Yaser Said was convicted of capital murder Tuesday in the 2008 fatal shootings of his two teenage daughters, 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said.
After hearing closing arguments and deliberating for three hours, the Dallas County jury reached the guilty verdict. Judge Chika Anyiam sentenced Said to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in the case.
Patricia Owens, the mother of Amina and Sarah, addressed her ex-husband on the stand after the verdict. “You deserve to die now, not in prison,” Owens said. “You took my life. You took my family all in one night.”
Said was placed on the FBI’s most-wanted list after the murders and evaded arrest for more than 12 years. Said, who had worked as a cab driver, was arrested in August 2020 in Justin, Texas. He denied killing his daughters when he took the stand Monday, entering a not guilty plea,
Prosecutors claim Said, who is Muslim, murdered his daughters because he was upset that the girls were dating.
“He wouldn’t even let these girls go to a movie. He wouldn’t let them date,” a prosecutor said during closing statements Tuesday.
ABC News local affiliate WFAA reported that police have described the murders as “honor killings” — defined as the killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonor on the family in certain cultures.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: ABC News, Amanda Su
BCNN1 WP 