Christopher Plaskon: Teen Who Killed Female Friend Who Rejected His Prom Invite Gets 13 Years
Christopher Plaskon, 18, who stabbed classmate and close friend Maren Sanchez, 16, multiple times, including in the face and chest on April 25, 2014, got a lenient appeal that will keep him behind bars for only 13 years, The New York Post is reporting.
Plaskon, the love-struck Connecticut teen who “claimed he heard demonic voices” and cut up Sanchez because she was dating his friend, Jarrod Butts, 18, pleaded no contest in a Milford Superior Court to murdering Sanchez – a shocking crime that rocked the waterfront community for its abrupt brutality. Many of his classmates called him the “class clown” and said nothing in his prior behavior suggested that he was capable of such extreme violence.
Christopher Plaskon murder case cont’d to March 7, when he must accept or reject plea deal in Maren Sanchez murder. pic.twitter.com/z0sqAFIvtV
— Tony Terzi (@T2Fox61) February 23, 2016
Plaskon was 16-years-old when he killed Sanchez. He will be sentenced under the Connecticut’s lenient Juvenile Justice Act, which cuts him a bit of slack after serving 60 percent of his sentence. He already served two years in a Cheshire juvenile facility and would be a free man by age 31.
Plaskon, in a yellow jumpsuit and thick black glasses, stood without emotion as his lawyers entered the plea before Judge John Ronan and a saturated courtroom. State Attorney Kevin Lawlor is pushing for a 25-year prison term when his sentencing comes up on June 6.
PHOTO : Christopher Plaskon,16, in Milford,Conn. court for stabbing murder of Law H.S. classmate Maren Sanchez pic.twitter.com/hSLOqV8w7u
— Peter Hvizdak (@NHRphvizdak) May 2, 2014
Sanchez’s family signed off on the plea deal. But Butts, who has been friends with Plaskon and Sanchez since childhood, slammed the verdict. “I don’t believe the sentence fits the crime at all, I would have liked it to be for at least 40 years. The pain he caused is not justified by 25 years. I could never see this coming,” Butts said.
“Chris has had a crush on Maren for as long as I could remember, all three of them grew up together. Plaskon was angry when Sanchez began dating Butts several weeks ago,” said junior Mick Murray, a good friend to both boys. Another friend said he saw Plaskon on Tuesday doing squats at the high school gym. He said nothing seemed out of order and Plaskon made no reference to the prom or Maren.
Plaskon asked Sanchez, the junior class president, student manager of the softball and swim team, and Jonathan Law High School drama club member, to the prom. She politely declined and told him she was going with Butts, a hockey and lacrosse star who she had been dating for more than a month, much to Plaskon’s distaste.
Plaskon went berserk a few moments after, pouncing on the girl, who had spurned him around 7 a.m. in a first-floor hallway, cruelly slashing at her with a kitchen knife. Sanchez fought back, even biting her assailant as she battled for her life. But he proved too strong for her, and he eventually threw her down a flight of stairs. Handcuffed by a security guard and hustled into the principal’s office, his clothes soaked in blood Plaskon said, “I did it, arrest me.”
Sanchez had been occupied with her prom preparations, posting a picture on Facebook wearing a blue prom dress. Her drama teacher said she even left rehearsals early on Thursday because she wanted to get her nails done for the special night. Her girlfriend, Megan Gosset, said, “the last day I saw her; she was showing me her prom dress. She was so excited.”
Students held a beachfront vigil for Sanchez in their prom attire. Her date, Butts, wore a tuxedo and carried his deceased girlfriend’s teal gown draped over his arm. Classmates posed for a group photo drawing reference to their classmate’s gown, and 20 purple balloons were also released into the sky in memoriam.
[Image via Connecticut Department of Corrections]
