Yaser Said was found guilty Tuesday of capital murder in the deaths of his two teenage daughters.
Yaser Abdel Said, 65, was accused of killing his teenage daughters in 2008 in what prosecutors have called an"honor killing."The death penalty was not an option in this case. Said will be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Yaser Abdel Said, 65, evaded arrest for over 12 years following the slayings of his daughters, 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said.
Chief Dallas County Public Defender Brad Lollar said the conviction will be appealed. He said the investigation of the crime was weak and the real killer was not identified.Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot praised investigators for their perseverance in tracking Said. The mother, Patricia Owens, who is divorced from Said, testified that he convinced her to return to Texas.In a letter written to the judge, Said wrote that he was not happy with his daughters’ “dating activity” but he denied killing them.. He said he fled the taxi he was driving that evening because he thought they were being followed and someone wanted to kill him. He said he did not turn himself in to authorities because he feared he would not get a fair trial.
"If the FBI did their work, they would know, but they were looking for Yaser Said and they did not do what they have to do," he said. He said he assumed that he was the target and so he claimed he got out of the car at an Irving Transit Center where he assumed the girls would be safe. "Because I believed behind this coverage there was a secret agenda. And I feel the media was against me in a certain direction, that I would not get a fair trial," Said said.JURY SHOWN BULLET-RIDDLED CLOSING, FORENSIC PHOTOS ON DAY 4 of SAID TRIAL
Said refused to look up as two medical examiners who conducted the victims’ autopsies took the stand and described photographs of each victim’s examination displayed in the courtroom. Each girl, they said, had been shot multiple times. “Upon the SWAT team’s notice and knock announced, the defendant came out and surrendered,” said Gimenez. “We took him into custody without incident.”
Dr. Brasheer Ahmed, with the Muslim Community Center in North Richland Hills, told NBC 5 in 2020, following Said's arrest, that murder was against Islamic principal. She said she and her two daughters returned to her husband because he was abusive and she was scared of getting hurt if they didn't. Owens said her ex-husband was abusive and controlling and would look over the girls' phone records and would call numbers to see if they belonged to a boy or a girl. Prosecutors said Said was angry the girls were dating out of their culture and that they had recently ran away to be with their boyfriends.
Silence filled Dallas County District Court 7 Wednesday as prosecutors prepared to present the chilling 911 call made by a dying Sarah Said on New Year 2008.Yaser Said sat emotionless, holding a finger to his ear to listen to the disturbing audio. Police allege these were ‘honor killings’ committed by an abusive, controlling and possessive father who was angry his daughters dated outside their culture and had left home recently.
During opening statements Tuesday morning, prosecutor Lauren Black said Said was"obsessed with possession and control." In a letter written to the judge overseeing the case, Said said he was not happy with his kids'"dating activity" but denied killing his daughters. Defense attorney Joseph Patton said in opening statements that the evidence would not support a conviction, that police were too quick to focus on Said, who was born in Egypt, and suggested that anti-Muslim sentiment played into that focus.
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