JOLIET, Ailing. (AP) — A jury discovered an Illinois landlord responsible of homicide and hate crime prices Friday for a brutal 2023 assault on a Palestinian American household that killed a 6-year-old.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged within the deadly stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mom, Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023 in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago. Authorities alleged the household — who had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home — was focused due to their Islamic religion and as a response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jurors deliberated lower than 90 minutes over the crime that renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination within the Chicago space’s giant and established Palestinian neighborhood.
“I don’t know if I needs to be happy or upset, if I needs to be crying or laughing,” Wadee’s father, Odai Alfayoumi, stated at a information convention, talking in Arabic. “Individuals are telling me to smile. Possibly if I had been certainly one of you, I might be smiling, however I’m the daddy of the kid and I’ve misplaced the kid. And I really feel like this determination got here to somewhat too late.”
Ben Crump, the nationwide civil rights lawyer representing Shaheen, launched an announcement calling the decision a “measure of justice.”
“Wadee was an harmless six-year-old little one whose life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence fueled by hatred,” the assertion added. “Whereas we’re relieved that his killer has been held accountable, we should proceed to face in opposition to the rising tide of hate that led to this mindless act. We should honor Wadee’s reminiscence by persevering with to combat in opposition to hate in all its types and dealing towards a future the place each little one is secure, valued, and free from violence.”
The trial featured detailed testimony from cops, medical employees, Czuba’s ex-wife and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked her with a knife earlier than going after her son in a unique room. Prosecutors say that the kid had been stabbed 26 occasions. He was discovered bare with a knife nonetheless in his aspect.
Graphic images of the homicide, a knife holder Czuba allegedly used that day, together with police video footage had been central to the Will County prosecutors’ case. At occasions video screens displaying express footage had been turned away from the general public viewing viewers the place members of Wadee’s household sat through the trial.
“If it wasn’t sufficient that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife within the little boy’s physique,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s lawyer, informed jurors throughout opening statements.
Czuba’s lawyer, George Lenard, declined remark Friday afternoon. Czuba had pleaded not responsible. He confronted homicide, tried homicide, aggravated battery and hate crime prices in an eight-count indictment.
In response to the Will County Circuit Clerk’s workplace, Czuba is scheduled for sentencing on Could 2.
Protection attorneys insisted items of proof tying Czuba to the crimes had been lacking. His ex-wife, testifying for the prosecution, might solely describe one outburst throughout their 30 years of marriage and stated he carried knives actually because he was helpful round the home.
“Transcend the feelings to fastidiously look at the proof,” stated Kylie Blatti, certainly one of Czuba’s public defenders. “It’s straightforward to get misplaced within the horror of these pictures.”
One of many important elements of the trial was Shaheen’s testimony and the 911 name she made to report the crime that occurred simply days after the conflict began. She stated they’d not beforehand had any points within the two years they rented from the Czubas. They shared a kitchen and front room with the Czubas.
Then after the beginning of the conflict, Czuba informed her that they needed to transfer out as a result of Muslims weren’t welcome. Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and making an attempt to interrupt her enamel.
“He informed me ’You, as a Muslim, should die,” stated Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic although a translator.
Shaheen had greater than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to get well. The boy was later pronounced useless.
Police testified that officers discovered Czuba exterior the home sitting on the bottom with blood on his physique and palms.
Individually, civil lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s demise, together with by his father, Alfayoumi, who’s divorced from Shaheen and was not dwelling with them on the home.
The case, which generated headlines around the globe, comes amid rising hostility in opposition to Muslims and Palestinians within the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. The U.S. Division of Justice additionally launched a federal hate crimes investigation.
