GUILTY NC - Deah Barakat, 23, his wife & her sister murdered, Chapel Hill, 10 Feb 2015

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Concerned Mama said:
Exactly. So why did he decide to kill these three neighbors, especially if they weren't even parked in his space?
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We really don't know yet whether anyone was parked in "his" space. It's not even clear what Hicks considered "his" parking space, how many spaces are assigned to each unit or how many Hicks claimed. I hope we can learn more about the parking situation soon. But, chances are, we're not going to find out much more until Hicks goes to court. Hopefully, there are neighbors who can testify about the parking situation the day of the murder and who have witnessed Hicks' interactions with the 3 victims since they are no longer here to speak for themselves. At this point, the only thing that's clear to me is that Hicks is one messed up -- and, yes, hateful -- man.

MOO
 
Agree. LE has said nothing about parking or evidence. There is only speculation by Barakat's relative about who parked where. That relative is obviously emotional and has no first hand info. As of Sunday, LE had not even spoken with her. However, she is convinced this was a hate crime and has been on the media circuit saying so.

I personally hope Hicks pleads guilty. I can't imagine any defense, except insanity, which won't fly IMO. He immediately drove to the police to turn himself in. I hope they trade LWOP for a guilty plea rather than pursuing the death penalty, which NC never actually exercises. Death penalty convictions just tie up the courts forever and waste resources. IMO.

 
Boodles said:
I personally hope Hicks pleads guilty.
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Why would he? Of course his lawyer will try for lesser charges like 2nd degree or manslaughter. All he needs is 1 sympathetic person on the jury who kinda sorta doesn't trust "them Arabs". The sort of person who acknowledges it's wrong to unlawfully kill someone, but deep down they don't trust [....]-type of person and could buy into mitigating circumstances, heat of the moment kind of thing. It's how people who kill LGBT get off with light sentences all the time.
 
Concerned Mama said:
Exactly. So why did he decide to kill these three neighbors, especially if they weren't even parked in his space?
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My guess would be that he thought they had parked in his space. We don't know if he was that familiar with all of their cars or if the car in "his" spot resembled a car he associated with them. This guy sounds like a real short fuse and just about anything could have set him off.
 
SStarr33 said:
Not sure, but we know there is no evidence from his SM that this is a hate crime.
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There's a lot of hate expressed in his SM accounts, but you're right not enough to say absolutely this was a hate crime. But it also doesn't mean it wasn't a hate crime. IMO when a white person kills three Muslims the hate crime aspect has to be considered, no matter what the other circumstances surrounding the incident are.
 
Colleen Hufford was brutally murdered and beheaded by a "lone wolf" Muslim. That was considered workplace violence and not a hate crime. (although Alton Nolen was an obvious Muslim extremist who 'hated white people' and kept trying to convert others).

The reason I bring this other case up is because there is clearly a double standard when it comes to supposed 'hate crimes' and who is or isn't protected under that umbrella.

If Craig Hicks would have killed 3 Christians, would we even be saying the phrase "hate crime"? Nope. 3 Catholics? Nope.

Although I think this so-and-so should rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life, I see no evidence (yet) that this is a hate crime. I think he's just an arrogant jerk that snapped because he felt he was being wronged in his own small mind.

I hope he rots.
 
I have to admit that I'm surprised at how many posts here are stating, almost with certainty, that this was not a hate crime. If the FBI launched a preliminary investigation, I would think WS posters would at least be open to the possibility. Personally, I don't know what set Hicks off, and I don't think anybody on this forum knows, either. We're all welcome to speculate over what happened, though. But to say with certainty that it couldn't have been a hate crime because that's just what the father thinks, or because only friends and family, not LE, stated that none of the three were parked in the "disputed" spot seems to be the exact type of conjecturing we criticize investigators of doing in some of the cases here on WS.

Can't we remain open to the possibility that this crime involved bias without saying it didn't, or that it doesn't matter?

Here's an article posted today on this very subject:
Why the Chapel Hill Shooting Was More Hate Crime Than 'Parking Dispute'
Erik Ose
Posted: 02/18/2015 9:06 am EST

[snip]

Pronounced dead at the scene were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, three talented and promising young community members, killed in their own apartment in a quiet complex near the University of North Carolina's campus, all shot in the head. This grisly crime came at a time of rising anti-Muslim tensions in North Carolina and nationwide, on a day marked by a nonstop media drumbeat about the confirmed death of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller, who was being held captive by ISIS militants. Many suspected the students' shooting was hate-related.

[snip]

What is definitively known about the crime is that the suspect in the killings, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself over to police several hours after the shooting, was one of the victims' neighbors. Hicks moved to North Carolina from Illinois in 2004. According to the Los Angeles Times, "a Facebook profile that bore Craig Hicks' name and photo showed he appeared to be a militant atheist who shared anti-Muslim and anti-Christian posts and links."

[snip]

Deah Barakat's sister, Dr. Suzanne Barakat, confirmed to CNN that when Hicks returned home on the evening of Feb. 10, no cars belonging to any of the three victims were parked in the spaces he considered to be his:

"On the day of the murders, the parking spot that was, quote/unquote, 'disputed' had no parking -- no car in it. I wondered maybe was it Razan who was visiting her sister to keep her company had maybe parked in that spot and that triggered it. No. They all knew not to park in this disputed visitors' parking spot. And by disputed, I mean the one that the neighbor claimed belonged to his wife and had been cleared by the apartment complex agency as open and free to all. And despite that, they did not use it. So, this was not a parking dispute."
 
JLSChook said:
Colleen Hufford was brutally murdered and beheaded by a "lone wolf" Muslim. That was considered workplace violence and not a hate crime. (although Alton Nolen was an obvious Muslim extremist who 'hated white people' and kept trying to convert others).

