his life on this earth and all in the name of honor. when you made your closing arguments did you think i have got this case sewn up. i never had that level of confidence but i thought we had some jurors in our pocket. al-maleki s lawyer argued this was not a premeditated honor killing and at most his client was guilty of manslaughter because he simply intended to drive close enough to his daughter noor to spit on her. she is not scared of him harming her. she thinks he is going to do something else. spit, embarrass. call her a name. deliberations began. day one. no verdict. day two. they are still deliberating. day three. nothing. what were you thinking then? by that point, i was afraid
up on the median and runs over a tree. he looks out, noor. noor my baby is lying there. two vastly different accounts of what happened. who would the jury believe. the prosecution s first witness was charles cooper who worked at the welfare office and said he saw al-maleki rundown noor and amal and then run off. cooper was questioned by stephanie low, record s caisson tell. coal. can you tell us what you saw then? two females exited the building and then the screech of the tire and sounds of cracking and breaking and then the lady hits the ground. a bystander tearily recounted how she rushed to noor s aid after she was hit. i pushed the hair out of her face and i held her hand.
the defense then challenged the witnesses recollection on cross-examination. i asked you a question about the vehicle being angled or not angled. do you recall me asking about that? not directingly, no. their objective, to dispel any inference that al-maleki was lying in wait for his daughter and amal. i must have misspoke. one eyewitness the defense did not question, amal who survived the crash. the judge would not let her show her face as she testified through a translator that al-maleki did not lose control but steered his jeep right at his caught. did you see him turn the wheel toward noor? yes, yes. why did he do it? record played for the jury the entire two hour interrogation of al-maleki at the atlanta airport.
his own daughter because it suited his purpose. what do you say so the phone calls from jail where he said honor is precious? nothing is better than honor? i think it sensationalizes what is nothing more than a parent killing a child. i m not saying that because he was from iraq that he may not have had some belief that it was an honor killing but i think in the final analysis what it does is gives him vindication to call it an honor killing and it dishonors the victim. the judge sentenced 50-year-old al-maleki 34 and a half years in prison for his crimes, killing noor, injuring amal and receiving the scene of a serious accident. because my wrath will be nothing compared to the wrath of god if you don t have for
this is a case about a man, the defendant who committed these horrific and oh so wrong crimes all in the name of his sense of honor. bill: by presenting the case as an honor killing record arguably made the job easier for the defense team. ladies and gentlemen, this is the father of noor. if they could convince even one member of the jury to reject that motive, al-maleki would almost certainly be acquitted of first-degree murder and avoid a life sentence. it is common for iraqi men to no longer be called by their first name when they have a job but to take the name of their child. with al-maleki sobbing in the background she told the jury that what happened was an accident. he hits the curves and goes