Joseph Czuba: Owner of Illinois accused of 2023 murder of American Palestinian child ready for trial

Joliet, Illinois
AP
–

The trial of a Chicago suburban owner accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in a 2023 attack against an American Palestinian woman and her young son will begin on Tuesday.

Joseph Czuba, 73, is loaded into the fatal stabbing of 6 -year -old Wadae Alfayoumi and Hanan Shaheen’s wound on October 14, 2023. The authorities said the family was attacked by their Islamic faith and in response to the war between Israel and Hamas that exploded with an Hamas attack against southern Israel on the 7 October 2023..

Opening statements begin Tuesday morning in a trial that is expected to last approximately one week.

Czuba declared himself innocent of three first -degree murder positions, a charge of murder attempt and other positions. His defense lawyer, George Lenard, refused to comment before the end of the trial.

The attack on the family in Plainfield, about 40 miles to the southwest of Chicago, has renewed the fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the large and established Palestinian community of the Chicago area. The procedures also arrive amid the growing hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the United States since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

“We firmly pray and hope that Mr. Czuba be locked up for the rest of his life, so that we can send a message that hate crimes against anyone on the basis of their religion and national origin are not tolerated,” Joe is not tolerated Milburn, a lawyer for the American-Islamic Relations Council, told journalists on Monday before the jury selection.

Prosecutors claim that Czuba became more and more paranoid about war after Listen to comments on the conservative conversation radio. Shaheen told police that Czuba was upset by war and attacked after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

The child, whose name was initially spelling Wadea al-Fayoume by the authorities, was stabbed 26 times. His mother had more than a dozen knife wounds, and took weeks to recover.

The assassination position in the accusation against Czuba describes the child’s death as a result of “exceptionally brutal or atrocious behavior.” Czuba remained arrested with prosecutors arguing that Czuba was a danger to Shaheen and others.

Hundreds of people attended the child’s Janazah, or funeral service, where the child was remembered as A kind boy who loved sports and lay

Separately, the father of the child, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live in the house, has filed a lawsuit for unfair death.