Man with mental health history sentenced to more than 2 decades in wife’s slaying with meat cleaver

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man with a history of mental health issues who was convicted of killing his wife with a meat cleaver and injuring his mother-in-law will serve at least 27 years in prison. Aita Gurung said it was an accident. A jury convicted him last year of killing his wife in Burlington and attempted second-degree murder in the attack on his mother-in-law, hours after he had sought mental health treatment at a hospital. He was charged in the 2017 attacks, but the charges were dropped in 2019 after the county prosecutor said evidence showed Gurung was legally insane at the time. The attorney general refiled the charges months later after Republican Gov. Phil Scott asked for a case review.