Bush national intelligence director's daughter convicted of murder

Sophia Negroponte, the adopted daughter of former Bush National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, has been convicted of second-degree murder.

Jurors in Montgomery County, Maryland, convicted her Tuesday for the 2020 stabbing death of Yousuf Rasmussen, according to The Washington Post. 

Jurors did not convict her of the most serious charge, premeditated first-degree murder, but said she "acted with extreme disregard of the life-endangering consequences."

Negroponte, now 29, fatally stabbed Rasmussen, then 24, in the neck with a kitchen knife in a Rockville Airbnb in February 2020. 

The defense urged jurors to consider how much alcohol Negroponte had consumed the night of the murder and that she was unable to form specific intent due to her intoxication level.

He adoptive father was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 as the country first national intelligence director.

Negroponte adopted Sophia from an orphanage in Honduras while serving there as a U.S. ambassador. 

"Neither the prosecutors nor perhaps the jury took into sufficient consideration the complexities and mitigating circumstances of the case – Sophia’s past trauma and other factors that led to a very troubled existence. the 83-year-old Negroponte said after the verdict. "She’s had severe alcohol-use disorder."

He also said his daughter had been sober for nearly three years while living with her parents during the trial.

"We don’t want to see her life wasted in prison," said Negroponte, who also opened the possibility of an appeal.

After the verdict, Rasmussen's family said: "Yousuf was a kind and gentle soul, a loving person who brought our family and his many friends great joy in his 24 years of life."

Negroponte's sentencing is scheduled for March 31. She faces up to 40 years behind bars.