Lang
5/9/24
A Johnson County jury has acquitted a man accused of lying to police during a murder investigation.
The jury handed down the verdict for 24-year-old Mazin Mohamedali after a brief trial on Wednesday.
Mohamedali was a resident of the South Governor Street apartment where 19-year-old Quincy Russom was shot and killed in February of 2021. Iowa City Police say Mohamedali had specific knowledge that 25-year-old Sammy Hamed was the shooter. Arrest records indicate Mohamedali waited to call 9-1-1 to report the murder, then lied to investigators about how many people were involved and gave fabricated descriptions. Police say with the proper information, Hamed could have been arrested shortly after the murder. Instead, he was taken into custody almost ten days later.
Mohamedali also allegedly deleted his call history and his Snapchat app to hide evidence in the case. Police say he was also recorded confessing to the fact that he lied about who committed the murder and how many people were involved in order to keep investigators from finding out from where he was getting guns.
Mohamdali was charged with Accessory After the Fact. If convicted, he would have faced a maximum of two years in prison and been in violation of his probation on a 2018 armed robbery conviction.
Hamed pleaded guilty to 2nd Degree Murder in 2022 and was given a 50 year prison sentence.