Haspil’s love for his girlfriend drove him to an “extreme emotional disturbance,” leading him to kill Saleh to conceal his theft of nearly half a million dollars, defense attorney Sam Roberts told jurors in his closing arguments at Haspil’s Manhattan murder tria
Roberts explained that Haspil’s girlfriend “is the first person to whom he’s been attached in any way in 19 years — unconditional love.”
The 25-year-old personal assistant testified that he killed Saleh to avoid paying him back and to keep his girlfriend from discovering his theft.
Haspil is admitting to the killing and citing his obsessive love in hopes of reducing the first-degree murder charges to second-degree manslaughter. His attorney told jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court that he was ecstatic about Marine Chaveuz, a French foreign exchange student, and lavished her with weekend getaways and designer items.
He feared she would “abandon” him as others had done in his life, prompting him to splurge on things like helicopter rides to the airport and a posh apartment, Roberts said.
“He essentially transitions into the role of paying for her love,” Roberts said, after showing jurors pictures of receipts from Louis Vuitton and other pricey items that Haspil purchased for Chaveuz.
Haspil’s embezzlement-fueled romance tab eventually grew to $400,000 by May 2020, said prosecutors who accused him of simply killing Saleh because he feared being outed and losing the lifestyle he had built with the embezzled cash.
“Tyrese Haspil murdered Fahim Saleh because [Saleh] stood between Tyrese Haspil and what he wanted,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Ford said. “Tyrese Haspil gets what he wants. Let me rephrase that — he takes what he wants.”
Haspil, who prosecutors say premeditated the gruesome murder, was living above his budget by flaunting a fake lifestyle that he knew wasn’t going to last.
“He takes a helicopter to JFK instead of taking the Airtain. He lives in a luxury building with a gym, not a fourth-floor walkup,” Ford said, adding that Haspil “does it all with Fahim’s money” until Saleh became a “threat to that lifestyle.”
The first-degree murder charges against Haspil carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison if he is convicted. However, if his attorneys can persuade the jury to accept the emotional disturbance defense, the charges could be downgraded to manslaughter, which carries a sentence of just five to 25 years.
