriend was the perpetrator
A George Washington University student accused of fatally stabbing a first-year Georgetown law student is claiming at his murder trial that he wasn’t the perpetrator.
Lawyers for Rahul Gupta, 25, are “advancing an unusual, no-holds-barred defense,” the Washington Post reports. Gupta, who is expected to testify, claims his now ex-girlfriend killed 23-year-old Mark Waugh by stabbing him six times.
Gupta’s former girlfriend has not been charged and prosecutors say she was not the perpetrator. The girlfriend says she doesn’t know what happened. “I know that I was really drunk that night, and I was blacking out,” she told jurors at the trial.
Gupta and his girlfriend both earned degrees in biomedical engineering from George Washington University, and Gupta was pursuing a master’s degree.
Gupta and his girlfriend were celebrating Gupta’s 24th birthday on the night of the incident in October 2013, the Post says. They dined at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and then they visited three bars, where they met Waugh, a high school friend of Gupta’s. The three people returned to the apartment of Gupta and his girlfriend in Silver Spring, Maryland.
When police arrived at the apartment, the girlfriend answered the door. She had blood on her arm and leg, prosecutor Patrick Mays said in opening statements. Waugh was dead and Gupta was lying next to him, covered in blood.
Gupta at first told officers that he killed Waugh because he found him cheating with his girlfriend. Later, Gupta allegedly told the police he had made a mistake, and his friend had tried to kill him, according to previous coverage.
Gupta’s lawyers now say he was lying to protect his girlfriend, and he had gotten bloody performing CPR on Waugh.
When his girlfriend was on the stand, Gupta’s lawyers established that she changed clothes before police arrived, she had an interest in boxing for physical fitness, and her contact lens was found on the back of Waugh’s pants.
