State, defense make closing arguments Tuesday in Sapry trial, jury deliberations begin

LACONIA — Prosecutors told jurors Hassan Sapry brought a knife from his family’s kitchen to Wilfred Guzman Sr.’s Blueberry Lane apartment, and used it to kill him in April 2019, presenting a new theory of the case during their closing argument on Tuesday morning.

State prosecutor Jeffery Strelzin, who along with Alexander Kellermann is trying the case against Sapry, 27, told jurors the broken knife handle found in Sapry’s bedroom closet after the killing of Guzman Sr., then 58, came from the Sapry family home, and Sapry concealed it in his jacket when he went to Guzman Sr.’s house that night.

Sapry is on trial for the second time in Belknap County Superior Court — the first prosecution resulted in a mistrial in August 2022. He’s charged with the killing of Guzman Sr., a friend and mentor, and prosecutors must convince the jury he carried it out, without a shadow of a doubt. 

Attorneys Mark Sisti and Amy Ashworth of Sisti Law Offices are defending Sapry, who has raised the not guilty by reason of insanity defense. That’s an affirmative defense, and defense attorneys must show by a standard of clear and convincing evidence that Sapry was suffering a mental illness or defect at the time the crime occurred, and his actions were a result of the same.

The presentation of evidence concluded Friday, and closing arguments were made Tuesday. The jury began their deliberations late Tuesday afternoon, and was scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

If Sapry is found not guilty by reason of insanity, Superior Court Justice Elizabeth Leonard will conduct a hearing within 40 days to determine his “dangerousness.” Thereafter, Sapry could either be released or confined to the secure psychiatric unit at the New Hampshire State Prison. He’d be entitled to hearings every five years, and could be confined there for up to the remainder of his life. 

Tuesday morning, Strelzin told jurors Sapry is guilty of first-degree murder, having premeditated the killing of Guzman Sr. and subsequent thefts he allegedly carried out. Sapry was angry at Guzman Sr. as a result of racial insults and insulting religious discussions, Strelzin said.

“Once the defendant was that mad at someone, he wasn’t just going to let it go,” Strelzin said. 

Sapry planned the killing, Strelzin said, spending time conducting research online ahead of the act and bringing a weapon with him to the scene, which defense attorneys vehemently disagreed with later on Tuesday afternoon. 

“That’s called premeditation and deliberation,” Strelzin said. “That killer was not insane.

“He knew exactly what he was doing, he knew exactly who he was doing it to and why.”

Removing the broken kitchen knife from Guzman Sr.’s apartment following the killing illuminates the premeditated nature of the act, Strelzin said, and Sapry’s decisions to lie to family members about what transpired that night, and his choice to visit faraway hospitals in Lebanon and New London to have his serious hand injuries treated, are evidence of an attempt to conceal the alleged crimes.

“He cared because he wasn’t insane,” Strelzin said. “He didn’t want to get caught.

“True insanity distorts a person’s reality, they’re not in their right mind. That’s not what you see here,” Strelzin said. “He was present in reality and not lost in insanity when he killed Wilfred and stole from him.”

Sisti, in presenting Sapry’s closing argument, told jurors insanity cases are few and far between, and described his as “the perfect insanity case,” calling the killing of Guzman Sr. senseless and absurd.

“This is pure, unadulterated, unmitigated insanity,” Sisti said. “This is the portrait of insanity.”

Prosecutors introduced a theory of Sapry bringing a knife with him to the scene, despite jurors not hearing any testimony to that effect throughout the trial, because their case is weak, Sisti said.

“This morning could be the key to showing you that their case just literally stinks,” Sisti said. 

Sisti showed jurors a photo of a butcher block located in the Sapry home, the same butcher block Sapry allegedly took a kitchen knife from and carried with him to Guzman Sr.’s house. Sisti told the jury the knives in that block have a different number of rivets on the handle than the one found by investigators in Sapry’s bedroom closet.

Sapry, in an interview with investigators after his arrest, told them he did not bring a weapon to the scene.

“Things don’t make sense in insanity cases, just like they don’t make sense in this case,” Sisti said.

“It’s a senseless killing,” Sisti said. “You’ll never make sense of it, but for the fact it’s insanity — that makes sense.”

There’s no question Sapry was suffering from a major mental defect at the time of the killing and still today, Sisti said. 

“You’re going to blow the whole premeditated murder thing right out of the water,” Sisti told jurors Tuesday afternoon. “They’re desperate, and they’re pathetic.”