SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — A Sacramento man was recently convicted of fatally stabbing and strangling his wife.
According to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, Asghar Ehsan was convicted of first-degree murder in a jury trial on April 26.
The conviction is the result of a deadly stabbing that happened in January 2020.
Prosecutors say Ehsan stabbed and strangled his wife, Assmaa Ehsan Ashooqullah while she was sleeping next to their 7-month-old son. He then left the home with their son to meet a friend.
Ehsan told his friend he killed his wife because Allah told him to. He left the 7-month-old with a friend and was later arrested after a standoff and high-speed chase with Sacramento and Roseville police.
Prosecutors say they found Ehsan tried to kill his roommate 20 years earlier in Santa Rosa. He said he was commanded by Allah to start a holy war. In that case, he was found legally insane by the Sonoma Superior Court.
He was released from a state hospital in 2002, got an associate degree in psychology and started working in Sonoma County as a mental health worker.
In the case of his wife’s deadly stabbing, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A jury found on May 2, 2024, that Ehsan was legally sane when he committed the murder.
He faces a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for July 12.
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