Jurors to begin deliberations Monday in Syed trial

Firearm and cellphone records prove that Muhammad Syed used a high-powered military weapon in 2022 that “destroyed” the body of Aftab Hussein, a prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments Friday.

A defense attorney responded that police failed to investigate Syed’s son and other family members who had access to the AK-47 rifle that killed Hussein.

The 2nd Judicial District Court jury will begin deliberations Monday following four days of testimony in Syed’s trial on a single charge of first-degree murder in Hussein’s death.

“The state has no link between Muhammad Syed and Aftab Hussein,” defense attorney Megan Mitsunaga told jurors.

Police failed to analyze DNA and fingerprint evidence from the murder weapon that could have shown others had handled the gun, she said.

“They took the time to collect the evidence, but they can’t be bothered to process it,” Mitsunaga said. “The state wants you to presume that, well, everyone was handling this gun, there would have been no purpose in testing it.”

Syed, 53, was arrested on Aug. 8, 2022, and quickly charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three Muslim men in July and August 2022.

The killings spread fear in Albuquerque’s tight-knit Muslim community that a serial killer was targeting Islamic men. The killings garnered national attention and a condemnation from President Joe Biden.

The trial this week charged Syed only with the shooting death of Hussein, 41, on July 26, 2022. He will be tried separately for the other two killings.

A first-degree murder conviction has a mandatory life sentence, which would require Syed to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Defense attorneys offered no witnesses on Friday, and Syed himself declined to testify in his own defense.

When Judge Britt Baca Miller asked Syed if he wanted to exercise his right to testify, he broke down in sobs and needed some time to compose himself.

“I want to be silent,” he replied through an interpreter in Pashto, the national language of Afghanistan. “This is my life, so I choose to be silent.”

Witnesses testified this week that Syed purchased an AK-47 rifle on July 15, 2022 — just 11 days before Hussein’s killing — that forensic experts showed fired multiple rounds that killed Hussein.

Albuquerque police found the rifle under Syed’s bed when they searched his home the day after his arrest.

Prosecutors allege that cellphone records show that Syed drove from his home to Hussein’s apartment at 420 Rhode Island SE, where he hid behind bushes and waited for Hussein to arrive in his car.

“The defendant sat in wait, hiding, ready to kill Aftab Hussein,” Assistant District Attorney Jordan Machin told jurors on Friday.

The 7.62-caliber rounds fired by the Serbian-made Zatava AK-47 rifle ripped 21 holes in Hussein’s body, including 11 entrance wounds and 10 exit wounds, Machin said.

“This bullet is huge and it absolutely destroyed his body,” Machin said, showing jurors autopsy photos of Hussein’s wounds.

Machin said that the trajectory of the wounds showed Syed continued firing after Hussein was lying on the ground.

“Aftab Hussein was already on the ground when the defendant continued to shoot him to make sure to kill him,” Machin told jurors.

One of the rounds entered near Hussein’s left ear and traveled through his abdomen, lodging in his bladder, where it was recovered during the autopsy.

An Albuquerque Police Department firearms specialist testified Friday that the bullet was fired from the weapon Syed purchased.

Prosecutors throughout the four-day trial emphasized firearms and cellphone evidence they said proves that Syed killed Hussein. But prosecutors offered little testimony or evidence to suggest Syed’s motive for the shooting or his state of mind at the time.

Machin told jurors Friday that prosecutors don’t have to demonstrate Syed’s motive for the killing.

“There’s no requirement to say why he did this,” Machin told jurors. “We don’t have to prove why. We just have to prove that he did” kill Hussein.

However, Machin showed jurors a note extracted from Syed’s cellphone that she said suggests that Syed killed Hussein to “test” his recently purchased AK-47 rifle.

The note said, “Test in Albuquerque about AKM 47-7.62mm” and listed a time and date of “9:50 7/26/2022-After.”

Machin told jurors that the autocorrect feature on the cellphone changed Aftab to “After.”

“The defendant wrote this note because he was going to test his AK-47 on Aftab Hussein on that date and time,” she said.

Syed’s attorney told jurors that Syed, an Afghan refugee, typically wrote in Pashto in texts and emails and questioned whether Syed had written the note. Mitsunaga suggested that someone else could have placed the note on Syed’s phone.

Syed and his son each purchased a rifle at BMC Tactical, an Albuquerque gun store, on July 15.

Prosecutors showed jurors an invoice showing that Syed paid a total of $1,199 for the weapon.

Syed’s son, Shaheen Syed, purchased a pistol-style Zastava AK-47 weapon similar to the weapon purchased by his father, federal court records show.

Shaheen Syed, 22, was arrested on the same day as his father. The younger Syed is not charged with any of the killings but has pleaded guilty to federal firearms charges for providing false information when he purchased a firearm in 2021.

Mitsunaga told jurors that Shaheen Syed was familiar with the same type of firearm as the weapon used to kill Hussein and had the opportunity to use his father’s weapon.

“It was Shaheen that they really should have taken a closer look at,” she said. “There seems to be an impression that once an arrest is made, we stop looking, we stop investigating.”

Machin responded that police investigated the younger Syed but ruled him out as a suspect.

Syed also faces two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of tampering with evidence in the shooting deaths of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, on Aug. 1, 2022, and Naeem Hussein, 25, on Aug. 5, 2022. Trials for those charges have not been scheduled.