WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in the case of the man convicted of brutally killing three members of a D.C. family and their housekeeper in May 2015 are seeking four sentences of life in prison without the possibility of release — one for each of the victims.
That is the strongest penalty prosecutors can seek in the District.
“It needs to be made clear to Daron Wint what he did and the pain that he caused. He needs to hear the words repeated over and over again — ‘life without the possibility of release,'” Assistant U.S. Attorneys for D.C. Laura Bach and Christopher Bruckmann wrote in a sentencing memo filed Jan. 29. “Maybe then he will begin to understand what he did.”
Wint’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 1.
The 38-year-old Lanham, Maryland, man was convicted last October of four counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and Vera Figueroa, the family’s housekeeper. In addition, the jury returned guilty verdicts on 16 separate counts of burglary, extortion, kidnapping and arson.
Wint took the victims hostage, held them overnight and extorted $40,000 from Savvas Savopoulos, a successful businessman and the CEO of American Iron Works, where Wint once worked as a welder.
“Death was not quick for these victims, nor was it painless,” the prosecutors wrote in the memo. “They were tortured — mentally and physically — for almost 24 hours … it is clear that some of the victims heard, and saw, the deaths of their loved ones, realizing both that they were going to meet the same fate and that there was nothing they could do to save those that they cared about. One can only hope that in those final moments, the strength and love shared by all four of these victims and their belief that they would soon be reunited in a better place helped them through the horror.”
The memo also including details of what prosecutors called Wint’s “violent and narcissistic history.”
Wint’s criminal includes a series of separate stayaway orders sought by Wint’s own father, his landlord and a man he later attacked with a knife and assaulted in New York.
In 2009, Wint threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and bragged that he “was good with a knife and could kill them easily,” according to the sentencing memo.
Wint’s criminal history shows “his tendency to hold a grudge when he believes he has been wronged and willingness to harm people he knows,” prosecutors wrote.
In pressing for the harshest possible sentence, prosecutors noted Wint has never taken responsibility for the killings.
During his nearly six-week trial last fall, Wint sought to pin the killings on his two younger brothers. In the sentencing memo, prosecutors called Wint’s defense “utterly ridiculous,” in part because they said he bragged about the killings to other inmates while he was locked up in the D.C. jail awaiting trial. Prosecutors said Wint falsely accused his two brothers to evade responsibility for the brutal crime “without having any concern for the long-lasting effects.”
Prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo: “Despite the two month trial and the overwhelming evidence, Darron Wint still does not get it. In his mind, he is still a victim. In his mind, he is still owed something — entitled to something. He has no empathy for the pain he inflicted and continues to inflict on these families each and every day.”
Family members of the victims are expected to provide victim impact statement at Friday’s sentencing.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
