Indiana Army veteran convicted in road rage killing of Muslim man

[ificandream]

Source: Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A suburban Indianapolis Army veteran has been convicted in the road rage shooting death of a Muslim man, after witnesses said he hurled ethnic and religious insults at the victim, including yelling, “Go back to your country,” before opening fire.

A Marion County jury convicted Dustin E. Passarelli, 37, of murder on Wednesday after a three-day trial over the February 2019 killing of 32-year-old Mustafa Ayoubi. Passarelli, of Plainfield, could get up to 65 years in prison when he’s sentenced June 21 on the murder charge.

He was also convicted of a firearm enhancement charge that could boost his sentence by up to 20 years, the county prosecutor’s office said.

Defense attorney, Chris Eskew, told The Indianapolis Star that he and Passarelli were disappointed by the verdict, but he declined to comment further about the case until after the sentencing.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/road-rage-fatal-shooting-muslim-man-indiana-8a76fe0adf4639c2df40fe3c6b1ba840

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Awful

Glad he got convicted, in Red States though, you have to wonder if the governor will pardon him, I mean he is a white person who killed a non white person. That's where Republicans are at, a pardon of this killer would make Republicans happy.

[lostinhere]

5. I doubt it.

I live in Indianapolis and the state is solid red except for a few metro areas, particularly Indianapolis and Bloomington.

I doubt a pardon will occur and article supports my belief. Further in (a lot further in), the article says,

Passarelli was not charged with a hate crime. The FBI had said it was looking into whether Ayoubi’s killing involved a federal civil rights violation, but no federal charges were ever filed.

Six weeks after Ayoubi’s killing, Indiana lawmakers passed a hate crimes bill that included a provision allowing judges to impose longer sentences for crimes motivated by bias.

Before the bill became law, Indiana was one of five states without a hate crime law.

However, I've been wrong before and will be in the future.

[LiberalFighter]

2. One less person to vote. It took them 4 years to prosecute?

[nycbos]

3. Remember, the pandemic halted in court room trials for a long time.

I'm guessing the legal system still has a lot of catching up to do.

[Princess Turandot]

8. Along the pandemic delays, there was a court fight over an expert witness whom the defense...

... wanted to call.

The short version: The defendant claimed to have PTSD (among other military-related stuff) which affected his actions; his lawyers had him examined by an MD from a VA Medical Center in support of that. In late 2019, when getting ready for the trial, they listed the MD as a witness. The state demurred, essentially arguing that the defendant was trying to use an insanity defense without actually asserting that formally. (They claimed self-defense.) The trial court agreed to a hearing, but that couldn't take place until 8/2021. The judge agreed with the state. The defendant appealed. The appellate court heard the case sometime in 2022 and upheld the lower court's decision in early 2023. They tried and convicted him.

He was held without bond during the delay.

https://law.justia.com/cases/indiana/court-of-appeals/2023/22a-cr-01116.html

[Alexander Of Assyria]

9. Veterans and Guns and racism, there is no hiding place from the hate in MAGAland.

[SouthernDem4ever]

11. of course, Repugs don't think it's wrong for mentally ill people to have guns

[marble falls]

4. Justice can exact a price. And how.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Murderer prob thinks "I took one for the country". . . .nt

[Martin68]

7. There are bigots in every country, every religion, every culture.

[electric_blue68]

10. "Enjoy" your prison years, murderer.

🤬