Biswanath Halder, who came to the United States over 35 years ago with dreams of a brilliant career in engineering and business, will spend the rest of his life in a prison for shooting to death a student and injuring two others during a seven hour siege of a university building.
A jury in a Cleveland Court on Sunday spared the life of the 65-year-old Halder but denied him parole.
Images: A Dangerous Mind
An electrical engineer with a degree from a West Bengal University, who had also served briefly in the Indian Army, Halder lived in poverty in America, unable to hold a job for more than a few months. Halder, who had been treated for alcoholism (which has been in remission for over 20 years), arthritis and glaucoma, had been collecting disability checks from the government for many years.
In Cleveland, he spent nearly four years in an attic without any furniture but managed to get a degree in business management from the Case Western Reserve University about five years ago despite severe mental problems.
Halder went on a shooting spree on May 9, 2003, armed with 1000 rounds of ammunition, months after he had lost a civil case against Case Western and one of his employees called Shawn Miller, alleging that Miller had hacked his computer programs meant to 'save humanity.'
Also see: Into the mind of a killer
But killed in the rampage was Norman Wallace and injured were two students who had no connections to the alleged cyber crime. Court papers and testimonies also showed that the alleged hacker was another Case Western employee, Christopher Fenton, who appeared in the court on January 21.
Fenton, however, refused to answer the questions put forth by the defense on whether he had hacked Halder's computer; citing the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination
The verdict was 'of immense relief,' John Luskin, one of the three court-appointed attorneys, told rediff.com.
"In this type of case, with the evidence overwhelmingly against Biswanath, we thought this is a great victory," he said.
The defense team, while acknowledging that Halder had committed a heinous crime, had vigorously sought to save his life. Halder did not deserve to live in society because of his acts, argued Kevin Cafferkey, one of Halder's lawyers, at the start of the sentencing trial last week.
But at the same time Cafferkey pleaded with the jury that Halder be spared of the death sentence. His defense attorneys acknowledged he was the gunman who went to the campus in military fatigue, and wore a helmet as well as a bulletproof vest.
"We are just happy they (the jury) fell on the side of giving him life," Cafferkey said on Sunday soon after the verdict. "But he will serve the rest of life in prison, and will never, ever leave a jail cell and I feel comfortable with that," he added.
The prosecution derived some satisfaction from the verdict as well.
"Biswanath Halder's offenses were horrific and certainly deserving of the death penalty," said Prosecutor Bill Mason, adding, "While we are disappointed that Halder will not receive the maximum punishment for his deadly siege, we hope that his victims and their families can take some comfort in the fact that he will never again see the light of the day."
During the sentencing process, the prosecution had fought the defense arguments that Halder was mentally ill by stating that Halder had severe personality disorders that did not rise to the level of mental illness. Among the many disorders narrated in the court was his habit to visit the same coffee shop for breakfast over a four-year period, with the exact amount of change and sitting in the same corner talking to himself for an hour or more.
His delusional personality, which made him think that he was saving the problems of humanity or setting up cyber business that would impact the world in terms of trillions of Dollars and his paranoia were not elevated enough to be called mental illnesses, a psychologist for the prosecution argued.
The prosecution also insisted that Halder, who said he wanted to 'liquidate' the university because of its alleged role in protecting the perpetrator of the cyber crime against him, was a 'cruel' and 'selfish' individual who had expertly planned the attack.
Halder convicted on 196 counts
During the trial phase, Judge Peggy Foley Jones, accepting the recommendations of the psychologists who said that despite all his personality disorders Halder had no mental illness, barred the defense against bringing up the mental illness issue. But once the jury found Halder guilty last month and faced a death sentence, she allowed the issue to be taken up.
The jury started its sentencing deliberations at 4 pm on Saturday after going through four days of sentencing and mitigation hearing, and deliberated till 11 pm.
"One person in the jury was holding out. He was persistent that Halder be given the death sentence," Luskin said, adding that later the man came around and a unanimous verdict was reached.
Judge Jones has accepted the jury's verdict. She will formally finalize the sentence on February 17. On the same day, Halder could ask the court for letting him appeal the case. Meanwhile, after the verdict came, Halder showed not an iota of emotion.
But when he was found guilty last month, he had created quite a commotion outside the courtroom, demanding his lawyers get him a super fast computer so that he could send e-mails to millions of Indian friends asking for their support.
In reality, Halder hardly had any friends except a social worker called Bhasker Banerjee who talked to him from time to time. Halder had not spoken to his only sibling, a sister, who lives in Calcutta for more than 35 years, according to the psychologists.
The psychologists told the court last week that Halder had been absolutely convinced that the jury will find him not guilty, once it came to know the harm he had suffered at the hands of Case Western and Miller. But he had also told them that when he had walked into the Case Western campus on May 9, 2003, he had not expected to come out alive.
Last month, the jury had seen the video showing Halder shoot to death Wallace, 30, the president of the university's Black MBA Student Association, who was chatting with a few others about basketball and their summer plans. Lawyers for Halder had argued that initially he had meant to scare people and that he had begun shooting wildly only when he lost his glasses.
Halder expressed regret for the killing but no real remorse. He also told the psychologists that his act had got rid of cyber crime forever.
The courtroom saw quite a bit of drama on January 21, when the judge was instructing the jury. She received a note from Halder saying that he wanted to speak to her. And when she told him that his request had come too late, he declared, "I wanted to talk to the media since June 2003.The people who control me have prevented me from doing so."
During the last two years, Halder wrote to some journalists, including this writer, protesting how the entire system in America, including Case Western, the courts and the FBI were corrupt.
On February 17, he can talk at length before the judge and the media, said Luskin. He could argue, for instance, his defense team did not do the proper job but the judicial review could take a very long time. The defense team, which vacillated between putting him on the witness stand or keeping him out of it, decided by Friday evening on the second option because Halder was too incoherently agitated.
"He seemed to be too disturbed that we felt we would not be able to put him any questions that will get us anywhere," Luskin had said on Friday. "As defense counsel and as his advocates, we believe our client is suffering from mental illness," Luskin continued, adding, "He does not understand the nature of these proceedings. As such, he is not capable of taking the stand."
Judge Jones, while rejecting Halder's respect to address the media and the jury, told him that she respected the decision of the defense team not to let him testify. Halder then sat down quietly, and a few moments later began scribbling notes on his legal pad.
Luskin said, "Outside the court, he has often shown boisterous behavior but he has been a very different person inside the court, for most part. When the judge asked him to remain quiet, he followed her order."
Soon after the verdict came, Luskin said that the defense team found no reason for stopping Halder from speaking on February 17. "Now that he has no chance of being in jeopardy of death we will allow him to address the court and the whole world," Luskin added.
© 2026