Phadnis, who had acted as his own lawyer in the case rejecting the state appointed attorneys and insisted at one point a 400 pound Samoan had killed his parents, knew that a life sentence was coming for a conviction of aggravated murder means a mandatory life sentence in Washington State.
Hence he begged the judge for a shorter sentence, pleading, "A lifetime in prison is going to be painful."
But Judge Helen Halpert, who in October had repeatedly advised Phadnis against being his own lawyer, reminded him that his crime was terrible, the prosecutor's office told Rediff.com.
"Whatever happenes to you," she said while sentencing Phadnis on November 8, "The murders of your parents make that pale."
According to the prosecutors, Phadnis, who used to be mixed up with street gangs in Seattle and who had been estranged from his parents, shot his father, Ravindra, 53, and his mother, Surekha, 48, in their Kent home in August 2002. It was an execution style killing, officials said.
He then called the police from a neighbor's home, pretending to have found the father's body during an unscheduled visit to the house. He was so calm after dialing 911 that the operator thought his call was a prank, the investigating officers noted.
When he met the investigation officers, he did not want to discuss anything, saying that he was hungry and tired. He was arrested within a few days of the murder and has been in the jail since then. He even called a female detective devil incarnate and wished her to disappear from his sight the soonest. There was no remorse at all in him that his parents were slain, officials noted.
"He is a very arrogant individual and it was his arrogance that led him to dismiss his lawyers," the Senior Deputy Prosecutor Don Raz told IndiaAbroad and Rediff.com
"His mouth was his biggest enemy," he said, "But Neelesh's mouth helped the prosecution a lot because the jurors became convinced in no time about his guilt."
At times the defence was so absurd that the jurors were not taking notes, Raz said.
"He kept changing his story so often," Raz said. "And he kept embroidering it."
Phadnis had argued that a gang of Samoans had kidnapped him and released him in the hope of convincing his parents that they should be paid several thousand of dollars or else they will kidnap him again.
At one point he claimed the girlfriends of the Samoans were also involved in the murder plot. He added to his list of suspects two whites, two blacks, a Native American and a transsexual. At another point, he said 30 armed Samoans were after him and his parents.
But the jurors also heard about Surekha Phadnis calling the police a few months before her murder and complaining against her son during one of his sporadic visits. She said she was scared for her life.
Raz said during one of the presentations by the prosecution, Phadnis started crying when he looked at his dead mother's picture. He sobbed saying, "They killed my mama, they killed my mama." But his voice was anything but convincing, Raz said, adding that the jurors could see through him in no time.
At his summation before the jurors, he said he wanted to have "a life" and that he looked forward to marrying and raising a family.
The jury took a few hours to find him guilty.
Phadnis can still appeal the verdict.
"But he cannot go back to the judge and say I had lousy counseling," Raz said. "He was vehement he would defend himself."
