DENVER, Colorado, 12 October 2003 — After several delays resulting in an interval of 32 months since he was arrested on Jan. 31, 2001, a jury trial has finally begun in Denver District Court for 24-year-old Naif I. Al-Yousif. The accused, a Saudi formerly studying in the US, is fighting numerous charges, all related to the January 2001 murder of another Saudi college student, Abdulaziz Al-Koohaji.
According to Lynn Kimbrough, communications director, Denver District Attorney’s Office, the charges against Al-Yousif are first-degree murder after deliberation (class 1 felony), first-degree felony murder (class 1 felony), conspiracy to commit first-degree murder (class 2 felony), robbery (class 4 felony) and conspiracy to commit robbery (class 5 felony).
Two other Saudis involved in the murder, Mishal Al-Swaidi and Tariq Al-Dossary returned to Saudi Arabia where they are now in custody.
The case is being presided over by Denver District Court Judge Gloria Rivera. The lead prosecutor for the Denver DA’s Office is Mike Pellow, assisted by Adrienne Greene. The DA’s Office has already decided not to seek the death penalty in this case. If found guilty of either class 1 felonies, Al-Yousif’s maximum sentence would be life imprisonment without parole.
Al-Yousif continues to be represented by attorney Gary Lozow, with his defense funded by his family. Twelve jurors and one alternate were seated on Thursday afternoon to hear the case.
The defendant has remained largely out of the public’s eye. However, journalist Sue Lindsay has been at the courthouse for Rocky Mountain News. Her report on the opening statements in the case showed that the prosecution and defense told two very different stories of the events connected with Al-Koohaji’s murder.
Rocky Mountain News wrote that according to the prosecutor: “Al-Yousif knew exactly what the plan was before it ever happened. Al-Yousif allegedly told police he picked up Al-Koohaji at his apartment Jan. 10 and took him to the Aurora home where the three accused conspirators lived. Al-Koohaji was tied up and taped to a chair and strangled with a rope. They put his body in a trash bag, and Al-Yousif drove to an Englewood apartment complex, where they put it in a trash bin.” Al-Koohaji’s body was found in the Denver Regional Landfill on Feb. 8, 2001.
Contradicting the prosecution’s claims, in his opening statement Lozow, said, “Al-Yousif drove Al-Koohaji to the apartment. (Then) Al-Yousif went to the store for food and was stunned when he returned to find Al-Koohaji taped to a chair with a rope around his neck. Al-Yousif found himself in a situation he didn’t control. Al-Yousif admits he posed as Al-Koohaji to sell the victim’s 2000 Volkswagen Jetta back to a car dealership and forged his signature to withdraw nearly $20,000 from his bank account. But he did so only because he was threatened by Al-Swaidi and Al-Dossary.”
