Oct. 17 – In a chaotic murder case involving multiple eyewitnesses and conflicting stories, a man accused in a fatal 2022 shooting in Deering Oaks seeks to present two new suspects at trial.
Amin Awies Mohamed, 40, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder in connection with the death of 31-year-old Walter Omal.
Omal was shot at Deering Oaks park on September 7, 2022, and later died from his injuries at Maine Medical Center.
Dozens of officers spent days afterwards draining and wading through the park’s pond in an unsuccessful attempt to find the weapon. Community members held a vigil for Omal a week after the shooting, praying for his family and leaving flowers at a memorial.
Mohamed will stand trial in Cumberland County Superior Court on October 28. A jury was selected on Tuesday.
The state’s case depends on statements from several witnesses who said they saw the shooting and knew the people involved, a police statement said. But it’s hard to take away a single, simple story from what they said; each person’s statement was different. Witnesses relied heavily on unusual nicknames for the shooter and others in the park. Many who spoke to police were under the influence of drugs and alcohol when the shooting occurred, the affidavit said.
It is not yet clear which witnesses will be heard during the trial. A prosecutor called a witness who helped identify Mohamed to police as the shooter a “day-to-day situation, in terms of whether he will be able to testify.” Another was subpoenaed, the state said, but her presence is not guaranteed.
Mohamed hopes to use two of these witnesses as alternate suspects in his defense. His attorneys Peter Richard and David Kreisler must convince Chief Justice John O’Neil that there is enough evidence for jurors to reasonably believe the suspects could be the actual shooters.
It is unclear when O’Neil will make a decision.
THE PROPOSED SUSPECTS
A possible suspect is Deng Malual, who called 911 after Omal was shot and spoke briefly with police when they arrived at the park. Malual is currently in jail and charged with murder for an unrelated killing.
The second is Asef El-Bey, who was arrested and interrogated before police determined Mohamed was the shooter.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said Wednesday that she did not believe any evidence supporting the naming of any of the men as suspects.
“To my knowledge, Mr. Malual is not a suspect in this case and will not be giving evidence at this trial,” said Malual’s lawyer, Verne Paradie. El-Bey could not be reached on Wednesday.
One of Mohamed’s lawyers suggested that Malual could have killed Omal in a fight over money, but Robbin pointed out that when Omal was shot, he left a stack of cash and cocaine on a nearby bench, which Robbin said Malual used had not brought.
“No one stole Mr. Omal’s drugs or money,” Robbin said. “If that were the motivation for the shooting, you would think those things wouldn’t still be in the bank.”
Police ruled out El-Beya’s suspect after seeing a video of him outside the old Oxford Street hideout about seven to eight minutes after the shooting occurred, which Robbin said “blows away any possibility that he could have been the shooter are.”
El-Bey was apprehended about 12 minutes after the shooting as he left the Big Apple gas station with Breanna Sok, who police were looking for because she matched the description of a woman who allegedly fled Deering Oaks with the shooter .
Richard agreed that the video proves that there was no way El-Bey could have walked Sok from Deering Oaks to the former hideout on Oxford Street. But he said he watched a video of a car stopping near the same part of Oxford Street and letting out a person in a red sweater.
El-Bey was arrested while wearing a red sweater. One eyewitness told police that the shooter was a black man with long hair and a red sweater, and that he had used a gun wrapped in some type of cloth or bandana.
Police released El-Bey after he told them he had not been in the park that day. They took El-Bey’s handkerchief and shoes, which had a reddish-brown stain, but Richard said police never tested them.
“We believe there is more than just suspicion that Asef El-Bey could be a plausible alternate suspect,” he said.
KEY WITNESS
At least three witnesses in the police statement identified Mohamed as the shooter, according to the statement, albeit using the nicknames “Lee” and “Ali.”
That includes Sok, who was arrested with El-Bey about a quarter-mile from the shooting. Multiple witnesses in the park reported that a woman matching Sok’s appearance fled the park with the shooter. She was detained by police twice, once with El-Bey and the next day with Mohamed.
According to the affidavit, her story changed several times during various interviews, but she eventually told police that Mohamed was the shooter.
Mohamed’s lawyers have said they plan to challenge her credibility in court. Richard also suggested to O’Neil on Wednesday that Sok be appointed as a lawyer, fearing she could offend herself. He also suggested there is evidence she could have been a co-conspirator with another suspect, or that she helped hide evidence (including the gun) from police.
“She has given so many inconsistent versions of what happened,” Richard said.
O’Neil did not rule on that request Wednesday and Robbin said in court that they do not intend to prosecute Sok.
“If we had a system where every witness who had potentially inconsistent statements got an attorney, we would have to give them attorneys at virtually every trial,” O’Neil said.
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