Muzzammil Hassan: Guilty Verdict in NY Beheading Case
(CBS/WIVB/AP) After an hour of deliberations, a Buffalo, N.Y. jury returned a guilty verdict against Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan for second-degree murder Monday in the beheading of his wife Aasiya.
According to CBS affiliate WIVB, the Pakistan-born Hassan, who acted as his own attorney, concluded his two-hour long closing arguments with, "I don't blame my wife."
Prosecutors said Hassan, the former executive of a Muslim-oriented television station, killed his wife Aasiya in a final act of domination and control.
Both the prosecution and the defense agree that Hassan killed his wife on February 12, 2009 at Bridges TV, a television station they had co-founded with the hope of countering negative images of Muslims after 9/11.
Surveillance video from the day Aasiya was murdered shows Hassan, who stands over 6 feet tall, testing the sharpness of the hunting knives he bought at Wal-Mart two hours before the killing.
On that same day, he was captured on video at the TV station were he surprised his wife from behind after luring her there to drop off clothes for him, Bonanno said.
The Hassans had two young children.