Crime & Safety
Christopher Plaskon Accepts Plea Offer in Fatal School Stabbing Case: VIDEO
Plaskon, 18, appeared in court Monday morning and accepted a plea offer in the stabbing death of Jonathan Law student Maren Sanchez, 16.
MILFORD, CT - Christopher Plaskon, 18, who fatally stabbed Jonathan Law Junior Class President Maren Sanchez, 16, at the high school in April 2014, decided Monday morning to accept a plea offer.
Plaskson appeared in Superior Court, Milford this morning and faced a deadline today on whether to accept the plea offer. Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year sentence for Plaskon, according to media reports including the Hartford Courant.
He will be sentenced on June 6.
If Plaskon rejected the plea offer he would have faced a three-judge trial in the spring.
Sanchez's death stunned the Milford community, but in the days, weeks and months ahead the small city pulled together together to comfort each other. A week after Sanchez's death more than 1,500 people attended a vigil in Milford to honor Sanchez's life but to also grieve and heal together.
Plaskon, who was 16 at the time of the murder, has served 20 months in prison.
In December 2015, new details were revealed regarding the fatal stabbing of Sanchez at Jonathan Law High School in April 2014.
According to court documents the motive for the murder was Sanchez’s rejection of Plaskon’s request to go to the junior class prom with him.
Plaskon told his family he heard voices in his head and that is why he killed Sanchez, according to the Milford Mirror. Plaskon’s attorneys have said if the case goes to trial they are planning an insanity defense.
Court documents also stated that Plaskon told a friend he wanted to take Sanchez to the prom and he desired to be more than friends with her. Prior to Sanchez’s murder, Plaskon was bothered that a female turned him down in going to the prom, the Milford Mirror reports.
Plaskon allegedly told a friend he “wouldn’t mind if (Maren) was dead or hit by a bus,” the court documents state.
- Related stories: One Year After Maren Sanchez Tragedy, Milford Turns Grief to Compassion
- Milford ‘Thanks’ Maren Sanchez for Her Legacy of Love and Compassion
Plaskon’s attorneys have argued that their client was suffering from a mental defect at the time of the stabbing.
“It is his intention to defend against the charges filed against him and rely on the affirmative defense that at the time of the alleged commission of the offense, he was suffering from a mental disease or defect and or extreme emotional disturbance,” the defense’s notice states.
Plaskon is currently being held at the Manson Youth Institute in Cheshire on a $3 million bond.
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