Report: Judge Refuses to Reduce Charge Against McLean Man Accused of Murder

The 24-year-old McLean man accused of stabbing his friend to death in a Silver Spring, Md., apartment last month will remain in jail under a $2 million bond until his trial following a hearing Friday in Maryland.

It's the second time a judge has refused to lower Rahul Gupta's bond since the Oct. 13 incident left Mark Edward Waugh of Great Falls dead.

Gupta, a biomedical engineering student at George Washington University, told police that night that he killed his "buddy" because he thought his girlfriend was cheating on him with Waugh, according to the police incident report from the night. The three and at least one other friend had been out drinking that night to celebrate Gupta's birthday.

Gupta was charged with second-degree murder. His attorney, Philip Armstrong, asked a judge on Friday to reduce that charge to manslaughter, calling the stabbing "a hot-blooded response to some type of provocation," according to the Hatchet, the George Washington student newspaper.

The court declined the request, the Hatchet reported, along with subsequent request to reduce Gupta's bond.

“Everybody agrees that everybody was drunk. Everybody agrees that everybody was best friends,” Armstrong said in courtroom, according to the Hatchet. “He comes from a good family who can post a reasonable bond. To hold him on a bond of this magnitude is just not right.”

Armstrong was told he could take his request up with the judge who initially set the bond, according to the report.

By all accounts, Waugh, a first-year law student at Georgetown, and Gupta had been friends since they were both honors students at Langely High School in McLean.

More:

• Judge Refuses to Lower Bond of Man Accused of Killing Mark Edward Waugh
• Lost Potential: Two Honors Students and 'Best Friends' and One Tragic, Violent Night
• Former Langley High School Honors Student Stabbed to Death; Friend Charged