Five days before he was scheduled to be sentenced for the murder of Indian American Pravin Varughese, Gaege Bethune has hired new attorneys with the hope of delaying his sentencing.
Bethune, convicted in June for killing the former Southern Illinois University student in 2014, fired his attorney Michael Wepsiec Aug. 6, and told Jackson County (Murphysboro, Illinois) Circuit Court Judge Mark Clarke that he was not satisfied with the quality of representation. “I, Gaege Bethune do not want Mike Wepsiec as my attorney,” wrote Bethune in an Aug. 6 letter to Clarke. “I do not have any legal representation and am desperately looking.”