A teenager accused of stabbing a classmate to death at their high school for rejecting his invitation to the junior prom pleaded no contest to murder Monday, and prosecutors said they will seek a 25-year prison sentence.
Christopher Plaskon, 18, accepted a plea bargain during a brief appearance in Milford Superior Court. Sentencing is set for June 6.
Plaskon was charged with killing 16-year-old Maren Sanchez at Jonathan Law High School in Milford on April 25, 2014. His family and friends said he became upset that Sanchez turned down his prom invitation.
Plaskon was held at a psychiatric hospital after the stabbing. His attorneys said he showed signs of psychosis and they were considering an insanity defense.
The attack happened in a first-floor hallway at about 7:15 a.m. on the day of the junior prom. Students described an emotional scene where people were crying as police and paramedics swarmed the school.
A witness tried to pull Plaskon off Sanchez during the attack, and another saw Plaskon discard a bloody knife, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Plaskon was taken to the principal’s office in bloody clothing and told police, “I did it. Just arrest me,” according to the affidavit.
Staff members and paramedics performed life-saving measures on Sanchez, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward. The medical examiner’s office said she was stabbed in the torso and neck.
Sanchez, a member of the National Honor Society who was active in drama and other school activities, had been focused on prom in the days before she was killed. She had posted on Facebook a photograph of herself wearing a blue prom dress and was looking forward to attending with a new boyfriend.
At school on the day before the stabbing, Sanchez and a friend talked excitedly about their plans for the upcoming dance.
A friend of Plaskon’s told police that Plaskon thought about hurting Sanchez because he wanted to be more than friends with her. The friend said Plaskon said he wouldn’t mind if Sanchez “was dead or hit by a bus.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
This guy destroyed two lives and hurt countless others over a teen dance. The sad part is that nearly two years have passed and everyone would probably have forgotten about this dance a long time ago if not for this horrible crime. Parents and schools need to do a better job helping kids realize that life is bigger than an occasional rejection.
Mental illness is too often ignored due to parents not wanting to have their child declared or instituted, and by society because they don’t want to spend the money to care for them. Many mentally impaired are put on to the streets to fend for themselves, some are even shipped to different towns by cities wanting rid of them. And, then of course, there are the senseless mass killings by the mentally impaired, and our government and society want to disarm the law abiding citizens, as if that would do anything to prevent these cases.
We are seeing with more and more frequency the total disregard for human life. There is not right and wrong anymore. Children should be taught that There IS RIGHT AND WRONG, that we are responsible for our choices and there are times to loose and times to win, without letting gain or lost chatters our lives, there is always tomorrow.
Creepy looking guy. Looks nuts. Needs a long prison sentence.
This is a direct result of taking prayer out of our schools. Anne Graham Lotz said it best:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010913185312/http://www.cbsnews.com/earlyshow/healthwatch/healthnews/20010913terror_spiritual.shtml
No God. No Peace. Know God. Know Peace.
Once in prison, lets see if he turns down a request to go to a dance.
I’m sure he will be out and about in just a few years.
I wonder how much his Mom and Dad or any family members talked to this boy and had any idea in
his obsession with wanting this girl to go with him to the Prom. My Sympathy goes out to all the family members especially for the young lady’s parents for the loss of their daughter, but also for the loss and shame this boys’ parents must be feeling for the tradagedy regarding thier Son.
No fear of God in these kids because no teaching about the Law of Cause and Effect, no prayer.
The atheists have won, in spite of the fact they are a small minority. The majority needs to stand
up, including letting the judicial know of its displeasure by removing them from office, asap.
wonder if BO will want to issue an executive order banning people from owning knives since the 2nd Amendment apparently only protects the right to bear firearms??????
In keeping with the spirit of fair comment on the news story published, as a result of the tragedy of this hate crime in the publlc school I wonder if the President will attempt to issue an executive order nationally banning the ownership of knives since apparently the 2nd Amendment only protects the citizens’ rights to bear firearms?
It is time to ban knives. The knives are evil not the perp.