Two weeks into the semester, Cody Cousins hadn't bothered to buy any of the supplies needed for an engineering class at Purdue University.
His intent wasn't to pass the class, according to professor David Meyers' testimony last week during Cousins' sentencing hearing. Instead, his goal was to kill the teaching assistant, Andrew Boldt, a fellow senior. And on Jan. 21, he did so, in gruesome fashion in front of a horrified classroom.
He'll pay for that — but the 65-year sentence struck many as extremely lenient. If he behaves, Cousins could be set free after serving roughly half that sentence.
It's not clear whether Cousins researched Indiana law, but he told a psychologist that he believed killing Boldt was worth 50 years in prison, according to court testimony.
What about the death penalty? That couldn't even be put on the table. The case didn't meet requirements under state law for the ultimate punishment.
"It's one of the most misunderstood criminal laws we have," Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington said. "When we get any murder case in, we continually review the facts to determine if there are any (life without parole) or death penalty (qualifiers)," Harrington said.
Some of those requirements or qualifiers include victims having to be under 12 and torture before the death. There are 16 categories of qualifiers.
Cousins lucked out in terms of timing. Had he killed Boldt in July, after Indiana's sentencing laws were changed, he would have had to serve 75 percent of his 65-year prison sentence — nearly 49 years.