Arapahoe District Judge Natalie Chase sent a man who killed another man for his marijuana plants to prison for life plus 84 years. The court’s sentence represents the maximum time allowed by law.
Zakaria Hussein Ali, 27, was found guilty Nov. 18, 2016, of robbing an Aurora man of his marijuana plants and leaving him to bleed to death in his home. He was sentenced Jan. 18.
The jury convicted him of first-degree murder after deliberation; first-degree felony murder; second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury; aggravated robbery; conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and being an accessory to a crime in the Oct. 13, 2012 death of Carlos Muse, 38.
Ali, who was on parole, traveled along with four codefendants to Colorado for the purpose of obtaining marijuana to sell in Minnesota. Ali, armed with a gun, threatened to shoot Muse if he did not provide the quantity of marijuana demanded. When Muse was unable to provide the marijuana, he was shot in the femoral artery, bound at his wrists and ankles and left to bleed to death on the floor of his home while the defendants pulled up the marijuana plants from the basement marijuana grow.
“This strong sentence sends a message not only that our communities must be kept safe, but also that we will fully prosecute crimes involving illegal commerce in marijuana,” said District Attorney George H. Brauchler.
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