Deaf Student Gets Life Term
Joseph M. Mesa Jr., the deaf Gallaudet University student convicted of killing two classmates, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole by a District of Columbia Superior Court judge, the harshest penalty allowed.
Judge Robert Richter sentenced Mesa, 22, after citing psychological reports that described the Guam native as a developing serial killer.
“There’s a dark side to his being, and I don’t see any meaningful prospect of that being erased,” Richter said in handing down the sentence.
Mesa was convicted of beating freshman Eric Plunkett to death on Sept. 27, 2000, and then stabbing to death Benjamin Varner, another freshman, on Feb. 1, 2001.
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