I hate to be judge-y, but...

Fahim Saleh was an American success story. Born in Saudi Arabia to Bangladeshi parents, he was an immigrant who grew up in New York State and graduated from Bentley University. From the jump, he was entrepreneurial. His first success, while still in high school, was a goofy site called Prank Calls, which automated, well, prank calls. (It got some heat because it was - surprise-surprise used for harrassment, not innocent 'is your refrigerator running' pranking. Anyway, Saleh made some money of it, and plowed it back into more worthy ventures, founding (and getting venture money for) ride share apps in underserved (poor) countries: Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria.

He was only 33, and living a successful tech bro life in a swank Manhattan apartment.

Until, in June of 2020, he was killed and dismembered by one Tyrese Haspil, who had been his personal assistant and who was just 21 at the time he killed his former boss. 

Haspil apparently killed Saleh to cover up the fact that he had been embezzling from Saleh pretty much from when he'd begun working for him a couple of years prior. He used the money to buy lavish gifts for his new girlfriend. 

Less than a year into the scheme, in May 2019, Haspil - figuring out that he was going to be caught - quit working for Saleh. But somehow managed to keep funneling money out of Saleh's account and into his own. 

Haspil's fears were (partially) realized in January 2020, when:

Mr. Haspil’s scheme was detected. Mr. Saleh confronted Mr. Haspil over a $35,000 debt, prosecutors said, and offered to settle it with a two-year repayment plan, instead of bringing criminal charges against him. (Source: NY Times)

No criminal charges? Talk about Mr. Nice Guy!

Mr. Haspil agreed.

And why wouldn't he? 

But Mr. Saleh did not know that Mr. Haspil had stolen far more from him in a different scheme, involving a fraudulent PayPal account. Mr. Haspil began paying him back with those stolen funds even as he continued operating that scheme, eventually amassing about $400,000 in stolen funds, prosecutors said. 

Fearing that the larger theft would be discovered, Haspil decided to murder Saleh, and put a ton of research time into how-to. (When will these morons/killers figure out that those google searches - like "anatomy of the human neck" - may end up tripping them up in court. Duh!) And, based on his research, Haspil went out and bought everything he needed to commit his crime, including contractor-grade trash bags and a Swiffer. 

At the same time he was planning the murder, Haspil was parallel processing, planning:

...a birthday celebration for his girlfriend, buying her luxury handbags and shoes, a private yacht tour, and renting a luxury Airbnb in the Soho neighborhood, according to the release. (From People.)

Four days after Saleh was killed, Haspil was apprehended at that luxury Airbnb.  

And now, despite a defense that rested on the theory that Haspil was suffering from a bad case of "unconditional love" for the French exchange student GF he wanted to impress, and "extreme emotional disturbance," and should only have been charged with manslaughter, Haspil has been found guilty of both his thievery and the gruesome pre-meditated murder of his boss. 

Sam Roberts, Mr. Haspil’s lawyer, said on Monday that he was disappointed by the verdict. He acknowledged that Mr. Haspil had committed the crime and said the killer felt remorse. “We fully believe that Tyrese Haspil is not solely and only the worst thing that he’s done in his life,” he said. “We hope that the court will understand that there are mitigating factors here.” (Back to the NY Times)

I hate to be judge-y - and I sure don't want to be the one to judge people (or be judged) on some isolated one-off rotten deed - but Tyrese Haspil is, in fact, going to "solely and only" defined by "the worst thing that he's done in his life." Embezzlement is one thing. Awful, but maybe the kid's a young knucklehead who's head-over-heels. But researching how to commit a hideous murder well in advance, and carrying it out - against a man who had seemingly been nothing but good to you? (Not pressing charges on a $35K theft, FFS!) That's right up there in the "worst thing" Hall of Fame.

Haspil will be sentenced in a few weeks, and is unlikely to ever see the light of day. 

I truly wish that he gets the mental healthcare he clearly needs. I wish him a productive time in prison, that he becomes a model prisoner, that he takes advantage of whatever opportunities he can find there to learn and grow, that he finds religion or whatever. He's a young man. Maybe in 40 years, he'll be ready and able to rejoin society.

But until and unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to judge him solely and only on what he did to Fahim Saleh. And for that he deserves a good long prison sentence. Lock 'im up!