Sophia Negroponte sentenced to 35 years for Maryland stabbing death

A jury convicted Negroponte of second-degree murder in November at retrial, returning the same verdict that a first jury reached in 2023 before an appeals court overturned that conviction on evidentiary grounds.

Sophia Negroponte, 33, the adopted daughter of former U.S. intelligence director John Negroponte, was sentenced Friday to 35 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old friend after a drunken argument at a Maryland home.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGann imposed the sentence in Rockville. A jury found Negroponte guilty in November of second-degree murder in the death of Yousuf Rasmussen.

“The 35-year sentence mirrors the sentence imposed following the first trial in 2023. This is an appropriate and just outcome in light of the seriousness of this crime and the consistent findings of two separate juries who carefully evaluated the evidence,” said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

A retrial after an overturned conviction

The November verdict was the product of a retrial. A jury first convicted Negroponte on the same second-degree murder charge in 2023, but an appeals court overturned that conviction in 2024 after ruling that the jury had been allowed to hear contested portions of a police interrogation of Negroponte and testimony from a prosecution witness questioning her credibility. The retrial produced the same verdict, and Friday’s sentence matches the one originally imposed three years ago.

Background

Sophia Negroponte, of Washington, D.C., was one of five abandoned or orphaned Honduran children adopted by John Negroponte and his wife after he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, according to The Washington Post.

John Negroponte served as the nation’s first director of national intelligence, a post created by federal legislation in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Former President George W. Bush appointed him to the role in 2005. He later served as deputy secretary of state and previously held ambassadorial posts in Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq.