Louisville, Kentucky



From the Louisville Snitch of May 12, 2004:

No case, therefore no guilty verdict for storeowner



Juror Cole Lattimore carefully chose his words as he left Judge Martin McDonald’s court, having never heard the whole story about how Firas Al Kurdi shot and killed James Abdul-Shajee during an armed robbery.



“I said the case was not made, and I agreed with the judge,” Lattimore said. With that simple statement, Lattimore kept his mouth shut.



In dismissing the case, McDonald didn’t.



After agreeing to a defense motion for a directed verdict, McDonald lamented the case even reaching his circuit court. “It was troubling to me from the get-go,” McDonald said of the murder charges levied against Al Kurdi, stemming from an armed robbery of his store, the Shelby Food Mart. “I am puzzled how this case got by the grand jury.”



Al Kurdi went into work Oct. 12, 2002, and was there only a few moments before Abdul-Shajee entered the store brandishing a knife and demanding money. Abdul-Shajee grabbed Al Kurdi from behind and held the knife to his throat. Abdul-Shajee then cut Al Kurdi across the throat and made several swipes at his face, severely cutting Al Kurdi’s nose.



Another employee of the store pulled out a handgun kept behind the counter, but Abdul-Shajee quickly told him to put it down. Meanwhile, witnesses said, Al Kurdi was yelling for someone to shoot Abdul-Shajee. A struggle between the two men ensued, Al Kurdi took control of the gun, and Abdul-Shajee was shot three times. Al Kurdi then beat him with the gun and a baton-style club also found at the scene.



While this would be Abdul-Shajee’s last stick-up, it was definitely not his first.



He had 10 previous convictions, including seven armed robberies, including one of the Star of Louisville dinner boat, two wanton endangerments and a kidnapping.



Rob Bonar, the assistant commonwealth attorney, never tried to deny Abdul-Shajee went into the Shelby Food Mart to rob it. But he seriously questioned whether he deserved to die. “What this was was a factual dispute,” Bonar said after McDonald’s ruling.



Though prosecutors argued Al Kurdi went too far, and that Abdul-Shajee’s death was murder, McDonald didn’t even come close to agreeing after prosecutors Mac Shannon and Bonar finished their case. “If there is a victim in this room right now, it is Mr. Al Kurdi,” McDonald said.



Then he said it. The thing every sound-biter of local news will remember. “He was viciously assaulted by this animal and his actions were completely reasonable under the circumstances.”