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Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Illinois man convicted in murder of Muslim boy, wounding of his mother
Feb. 28 (UPI) -- An Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and attacking his mother because of their Muslim faith in 2023 was convicted of all eight charges, including first-degree murder Friday. In Joliet, Ill., a jury deliberated for less than two hours and found Joseph Czuba, 73, guilty of the murder charge, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crimes. Czuba did not testify at his trial. Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Odai, spoke to the media after the verdict. "I don't know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or laughing," he said through a translator during a press briefing with the Chicago office of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the U.S.'s largest Muslim civil rights organization. "People are telling me to smile. Maybe if I were one of you, I would be smiling. But I'm the father of the child, and I've lost the child." On Oct. 14, 2023, Wadee Alfayoumi was fatally stabbed 26 times, and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, survived after being stabbed more than 12 times at their home in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. They rented two rooms from Czuba and his then-wife, Mary Connor, 64. They were married for 30 years. Hanan Shaheen, 33, testified that she didn't have any issues with Czuba until after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She said the couple were aware that she is Muslim and of Palestinian descent before they agreed to rent the rooms two years earlier. Sheehan and Mary Connor, who also testified, said he began speaking hatefully about Muslims. Shaheen said Czuba told her "your people" are killing Jewish people and babies in Israel, that Muslims were not welcome in his home and that she needed to move out. "I told him, 'Pray for peace,'" Shaheen testified. Shaheen said Czuba forced his way into her room, held her down, stabbed her with a knife and tried to break her teeth, as her son, Wadee, watched from a corner of the room. She was able to grab the knife and stab Czuba with it before he seized it from her. When she went into a bathroom to call 911, Czuba moved on to Wadee. She said she could hear him shouting, "Oh no, stop!" First responders found a knife was still lodged in Wadee's body when they arrived. The knife had a 7-inch blade, which prosecutors held up several times during closing arguments. "This happened because this defendant was afraid that a war that had started on Oct. 7, 2023, a half a world away in the Middle East, was going to come to his doorstep," prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state's attorney, told jurors in his opening statement. "This happened because Hanan and Wadee were Muslim." George Lenard, one of Czuba's attorneys, during his closing argument, invoked O.J. Simpson's trial attorney Johnnie Cochran, telling jurors that there had been a rush to judgment in Czuba's case. "You know this is a half-baked case that the prosecution is giving you," he said. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said in a statement: "Today's verdict delivers a measure of justice for Wadee AlFayoumi's family and sends a clear message that hate-fueled violence has no place here. We will never accept nor forget that a six-year-old child lost his life because of dangerous anti-Palestinian rhetoric. ... We must prevent other families from enduring similar loss, and we call on all communities to unite against the false narratives that fuel hate crimes." The U.S. Justice Department launched a hate crime investigation one week after the attack but no charges have been filed yet. A wrongful death suit against Czuba and his ex-wife is pending. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution to honor Wadea.
Miami Herald
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Hate crime enhancer attached to charges against Miami Beach man after double shooting
Miami-Dade prosecutors put a hate crime enhancement on the charges against a Miami Beach man charged in the Feb. 15 shooting of two Israeli tourists. Monday's action turns the two counts of second-degree attempted murder against 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman into first-degree attempted murder counts. The charges will be formally filed and Brafman will enter a plea at his Mar. 10 arraignment. Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith said in an email that the office 'reviews every criminal offense that has the potential of being motivated by hate, to see if Florida's hate crime enhancement statute is applicable to the specific situation.' Brafman, police say in the arrest report, 'spontaneously stated' to them that 'while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both.' READ MORE: Why were 2 people shot in Miami Beach? The suspect said he 'saw 2 Palestinians,' cops say Brafman didn't kill Ari Rabi and father Yaron Rabi, Israelis who were fellow members of the Jewish faith. Social media posts by the Rabis back up police statements that Ari was shot in the left shoulder and a bullet grazed Yaron in a forearm. Police say Brafman and the Rabis didn't know each other, and surveillance video shows Brafman firing 17 shots at the Rabis' Hyundai as it passed in the 4800 block of Pine Tree Drive. The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida chapter released a statement Tuesday in praise of the hate crime enhancement. Miami Beach City Commissioner Alex Fernandez and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava came out last week in favor of the hate crime enhancement, but CAIR-Florida spokesman Wilfredo Amr Ruiz wanted to see more. 'To date, we have not heard or read any statement from Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner or Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava assuring the safety and security of Palestinian and Arab residents and visitors. 'We find their silence appalling and an affront to their constituents, residents, and visitors — Muslims and Christians of Arab or Palestinian descent. Mayor Meiner and Mayor Levine Cava must publicly assure these communities and their families that they are safe on the streets of Miami Beach and throughout the county.' Brafman is being held on no bond at Miami-Dade Corrections' Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. 'Mr. Brafman is forced to spend the majority of his time in custody in isolation, and without proper mental health treatment and support,' his attorney, Dustin Tischler, said in a text message. In an email last week, Tischler said Brafman was having 'a severe mental health emergency' at the time of the shooting and 'his ability to make sound judgments was significantly compromised.' Tischler said Wednesday that 'Mr. Brafman is currently being evaluated by several medical professionals to determine his competency to proceed as well as his mental capacity at the time of the incident.'
