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1st
trial to
open in
2010
Mich.
stabbing
spree
By ED
WHITE
Associated
Press
FLINT,
MI -
Defense
lawyers
acknowledge
that DNA
will be
hard
evidence
to
overcome
in the
first
trial
linked
to a
series
of
stabbings
that
killed
five
people
in
Michigan
and
injured
many
more in
summer
2010.
Victims
who
survived
the
late-night
attacks
in the
Flint
area, 60
miles
north of
Detroit,
say
Elias
Abuelazam
would
ask for
directions
or help
with his
Chevy
Blazer
before
stabbing
them and
speeding
away.
Jury
selection
starts
Tuesday
in the
death of
Arnold
Minor, a
49-year-old
whose
body was
found in
the
middle
of a
busy
street.
Police
say
Minor's
DNA was
discovered
in dried
blood in
Abuelazam's
SUV and
inside
luggage
that was
seized
as he
tried to
flee to
his
native
Israel
in
August
2010.
"DNA's
tough -
it just
is,"
defense
attorney
Brian
Morley
said in
an
interview.
"He's
ready.
He
understands
the
evidence.
He
understands
what's
going
on."
Abuelazam,
35, is
charged
with
three
murders
and six
attempted
murders
in the
Flint
area,
although
authorities
believe
he's
responsible
for as
many as
14
stabbings.
Prosecutors
will be
allowed
to tell
jurors
about
some of
the
other
attacks
because
they
were
similar.
Morley
and
co-counsel
Ed
Zeineh
are
prepared
to offer
an
insanity
defense,
claiming
Abuelazam
was
mentally
ill when
Minor
was
killed.
They've
lined up
an
expert
to talk
about
his
mental
state,
but a
decision
about
pursuing
that
strategy
won't be
publicly
disclosed
until
trial.
Prosecutors
have
their
own
experts
who have
examined
Abuelazam
and are
prepared
to rebut
it.
"The
question
is: Is
there
legal
culpability
if there
was an
insane
person
at the
time of
the
crime?"
Morley
said.
"That's
the
jury's
domain."
Abuelazam
had
lived in
Flint
only for
a brief
time in
a house
owned by
an uncle
who
lived
next
door. He
had
spent
time in
Virginia
before
landing
in
Michigan
and
getting
a
$10-an-hour
job at a
liquor
store in
a tough
neighborhood.
He is
also
charged
with
attempted
murder
in
Toledo,
Ohio,
and
suspected
but not
charged
in
attacks
in
Leesburg,
Va.
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