SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Family members of the slain Iraqi police officer allegedly killed by a refugee now living in Sacramento said the suspect had nothing to do with the victim's death, according to new documents filed in federal court.
Attorneys for Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, the Iraqi refugee accused of killing the police officer on behalf of ISIS, filed a motion in United States District Court for the Eastern District of California requesting U.S. prosecutors turn over any exculpatory evidence they have to the defense.
In the filing, Ameen's attorneys said their investigation into the June 2014 slaying of Officer Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim in Rawa, Iraq, has revealed that at least three of the victim's family members, who were home with him the night of the murder, do not think Ameen had anything to do with the killing.
"All of those close family members have told the defense investigator that Mr. Ameen had nothing to do with the victim's killing," defense attorneys said in the filing.
Federal and local law enforcement officers arrested Ameen at his home in Sacramento in August 2018 as part of an extradition request from the Iraqi government. In their complaint, Iraqi officials allege Ameen, along with several other members of ISIS, drove to Ihsan's home in Rawa and opened fire. Ameen, who is also from Rawa, then shot and killed the officer while he was lying on the ground outside his house, according to the Iraqi complaint.
But a defense investigator's interviews with three of Ihsan's family members shed new light on the night in question.
One family member, whose name defense attorneys redacted from court documents, said the day before the murder, Ihsan received a phone call from Abu Anas al-Samirrai, a suspected ISIS leader in Anbar province. When Ihsan hung up from the call, he told the family member that al-Samirrai threatened to kill him if he didn't swear allegiance to ISIS. Ihsan also said if anything were to happen to him, the family member should know al-Sammirai would be behind it.
The following day, as the family was preparing dinner, the power went out. Ihsan, the family member said, went outside to check the generator. As soon as he opened the door, a flash of light shown in the distance and Ihsan fell to the ground. A barrage of gunfire followed.
No one approached Ihsan's body or touched it, the family member said, but following the gunfire, about 30 people were seen getting into five cars and driving away. After the attack, the family brought Ihsan to Rawa hospital where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
In the interview with the defense investigator, the family member said everyone in Ihsan's family believes Ameen had nothing to do with the murder and that no one from the family has ever made a complaint about him.
Another one of Ihsan's family members, who believes Ameen was not in Iraq, but in Turkey at the time of the killing, told the defense investigator that the family does not want an innocent man to take false blame for the murder, since it would close the case and allow the real killers to walk free.
Since Ameen's arrest in August, U.S. attorneys have relied on one alleged eyewitness to the murder, known as "Person 5" in court documents, as evidence against him in their extradition case.
In the recent filings made by Ameen's defense team, Person 5 "allegedly gave a statement to the Iraqi court" recounting the attack. "The statement first indicates that Person 5 was in the house where (Ihsan) was killed." Person 5 then states Ihsan "engaged in a gun battle with members of ISIS." Once the shooting stopped, Person 5 went outside, "and observed Mr. Ameen fire at (Ihsan) while he was on the ground."
It's unclear what relationship the victim's three family members, who were in the home at the time of the attack, have with Person 5, who also claims to have been inside the house.
Ihsan's family members told Ameen's defense investigator that "Person 5 has a close family tie to a member of ISIS who is currently in Iraqi custody." The family members allege Person 5 "may have been compelled to speak to Iraqi or U.S. investigators out of fear he/she would be implicated with ISIS through his/her close family member."
The FBI has been investigating Ameen since 2016 for suspected violations of visa fraud, "among other suspected violations," as stated in court documents filed last year. Ameen's attorneys allege the "investigation intensified and shifted focus in March of 2017, just as the Trump administration sought support for its Muslim ban," and that it began before any involvement by Iraqi authorities.
While large portions of U.S. government filings have been sealed, citing national security concerns, defense attorneys argue the FBI investigation--carried out in both the U.S. and Iraq--ultimately led to an interview with Person 5. It was during that interview, defense attorneys said, agents "took the first known statement" regarding Ameen's involvement in Ihsan's death.
In their motion to compel, Ameen's attorneys have demanded prosecutors hand over all material that could benefit the defense, including information about the U.S. government's involvement with Person 5.
Early on, Ameen's attorneys insisted their client couldn't have killed Ihsan because he wasn't in Iraq when the shooting took place.
In a recently unsealed document, prosecutors admitted following Ameen's arrest in Sacramento "the United States came into possession of potentially exculpatory alibi information" in which a person "believed to have been co-located with Ameen in Turkey during the pertinent timeframe claims that Ameen never left Turkey." Even still, they argued it was only an uncorroborated statement "of a person who claimed Ameen never left Turkey," and maintained it didn't have any evidence that would prove Ameen was in Turkey at the time of the alleged murder.
Ameen's defense team has requested a hearing on its recent filing for May 7, 2019, hoping to gather any evidence the U.S. has that corroborates their client's presence in Turkey during the murder. Meanwhile, he remains in solitary confinement in the Sacramento County Jail.
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