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Nikita Casap, 18, pleaded guilty Thursday in Waukesha County Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the deaths of his stepfather, Donald Mayer, and his mother, Tatiana Casap, a case prosecutors linked to an alleged plan to assassinate President Donald Trump. Under the plea agreement, Casap faced two mandatory life prison sentences, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for March 5 before Judge Ralph Ramirez.
In court, Ramirez asked Casap if he understood the consequences of the plea and whether he shot his mother and Mayer. Casap answered “Yes, your honor” to questions put to him during the plea process, according to the Associated Press.
Prosecutors said the deal involved more than the homicide counts. In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped seven other charges, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft, the AP reported. Each homicide count carries a mandatory life sentence, with the court able to decide later whether parole eligibility would be available after he serves 20 years on each count.
Casap’s lawyer, public defender Joseph Rifelj, did not speak to reporters after the hearing, and his remarks at the proceeding were limited to confirming the plea agreement terms and that he had enough time to discuss them with Casap, according to the AP. The judge’s questions and Casap’s responses were the centerpiece of the brief plea hearing.
Outside court, District Attorney Lesli Boese said her goal was for Casap to accept responsibility for his parents’ deaths and the mandatory life sentences that follow from the plea. She told reporters that she will push Ramirez to deny Casap any chance at parole, saying Casap is a “danger to the community and that she didn’t want to take any chances that he could be rehabilitated,” the AP reported.
The criminal complaint described investigators’ belief that Casap shot his stepfather and mother at their home in the village of Waukesha on or around Feb. 11, and that he lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing. Investigators said he left in his stepfather’s SUV with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather’s gun and the family dog, and that he was arrested during a traffic stop in Kansas on Feb. 28.
Federal authorities, prosecutors said, accused Casap of planning the parents’ murders to support the broader plot. They said he bought a drone and explosives and shared his plans with others, including a Russian speaker, and they cited in a federal search warrant a manifesto calling for Trump’s assassination and contacts about killing Trump and overthrowing the U.S. government.
The warrant also described a link between the killings and the resources and independence Casap sought. It said, “The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan,” according to the AP. Investigators also found messages on Casap’s cellphone from January 2025 in which he asked how long he would have to hide before he was moved to Ukraine, and the complaint said an unknown individual responded in Russian, without specifying what the person told him.