LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An Indiana man who fatally stabbed and shot a fellow Purdue University student inside a crowded classroom was sentenced Friday to the maximum 65 years in prison after telling a judge he lied about being mentally ill. Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Thomas Busch cited Cody Cousins' lack of remorse, the viciousness of the Jan. 21 attack on Andrew Boldt, and Cousins' apparent pride in Boldt's death in rejecting the defense's request that Cousins be found guilty but mentally ill. "That's not insanity. That's not mental illness," Busch said, calling the slaying a "crime of terror."
Both Cousins and Boldt were teaching assistants in Purdue's electrical engineering program at the time of the attack. Prosecutors said Cousins shot Boldt, of West Bend, Wisconsin, five times, including three times in the face, and cut him 19 times in front of horrified students. Cousins pleaded guilty to the slaying last month. Defense attorneys argued that the 24-year-old Warsaw man was mentally ill at the time of the attack and asked that he receive treatment now instead of upon his release from prison. Cousins told Busch at a May 8 hearing that he was taking medication to treat schizophrenia. But he testified Friday that he killed Boldt "because I wanted to" and said he lied to doctors about having auditory hallucinations.
IN-DEPTH
- Cody Cousins Pleads Guilty to Purdue Student Andrew Boldt Murder
- Teaching Assistant Shot and Killed in Purdue University Classroom
