Mo Hassan Case
For full coverage of Muzzammil Hassan's trial that began on January 18, 2011, please click here Read More
A Subdued Hassan Gets Life Term
by Sandra Tan
March 10, 2011
Source: Buffalo News
Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan simply wasn't the same man Wednesday.
He appeared in court disheveled and subdued at his sentencing. Though he occasionally whispered to his lawyer, he was mostly silent and lacked the alertness and energy of his previous court appearances.
He objected to the presence of cameras in the courtroom for the first time but -- for once -- had little to say when he was given the opportunity to speak before receiving the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.
(Read More) Read More
Buffalo's Muslims Battle Stereotypes After Murder
by Dina Temple-Raston
February 21, 2011
Source: NPR
It only took a Buffalo, N.Y., jury an hour earlier this month to find Muzzamil "Mo" Hassan, the founder of a Muslim-oriented suburban television station, guilty of beheading his wife, Aasiya. The killing received national attention not just because it was brutal — but because both the killer and his victim were Muslim.
When Aasiya Hassan was murdered in 2009, some journalists immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was an honor killing — but it wasn't. And the Muslim community in the Buffalo area has been fighting the stereotype for the last two years.
(Read More) Read More
Mo as a victim? Twisted Logic is His Alone
by Donn Esmonde
February 2, 2011
Source: Buffalo News
I spent the last two days sitting through the “Mo Show.” The guy has to be kidding.
The most frightening aspect of Mo Hassan’s “she made me do it” defense is that he actually seems to believe it. This is no desperate ploy. This is no save-my-butt courtroom tactic. I think this arrogant, controlling, painfully bright mountain of a man truly believes that he was the victim. Contrary to logic and a stack of evidence, I think Hassan (who is arguing his own case) believes that his wife drove him to slaughter her.
Aasiya Hassan is dead - hacked and beheaded. Yet somehow in his twisted psyche, she was the abuser. Hassan believes that he was justified in luring his wife to their darkened Bridges TV studio in Orchard Park on that February night two years ago, a week after she filed for the divorce that would free her from him. In 47 vicious seconds, as their children waited outside in their van, he stabbed her 40 times and sliced her head off. In Hassan’s distorted view, the "devil" in her (his description, not mine) made him do it.
(Read More) Read More
Beheading Suspect Says Jail Deputies Tortured Him
By Matt Gryta
November 17, 2010
Source: Buffalo News
A court hearing Wednesday on whether a television reporter must turn over notes of an interview with accused killer Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan instead became a forum for Hassan to accuse his jailers of torturing and plotting to kill him.
Hassan asked a judge to "fire" Sheriff Timothy B. Howard because of the alleged actions of sheriff's deputies in the Erie County Holding Center, claims that a Sheriff's Office spokesman called "preposterous." (Read More) Read More
Hassan's Jest Prompts Warning From Judge
By Matt Gryta
October 8, 2010,
Source: Buffalo News
Facing trial for beheading his estranged wife, Muzzammil A. "Mo" Hassan said during a court appearance Friday that he may sign a retainer with his latest lawyer "if he buys me some chicken wings" and if he is allowed to visit the attorney in his downtown law office.
Despite the attempt at courtroom humor, Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk warned Hassan that the much-delayed murder trial will get under way with jury selection Jan. 10 -- even if Hassan fails to hire a lawyer and has to represent himself. (Read More) Read More
Judge Bars Hassan From Interviews
By Matt Gryta
September 10, 2010
Source: Buffalo News
The judge in Muzzammil A. "Mo" Hassan's impending spousal-murder trial Friday barred him from giving on-camera interviews to any media outlets and issued a subpoena for the notes of the WGRZ-TV staffer who interviewed him off camera Wednesday morning.
Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk warned Hassan, 45, about the legal dangers of any effort on his part to try his case "in the media." He also severely limited the questions Hassan will be allowed to answer in any future pretrial media interviews to only the charges he faces and his defense plans.
Franczyk issued a judicial subpoena for the notes of WGRZ reporter Claudine Ewing who interviewed Hassan at the Erie County Holding Center but was barred from bringing in her camera crew with her. The judge ordered Ewing's notes to be turned over to him by this coming Friday. (Read More) Read More
'Battered Spouse' Defence Allowed in Beheading Trial
By Sandra Tan and Matt Gryta
September 4, 2010
Source: Buffalo News
After waiting 1 1/2 years for cable executive Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan to face murder charges in the stabbing and beheading of his wife, prosecutors suffered a blow Friday when a judge ruled that the defense can introduce evidence of "battered spouse syndrome."
Prosecutors said the decision by Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk forced them to seek a delay -- the third since the start of this year -- in the trial, now scheduled for Jan. 10, nearly two full years after Aasiya Zubair Hassan was killed.
Jury selection had been set to begin Wednesday.
"I don't want anyone to think for a moment that I am particularly happy with this," Franczyk said.
In response, District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said he was infuriated at being forced to seek another delay because of "psychiatric hide-and-seek" by the defense. (Read More) Read More
Hassan's Words to Police Ruled Admissible for Trial
By Patrick Lakamp
June 29, 2010
Source: Buffalo News
When Muzzammil S. "Mo" Hassan turned himself in to Orchard Park police about an hour after his wife was slain Feb. 12, 2009, he shook a police lieutenant's hand and appeared "calm, cool and collected" during their one-minute exchange.
"I want to tell you I just killed my wife, and I'm here to turn myself in," the 44-year-old Hassan told Lt. Joseph A. Buccilli in the police lobby.
The two sat on a bench, and Buccilli asked where she was.
Hassan replied she was in the office of the Muslim-oriented Bridges cable television station they co-founded.
When Buccilli asked whether he was sure she was dead, Hassan used a downward hand gesture and said,
"She's gone; there's no doubt about it."
At the time, Hassan's children were outside the police building in a van.
Police charged him soon after with killing and beheading his estranged wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37.(Read More) Read More
Aasiya Zubair Hassan's Tortured, Manipulated Life
By Sandra Tan
March 30, 2010
Source: Buffalo News
When Aasiya Zubair Hassan was finally ready to leave her husband, she prepared herself.
She gathered copies of her police reports, photos of her beaten face, images of her ransacked
house, scripts her husband made her memorize.
Then she painstakingly chronicled her years of torment in a 21-page court statement that
painted her husband as not just a batterer, but a cruel, manipulative monster.
She detailed how he deprived her of sleep to "improve her personality," made her sign memos
authorizing him to punish her if she talked with the police and Child Protective Services, and
threatened her with the loss of her children whenever she tried to break free. (Read More) Read More
Orchard Park Businessman Charged in Beheading of Wife
By Fred O. Williams and Gene Warner
Updated: February 14, 2009, 7:41 AM
Source: Buffalo News
Friends expressed shock on Friday that the founder of a Muslim TV channel — which he launched in order to counter violent images of Muslims — has been arrested in his wife’s brutal slaying.
Detectives have charged Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder after his wife was found beheaded Thursday at the offices of the cable channel, Bridges TV, in the Village of Orchard Park.
The victim was identified as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37.
Police said they continued to search for the murder weapon on Friday and refused to discuss further details of the killing.
"I am totally stunned," said Samira Khatib, a friend of the couple, who lives in Hamburg. “They were really more than married — they encouraged each other in everything.” (Read More)Read More