A Rochester jury on Friday morning found Clayton Whittemore guilty of 2nd degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend Alexandra Kogut inside her dorm room at the College at Brockport. The State Supreme Court jury deliberated several hours over two days.
It happened in 2012. Both Whittemore and Kogut are from the Utica area. Whittemore's defense lawyer was asking jurors to find that his client lost control of himself because he was in the midst of an extreme emotional disturbance the night that he killed Kogut. His attorney says that disturbance was fueled by abuse during Whittemore's childhood.
But prosecutors aruged that Whittemore intentionally killed Kogut our of pure anger not due to extreme emotional disturbance. District Attorney Sandra Doorley had said she doesn't dispute that Whittemore had an abusive childhood, but still says his actions were 'intentional and purposeful.'
Whittemore will be sentenced on July 15. He could get up to 25 years to life in prison.
