In a chaotic murder case involving multiple eye witnesses and conflicting stories, a man accused of a fatal shooting at Deering Oaks in 2022 is seeking to introduce 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 Sept. 7, 2022, and later died from his injuries at Maine Medical Center.
Dozens of officers spent days afterward, draining and wading through the park’s pond in an unsuccessful effort to find the gun. Community members held a vigil for Omal a week after the shooting, to pray for his family and leave flowers at a memorial.
Mohamed is scheduled for trial on Oct. 28 in Cumberland County Superior Court. A jury was selected Tuesday.
The state’s case depends on accounts from several witnesses who said they saw the shooting and knew the people involved, according to a police affidavit. But it’s hard to take away any single, straightforward story from what they said — each person’s statement was different. Witnesses relied heavily on unusual nicknames for the shooter and others at the park. Many who spoke with police were under the influence of drugs and alcohol when the shooting happened, the affidavit states.
It’s not clear which witnesses will be heard at trial. A prosecutor referred to one witness, who helped identify Mohamed to police as the shooter, as a “a day-to-day situation, in terms of whether he’s going to be able to testify.” Another was subpoenaed, the state said, but her attendance isn’t guaranteed.
Mohamed is hoping to use two of these witnesses as alternate suspects in his defense. His attorneys Peter Richard and David Kreisler must convince Superior Justice John O’Neil that there’s enough evidence for jurors to reasonably believe the suspects could have been the actual shooters.
It’s unclear when O’Neil will make a decision.
THE PROPOSED SUSPECTS
One proposed suspect is Deng Malual, who called 911 after Omal was shot and briefly spoke to police when they arrived to the park. Malual is currently in jail, facing a murder charge in an unrelated homicide.
The second is Asef El-Bey, who was arrested and interrogated before police decided Mohamed was the shooter.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said Wednesday she didn’t believe any of the evidence supported naming either of the men as suspects.
“To my knowledge, Mr. Malual is not a suspect in this case and will not be providing testimony at this trial,” Malual’s attorney, Verne Paradie, said. El-Bey could not be reached Wednesday.
One of Mohamed’s attorneys suggested Malual could have killed Omal in a fight over money — but Robbin pointed out that when Omal was shot, he left behind a wad of cash and cocaine on a bench nearby, which Robbin said Malual didn’t take.
“Nobody stole Mr. Omal’s drugs or money,” Robbin said. “If that was motivation for the shooting, you would think that those things would not still be on the bench.”
Police ruled out El-Beyas a suspect after seeing a video of him outside the old Oxford Street shelter roughly seven to eight minutes after the shooting occurred, which Robbin said “blows away any possibility that he could have been the shooter.”
El-Bey was detained about 12 minutes after the shooting while he was leaving the Big Apple gas station with Breanna Sok, whom police had been searching for because she matched the description of a woman who had reportedly fled Deering Oaks with the shooter.
Richard agreed that the video proves there was no way El-Bey could have walked from Deering Oaks to the former Oxford Street shelter with Sok. But he said he’s reviewed video of a car stopping near the same part of Oxford Street, letting out an individual in a red sweater.
El-Bey was arrested wearing a red sweater. One eyewitness had told police the shooter was a Black man with long hair and a red sweater, and that he had used a gun wrapped in some kind of rag or bandana.
Police released El-Bey after he told them he hadn’t been at the park that day. They took El-Bey’s handkerchief and shoes, which had a red-brown stain on them, but Richard said police never tested them.
“We believe there’s more than a mere suspicion that Asef El-Bey could be a plausible alternate suspect,” he said.
KEY WITNESS
At least three witnesses in the police affidavit identified Mohamed as the shooter, according to the affidavit, 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 at the park reported that a woman matching Sok’s appearance fled the park with the shooter. She was detained twice by police, once with El-Bey and then with Mohamed the following day.
Her account changed multiple times over the span of several interviews, according to the affidavit, but she eventually told police Mohamed was the shooter.
Mohamed’s lawyers have said they intend to challenge her credibility in court. Richard also suggested to O’Neil on Wednesday that Sok be appointed a lawyer out of concern she might perjure herself. He also suggested there’s evidence she could be a co-conspirator to another suspect, or that she helped hide evidence (including the gun) from police.
“She’s given so many inconsistent versions of what’s happened,” Richard said.
O’Neil did not rule on that request Wednesday and Robbin said in court that they don’t intend to prosecute Sok.
“If we had a system where every witness who potentially had inconsistent statements was given a lawyer, we’d have to give them lawyers at virtually every trial,” O’Neil said.
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