Maksim Gelman Gets 200-Year Sentence For NYC Stabbing
Maksim Gelman, a Ukrainian man who went on a bloody tempest of stabbings, carjackings and other crimes in New York City last year, leaving four people dead, was sentenced to 200 years in prison on Wednesday.
In November, Gelman plead guilty to murder and other charges following the February 2011 stabbing spree, MSNBC reported. Gelman stabbed to death his stepfather and two others, ran over and killed a pedestrian, stole a car and attacked a passenger on the train.
In court, the crazed killer had an outburst where he began laughing and yelling at relatives of his victims. At one point, he was removed from the courtroom.
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"You are a violent predator and sociopath," Judge Vincent Del Giudice said, MSNBC reported.
Gelman's killing started with a family argument over the use of his mother’s car.
Gelman stabbed his stepfather to death in their Brooklyn home, drove away in the car to the home of a friend, Yelena Bulchenko. Bulchenko was not home, but Gelman stabbed her mother to death, then waited with the 56-year-old’s body for almost nine hours for her daughter to return home.
Upon Bulchenko’s return, Gelman stabbed her 11 times, killing her, according to authorities. Bulchenko's friends told authorities he was obsessed with her and desired an intimate relationship.
After killing Bulchenko and her mother, Gelman left the home, rear-ended a car and stabbed at the driver. The driver survived, authorities said.
Gelman then sped off in the injured driver’s car and hit and killed Stephen Tanenbaum, 62. Still in Brooklyn, Gelman abandoned the stolen car, flagged a cab and attacked the driver. He approached another car, attacked the driver inside and stole the car, according to police. Both drivers survived.
Authorities caught up to Gelman hours later on a subway train in Manhattan after passengers who recognized him from the newspaper alerted them, MSNBC reported. He attacked a passenger in the station in his attempt to flee from police, but was apprehended.
Gelman was given the maximum sentence for each of his 13 counts, several sentences will run consecutively, giving him a 200-year term, MSNBC reported.
Considering the evidence and an opinion by a psychiatrist that he couldn't claim he was not guilty by reason of insanity, Gelman decided he would leave his holding cell and begin serving his time, his lawyer told MSNBC.
He was not offered a plea deal.
"I'm not the bad guy here," Gelman said in a brief statement, MSNBC reported. He also said he was being followed by undercover federal agents.
"I just got caught up in this, this is my like third time ever seeing him and I hope he gets what he deserves," Fitz Fullerton, a cab driver whose voice box was damaged by Gelman during the attack, struggled to say at the hearing on Wednesday, according to MSNBC.
When police asked Gelman why he had to kill those four victims, Gelman responded, "Because I said so," according to documents.
