KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ An Olathe, Kan., man who fatally shot a Garmin engineer from India and wounded two other men last year inside a crowded bar was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
Adam W. Purinton was sentenced in Johnson County District Court, where he pleaded guilty in March to a charge of first-degree murder for killing Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
Purinton, 52, also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting Alok Madasani, a co-worker of Kuchibhotla, and Ian Grillot, who had come to the aid of the other two men.
Under terms of the plea agreement in the case, District Judge Charles Droege sentenced Purinton to the maximum sentence on each of the three charges, and ordered them to run consecutively.
Purinton will not be eligible for parole for 930 months _ or 77.5 years _ and he acknowledged in court documents that the sentence "will ensure I die in prison."
In February 2017, Purinton verbally harassed Kuchibhotla and Madasani at Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe and was ordered out of the business by employees.
He returned a short time later and unleashed a fusillade of 9 mm bullets that killed Kuchibhotla.
None of the victims or their family members attended the sentencing Friday.
But Assistant District Attorney Aubrey Sample read a statement by Sunayana Dumala, the widow of Kuchibhotla:
"He was only enjoying a glass of beer with his friend," she said. "I wish you had the ability to see beyond my husband's skin color and the beautiful and kindhearted person underneath it."
She described how they met, and how they were looking forward to having children together in the dream home they had found together in Kansas.
"He was love of my life, a true friend and my biggest support system," she wrote. "We were supposed to be together for lifetime but now the thought of having to live life alone and the hardships that come with it is unbearable."
Dumala described how her husband always had love and respect for other people, and how he had instilled those values in her.
"I hope in the years that you must spend in the jail you will one day realize the magnitude of your mistake and work toward your penance," she said.
Purinton did not comment in court on Friday. But in a written statement filed at the time of his plea, he said he accepted full responsibility for the "grievous harm" he caused the victims, their families and the entire community.
"I hope that this plea might, in some small way, help reduce the suffering that I have caused them all," he said in his statement. "I do not want the families to have to go through lengthy pretrial hearings, a trial or possible appeals in this case."
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