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She killed her hubby in self-defense: lawyer

Sonia Chopra

The newly-married woman who stabbed her husband to death after living with him for 12 days killed him in self-defense, according to her attorney.

"She acted in self-defense, in fear and to protect herself from sexual assault," said Andrea Lyon, who is the lead attorney in the case and is being assisted by two other lawyers.

"Her husband had very interesting ideas: he ordered her not to pray anymore as he was her only god," said Lyon, who refused to reveal more details so as not to "compromise my client's case". But the victim's close relatives accuse Lyon of giving a spin to a story of adultery and betrayal.

Kinnari Sutariya, 20, allegedly used four kitchen knives to kill her husband, Dr Ramesh Sutariya, on January 22. She stabbed him twice in the stomach, once in the chest and once in the back. There were 18 other superficial wounds over his body.

The police, who reached the couple's apartment in Canton, a suburb of Detroit, after receiving calls from the neighbors, say Kinnari opened the door, let them in and admitted her crime.

The couple had been living in the United States since January 10. They were married on December 24 in a religious ceremony. But they had a civil marriage in December 1998, so that the visa formalities could be completed, the police and family friends said.

They had not lived together until this year but they had kept in close contact, through letters and phone calls.

Dr Sutariya, an internist at the Wayne State Medical Center's Grace Hospital, was six months away from finishing his residency in internal medicine. He had brought his wife back with him after the couple had spent a month in celebrations with their families last year.

Kinnari, who was arraigned before Judge John McDonald last week, is being held in the Wayne County jail.

"My client is a young, simple, almost childlike person. She is absolutely terrified and overwhelmed and scared. She understands English but has difficulty following the entire proceedings," said Lyon, 47, who is also a professor at the University of Michigan and has been former chief of the homicide department and a part of the prosecutor office, both in Chicago.

"I cannot say my client is innocent, but I do believe she acted in self-defense. Nothing like this happens without provocation," said Lyons, who added that this is her 132rd defense.

The victim's cousin, Bharat Sutariya, 33, disagrees.

"The lawyer's spinning. My cousin was a gentle, kind person who would not hurt a fly. There was no sexual assault, no fight, no argument," he said. Bharat Sutariya was among the first to reach the scene of the crime.

"My cousin was fully dressed. His shirt was tucked in, his beeper was still on his belt and he was still wearing his contact lens. She was dressed too," he said, adding the couple had just returned from a family dinner and a Hindi movie.

He said the family has received information that Kinnari is three months pregnant and believes the crime was premeditated.

"It is obvious that the child is not my cousin's. The timing does not fit. She must have had a boyfriend in Bombay. In that case, why did she have to go through this marriage? She could have backed out of this anytime," he said.

Bharat Sutariya has spent a lot of time with the couple, and the incident, he said, has shocked and bewildered his family.

"She was a gentle, nice person, educated and very normal. We cannot believe this," he said, adding that Kinnari had a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Bombay.

"The house was neat, clean and well-kept. There was blood in the foyer and the kitchen area," said Detective Lew Stevens.

Daniel Less, the assistant prosecutor in Wayne County, who will try the case this summer, describes himself as baffled at the case.

"It is very bizarre. Why did she have to stab him so much? It shows a lot of rage. I have seen a lot of weird cases but this is definitely the weirdest," said Less, who felt the victim might have lived if he had received medical attention in time.

Ramesh Sutariya's aunt Kashi and uncle Nag had adopted him when he was eight after his father was murdered.

They lived five minutes away from the couple's apartment and the victim called them shortly before he died.

They rushed to the apartment at the same time as the couple's neighbors were calling 911. Ramesh Sutariya's body was cremated on January 24.

The police would not release details about the alleged sexual assault on Kinnari or her pregnancy. They said the toxicology reports show no indication of drug or alcohol use and that there were no prior instances of domestic violence. The victim did not have a criminal record.

There are many things that have the police puzzled: How did Kinnari, who weighs 100 pounds and is five feet, three inches tall, stab the victim who weighed 139 pounds and was five feet eight inches tall?

There was a chair recovered at the crime scene and sources said the victim was tied to it, but the police would not comment on it.

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