‘Honor killings’ patriarch receives death sentence
More relatives face trial in 2012 slayings that shocked nation
A Jordanian immigrant was sentenced Tuesday to death for a pair of 2012 “honor killings” that were part of an extensive plot to kill five people, including his daughter, in retribution for her leaving home, converting to Christianity and marrying a Christian.
Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, a 60year-old father of 12, slumped slightly when the verdict was read, but did not react otherwise.
The twisted saga that emerged during the trial of intolerance and violent reprisal by the domineering patriarch of an extended family living in a rural Montgomery County compound shocked local residents, and has attracted national and international news coverage since it first unfolded with Irsan’s arrest in 2014.
The lengthy trial, and disturbing testimony during the punishment phase about rapes, drugging, beatings and a previous homicide, left both jurors and family of the victims sniffling and wiping tears.
Meanwhile, the trial judge praised the jury’s verdict.
“Don’t second guess yourselves,” state District Judge Jan Krocker told jurors. “You listened attentively to every detail. It was the right verdict.”
Jurors sat through seven weeks
of testimony about Irsan’s rage and desire to “wash his honor in blood,” quickly convicting Irsan of the capital murder of his daughter’s new husband, Coty Beavers, 28, and her best friend, Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, an Iranian activist and medical researcher who supporter her choice.
Nesreen Irsan, the daughter at the center of the attacks called the situation a “nightmare that I have nightmares about.”
On Tuesday, she monitored the jury’s deliberations away from home and when the verdict was handed down, she said it was justice.
“He raped my mom, my sister and marked us all for death. He took Coty and Gelareh away from me,” she said. “Today’s decision is just, it marks a very special day for me and the countless victims my dad terrorized over the years.”
In court, families of the victims cried, hugged and took pictures together after Irsan was led out of the courtroom in a yellow jail uniform.
“Adios,” one family member said from the gallery.
Victim impact statements
Almost an hour after the verdict was read, four women and three men from the jury came back to the courtroom to hug the surviving family members of Irsan’s victims.
In tears, they introduced themselves and spoke quietly. They said it was tough decision, but they hope the families can now have peace.
Immediately after Krocker sentenced Irsan to death, he had to sit and listen as Beavers’ mother gave a victim impact statement, from the witness stand, with two of her sons standing next to her.
“On November 12, 2012, Ali Irsan and his family destroyed life as we knew it forever,” said Shirley McCormick. “That was the day they ambushed and murdered Coty, to restore honor to someone who never had any.”
Afterward, Coty Beavers’ twin brother said the family would focus on the remaining suspects: Irsan’s adult son, Nasim, who is charged with capital murder, and his adult daughter, Nadia, who is charged with stalking.
“Honor violence typically involves participation of multiple family members,” said Cory Beavers. “We will continue to pray that everyone culpable in these murders are brought to justice.”
Bagherzedeh’s parents, who attended every day of trial, asked family friend Kathy Soltani to speak for them.
“By taking Gelareh away from us, they took away a true human being who would have helped anyone in any way that crossed her path throughout her life,” Soltani said. “They took something good from our society.”
Defense attorneys for Irsan said they were disappointed in the verdict and noted that it would automatically be appealed.
“We will just leave it in God’s hands,” said lead attorney, Allan Tanner who represented Irsan with Rudy Duarte.
From the beginning of the trial two months ago, prosecutors said Irsan was hellbent on punishing his daughter and anyone who supported her break from the family.
“He wanted to kill her,” prosecutor Jon Stephenson told jurors during his opening statements. “But he wanted to kill all those she loved first, so that she would suffer that much more before she died.”
Stephenson was appointed special prosecutor along with Anna Emmons and Marie Primm after Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg recused her office. One of her top staffers represented one of the suspects in the multi-defendant case before joining the district attorney’s office.
It is the first death penalty trial that has taken place since Ogg took office on January 1, 2017 and the first death sentence in Harris County since 2014, according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Living in fear
During the trial, some of Irsan’s family testified they lived in fear of daily beatings, including with a length of garden hose and “sticks” like Irsan’s cane and 2-by-4 boards. Two of his sons said that was not true.
One of Irsan’s daughters also testified that he cheered the 9/11 attacks on America and praised Osama bin Laden, and told his children they should volunteer to become suicide bombers.
For eight weeks, prosecutors put on evidence that Irsan had been a violent offender with a history of money grubbing schemes since coming to America in 1979.
“He will lie, cheat, steal manipulate, abuse, torture, stalk and kill to get what he wants,” Emmons said during closing arguments.
She pointed to allegations that he raped his first wife, a blind woman he met in Iowa, then manipulated her into marriage. There were also allegations that he raped his oldest daughter and tried to kill her because she married a man Irsan did not approve of in 1999.
Special prosecutor Marie Primm weaved together more than 20 years of Irsan’s bad acts to sway jurors against letting Irsan serve life without parole in general population in prison.
She reminded the jury that Irsan also killed a different son-inlaw in 1999.
Irsan testified that it was in selfdefense. Other family members said he blasted Amjad Alidam in the chest with a shotgun because he did not approve of Alidam’s marriage to his oldest daughter, then planted a pistol on the body.
“Ali Irsan gets to be the judge, jury and executioner of anyone who goes outside of Ali Irsan’s control.” she said.
On Tuesday, she also said she was relieved that her father was sentenced to die.
“Now we have the opportunity to live in peace without always looking over our shoulder,” said Nesemah Irsan. “The world is a safer place today knowing that a man who was capable of anything and everything will no longer hurt anyone else and I am glad to close the book on this chapter.”
Social Security fraud
In 2015, Irsan, his wife and another daughter were sentenced to federal prison for defrauding the Social Security system, one of several schemes revealed during the trial that showed how Irsan financed trips back to Jordan and purchases of properties he acquired in Montgomery County.
For example, he apparently often claimed that he lost baggage during flights and was able to obtain reimbursements from airlines for laptops, electronics and lost time. Those claims, prosecutors said, helped pay for each trip.
He also convinced his mosque that he was renting his home and needed help paying rent and for electricity bills. That scam ended when elders at the mosque learned that his “landlord” was really his wife, testimony showed.
Prosecutors showed that he also opened dozens of credit card accounts in different names, including the names of deceased family members, to pay his bills. One such account, opened under his daughter’s name, went unpaid without her knowledge ruining her credit, testimony showed.
In addition to those scams, he also got food stamps, Medicaid and took advantage of other social safety nets by forcing family members to fake mental illness to receive disability payments.
Irsan testified that he has been disabled and unable to work since at least 1993, despite testimony that he cleared the land on his property and built fences by hand.
In 2014, a SWAT team swarmed Irsan’s Montgomery County compound and arrested him for Social Security fraud. State prosecutors later charged Irsan and his son, Nasim Irsan, 24, with capital murder. His trial is scheduled for next year.