An Indiana man who confessed to killing a companion Purdue University student while inside a packed classroom has been condemned to 65 years in prison after he told a judge he was lying about being mentally ill. Tippecanoe Court Judge Thomas Busch executed the maximum verdict on Friday against Cody Cousins for the Jan. 21, 2014 attack which left Andrew Boldt, age 21, of West Bend, Wisconsin, dead on the West Lafayette college grounds.
Cousins, age 24, of Warsaw, Indiana, pled guilty to murder in August. The Indiana man confessed to killing Boldt while they were in a basement classroom in the Electrical Engineering Building on the main campus. Judge Busch had the choice of sentencing Cousins to between 45 and 65 years in jail. The punishment depended on aggravating circumstances such as having a mental disorder.
Cousins’ lawyer first filed for the Hoosier state’s insanity defense. However, that became a controversial point on Aug. 21, exactly seven months to the very day that Boldt was murdered, when Cousins decided to plead guilty. Boldt had been shot five times, including three times to his face and suffered nearly 20 stab wounds as terrified students watched the ordeal. Dr. Elmo Griggs, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Boldt, stated in court that it was the worst homicide he had ever seen.
While in court, two different mental health professionals stated to the court that Cousins failed to show any signs of mental illness on the day Boldt was murdered. The first mental health professional testified that he believed Cousins might have suffered from bipolar disorder, which has periods of both depression and also mania, but that he was free of any symptoms on the day that he murdered Boldt.
The second mental health professional testified he thought that Cousins was schizophrenic and also delusional, but not manic when he performed the murder. This mental health expert stated that Cousins had said he killed Boldt because he thought the other man to be evil. Allegedly, Cousins had a history of using Ecstasy and there were reports of a drug dealer had actually refused to sell the drug to him because he became extremely aggressive while he was taking the drug, testified police detective John Eager.
However when Cousins took the stand, he had another story to tell. He spoke to the courtroom and stated he lied to the medical doctors he had spoken to and had also only pretended to be mentally ill. He bluntly explained, “I killed Andrew Boldt because I wanted to. I do what I want.” When sentencing Cousins, Judge Busch cited Cousins’ lack of remorse, his apparent viciousness in the killing of Boldt and Cousins’ apparent pride in the other man’s death. Prosecutor Pat Harrington stated that Cousins struggled in several classes and had even left the university at one point. All these factors allegedly lead to the murder.
Harrington added that Cousins envied Boldt, whom witnesses had described as being a humble person and top scholar. Boldt’s parents testified that they cry each day over the loss of their child. Mary Boldt spoke about how she wondered how scared her son must have been at having a gun pointed at him. The Indiana man had no remorse to any of what was said in prison. He never changed his confession about killing Boldt, a fellow Purdue University student, while inside a full classroom. Now, due to his actions, Cousins will serve 65 years in prison.
By Kimberly Ruble
Sources:
USA Today
One thought on “Indiana Man Condemned To 65 Years For Killing Fellow Purdue Student”
The issue is that he will not spend 65 years in prison. He will only spend 32.5 years due to Indiana’s archaic laws of allowing release after half of sentence is served if prisoner is well behaved. This individual could kill again.
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