The reason I bring this other case up is because there is clearly a double standard when it comes to supposed 'hate crimes' and who is or isn't protected under that umbrella.

If Craig Hicks would have killed 3 Christians, would we even be saying the phrase "hate crime"? Nope. 3 Catholics? Nope.

Although I think this so-and-so should rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life, I see no evidence (yet) that this is a hate crime. I think he's just an arrogant jerk that snapped because he felt he was being wronged in his own small mind.

I hope he rots.
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BBM 1:
Detroit man 'stabs two strangers at bus stop after checking they were not Muslim first'
* The FBI is investigating to see if any hate crime laws were violated
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958006/Incoherent-Detroit-man-stabs-two-bus-stop-told-not-

BBM 2:
Agreed.
 
Ven said:
Why would he? Of course his lawyer will try for lesser charges like 2nd degree or manslaughter. All he needs is 1 sympathetic person on the jury who kinda sorta doesn't trust "them Arabs". The sort of person who acknowledges it's wrong to unlawfully kill someone, but deep down they don't trust [....]-type of person and could buy into mitigating circumstances, heat of the moment kind of thing. It's how people who kill LGBT get off with light sentences all the time.
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But that goes for every trial Ven, doesn't it? There will ALWAYS be jury members sympathetic to the accused, that's actually a fair trial. It's up to the prosecution and the evidence presented to sway them to pass a guilty vote.
I sense that you think Hicks will get off, that would be a travesty. He killed 3 defenseless young people, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, imo. I'm sure justice will prevail.
 
Concerned Mama said:


[snip]

Deah Barakat's sister, Dr. Suzanne Barakat, confirmed to CNN that when Hicks returned home on the evening of Feb. 10, no cars belonging to any of the three victims were parked in the spaces he considered to be his:

"On the day of the murders, the parking spot that was, quote/unquote, 'disputed' had no parking -- no car in it. I wondered maybe was it Razan who was visiting her sister to keep her company had maybe parked in that spot and that triggered it. No. They all knew not to park in this disputed visitors' parking spot. And by disputed, I mean the one that the neighbor claimed belonged to his wife and had been cleared by the apartment complex agency as open and free to all. And despite that, they did not use it. So, this was not a parking dispute."
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<Respectfully snipped by me>

This is easy enough to confirm by LE because I'm sure they located all of the victims' vehicles. If no one was parked in the disputed space at the time of the murder, then we know Hicks didn't even believe that one of the victims parked there.

I could be wrong, but my understanding isn't that some people here are claiming with certainty this wasn't a hate crime, but that we don't enough evidence at this point to make a definitive claim that it was a hate crime. LE has much more evidence than we do, including the statements Hicks made when he turned himself in. If no one was parked in the disputed parking space, there must have been another motive, and all possible motives need to be considered.
 
PrimeSuspect said:
But that goes for every trial Ven, doesn't it? There will ALWAYS be jury members sympathetic to the accused, that's actually a fair trial. It's up to the prosecution and the evidence presented to sway them to pass a guilty vote.
I sense that you think Hicks will get off, that would be a travesty. He killed 3 defenseless young people, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, imo. I'm sure justice will prevail.
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That is why jury pools are screened, but the process isn't foolproof. However, Hicks confessed to the killings and there is a lot of evidence against him. A jurist who sympathizes with a defendant while rejecting all of the evidence against him is guilty of misconduct. If there is the possibility that an impartial jury cannot be found in Chapel Hill, I would hope there will be a change of venue. But, from what I've seen via media, there is an outpouring of sympathy for the victims.
 
Indy Anna said:
That is why jury pools are screened, but the process isn't foolproof. However, Hicks confessed to the killings and there is a lot of evidence against him. A jurist who sympathizes with a defendant while rejecting all of the evidence against him is guilty of misconduct. If there is the possibility that an impartial jury cannot be found in Chapel Hill, I would hope there will be a change of venue. But, from what I've seen via media, there is an outpouring of sympathy for the victims.
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The strange thing about jurisdiction in this case is that Finley Forest is in a part of Chapel Hill that is actually in Durham County, not Orange County. Even though the CH police were called to the scene, Hicks is being held in Durham County jail and will be tried in Durham. Is there any tension between Chapel Hill and Durham? Well, tune in to tonight's Carolina v. Duke game to see for yourself. ;)

But seriously, I agree with you about any juror who rejects evidence being blatantly guilty of misconduct, and I do hope that the jury will be impartial.
 
According to reporting by Tamara Gibbs, WTVD, Hicks had previously been given parking enforcement authority by the condo complex. When taken away, Hicks planned to sue to HOA, but ran out of $. This is per the broadcast this evening. Maybe this is when he decided to be a paralegal??
 
Not trying to make a point. Has a muslim ever been charged with a hate crime in the United States?
 
Any word on whether his wife is standing by him? Or if they had any children, if they are?

I always feel like the perps family are always the forgotten victims of crime. :( JMO
 
rachaellouise said:
Any word on whether his wife is standing by him? Or if they had any children, if they are?

I always feel like the perps family are always the forgotten victims of crime. :( JMO
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I thought when this happened that they were in the middle of a divorce.
 
wfgodot said:
NYT, excellent long piece:

Motive Remains a Mystery in Chapel Hill Murders
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From that NYT article:

A motive for the shooting may never be known. But interviews with more than a dozen of the victims&#8217; friends and family members, lawyers, police officers and others, make two central points: before the shootings, the students took concerted steps to appease a menacing neighbor, and none were parked that day in a way that would have set off an incident involving their cars.

If those accounts do not prove what kind of malice was in Mr. Hicks&#8217;s heart, the details that emerge indicate that whatever happened almost certainly was not a simple dispute over parking.

(thanks, again, for the link, wfgodot)
 
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