The former Massachusetts college professor who nearly killed her colleague and supposed love interest by bludgeoning and torturing her for hours with a rock, garden shears and a fire poker was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 to 12 years in prison.
Rie Hachiyanagi, 50, pleaded guilty last week to nine charges relating to the December 24, 2019, attack on Lauret Savoy, including three counts of armed assault with intent to murder a person over 60, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person over 60 and one count each of home invasion, mayhem and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony.
Judge Francis Flannery took five days to consider the differing sentencing recommendations from the prosecution and defense, according to a press release from Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan's office.
During Wednesday's hearing, he said he found the case 'troubling' because the defense presented evidence that Hachiyanagi was a respected peer, talented artist, good friend and kind person with no criminal record.
Rie Hachiyanagi (left) was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 to 12 years in prison for attacking colleague Lauret Savoy (right) during a 'four-hour torture session' on Christmas Eve 2019
'But on the other hand, I have this defendant who tried to torture to death over four hours someone who wasn’t an enemy, but was a friend,' Flannery said in court.
He added that he needed to hear an explanation that would help him understand the problem that caused such behavior in order to know how it could be fixed.
'But I still don’t understand. I still don’t see an adequate explanation for what happened,' said the judge. 'This is one of the most horrific set of facts I’ve heard and I’m a superior court judge.'
Judge Francis Flannery said he could find no explanation for Hachiyanagi's actions and said he'd been tempted to exceed the prosecution's sentencing recommendation
Flannery admitted that he had been tempted to exceed the prosecution’s recommended sentence of 10-to-12 years in prison, instead of handing down a sentence somewhere in the middle of two divergent recommendations.
Defense Attorney Thomas Kokonowski had recommended a sentence of 5-7 years in state prison followed by probation, citing Hachiyanagi's lack of prior record, that she struggles with anger issues that she has been working on and noting that she has been a model prisoner during her 20 months in jail, for which she will receive credit.
After imposing what he described as the prosecution's 'restrained' recommended sentence, Judge Flannery offered words of praise for Savoy, who was present in the courtroom.
Savoy was said to have suffered long-lasting emotional trauma and severe physical trauma, some of which is permanent.
'Professor Savoy is certainly a victim of a horrific crime, but that’s not what I’m going to remember,' he said. 'I’m going to remember that she had the presence of mind and the courage to convince her attacker not to kill her.
'As her body was failing her, she used her mind to save herself. That’s remarkable.'
The former college art professor reportedly confessed her love for Savoy - who was a geology professor - as she beat her. At the time, they worked at Mount Holyoke College in
