{"id":34327,"date":"2022-07-31T13:47:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T13:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=34327"},"modified":"2022-07-31T13:47:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T13:47:25","slug":"former-csu-student-endures-effects-of-the-system-months-after-being-acquitted-of-attempted-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/31\/former-csu-student-endures-effects-of-the-system-months-after-being-acquitted-of-attempted-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Former CSU student endures effects of &#8220;the system&#8221; months after being acquitted of attempted murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Abdirahman Ahmed pulled out his handgun when a group of men knocked his younger brother to the ground during a brawl in downtown Fort Collins.<\/p>\n<p>Fearing for his brother\u2019s life, Ahmed pulled the trigger after they knocked his brother down again. The bullet struck one of the men from the other group in his back \u2014 he dropped to the ground, but survived the injury.<\/p>\n<p>Both groups scattered from the intersection in busy Old Town Fort Collins\u00a0and police arrested Ahmed, setting off a cascade of irrevocable consequences for the 22-year-old economics student.<\/p>\n<p>The Oct. 29, 2020, arrest and subsequent trial for attempted second-degree murder derailed Ahmed\u2019s life \u2014 even after he was acquitted of all criminal charges \u2014 and forced him to see the criminal justice system in a new and negative light. He felt he was treated differently as a Black man than the other people involved in the fight, some of whom used racist slurs as the case was investigated.<\/p>\n<p>Seven\u00a0months after he was found not guilty, he\u2019s still waiting for his life to return to normal and dealing with the consequences of actions a jury decided were not a crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never really thought about the system in any way,\u201d he said. \u201cNone of my family had ever been in trouble, so it was something completely new to me. You can watch TV shows and think you know something, but once you go into it, it\u2019s just something you\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Colorado State University officials kicked Ahmed out of school. Unable to work because of the arrest, he moved back into his parents\u2019 Commerce City home. Even after being found not guilty in December, his mugshot and stories by two news outlets remain top search results for his name. He\u2019s still waiting to seal the case and clear his record, which could be delayed for months while prosecutors appeal a decision the judge made at trial.<\/p>\n<p>Criminal trials that end in not guilty verdicts don\u2019t immediately result in a return to normalcy for the defendant, said Doug Richards, Ahmed\u2019s attorney and a former prosecutor. In the movies, everyone emerges from the courthouse, hugs and walks away while happy music plays, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in real life it doesn\u2019t end like that,\u201d Richards said. \u201cIt goes on for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Shooting in Old Town Fort Collins\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JYhbHVRVqAQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Self-defense?<\/h3>\n<p>Ahmed, who goes by the name Kyrie, legally bought his gun in 2020 after watching the protests of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. He felt unsafe as a Black man, especially after a confrontation with a group of people at a Fort Collins basketball court.<\/p>\n<p>At trial, Ahmed and his defense team argued that he was acting in defense of himself and his brother, who suffered a broken jaw and had to have his mouth wired shut.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed\u2019s attorneys, Richards and Madalia Maaliki, said Ahmed fired his gun at the ground and the bullet ricocheted and struck the victim in the back. Several eyewitnesses also said Ahmed either fired into the ground or the air, according to transcripts of trial testimony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought my brother was going to die,\u201d Ahmed said in an interview. \u201cI thought both of us were going to get seriously hurt or die that night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors and police handling the case saw it differently. The lead detective conceded at trial that one of the men in the other group started the fight without physical provocation, but prosecutors said Ahmed\u2019s decision to fire his gun was disproportionate to the threat.<\/p>\n<p>Police did not conduct ricochet analysis before the trial because investigators on the case believed video showed Ahmed fire while the gun was level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this case, he fired a handgun in the middle of Old Town Fort Collins on a fairly crowded evening and that is an incredibly dangerous action to take,\u201d Eighth Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said in an interview. \u201cWhether other people had started the fight or not, bringing a handgun to a fist fight and then firing that gun at someone is something that we\u2019re, of course, going to take incredibly seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed also said someone in the other group used a racist slur during the fight.<\/p>\n<p>The man whom investigators said started the fight testified at trial that he didn\u2019t remember using a racist slur that night, but said he did not have a problem generally saying the slur. He and another person in his group said it multiple times while being recorded at the police department the night of the fight, according to trial testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The use of racist language during the fight and in court concerned the judge on the case, who admonished the prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd (Deputy District Attorney Brent Kelly) gets up here and tells me that he \u2014 that this prosecution, this district attorney \u2014 is not condoning racism,\u201d Larimer County District Judge Juan Villasenor said in court, according to a transcript. \u201cWell, it sure feels like it. It sure feels like it when you are promoting a prosecution in which two of the main players, you know, were openly and plainly racist for no reason. For no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McLaughlin said he was offended by the use of that word by members of the other group, but said racist language did not excuse the decision to fire a gun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t get to choose our victims in a case,\u201d the district attorney said. \u201cNot every victim is a nun or a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>None of the other people involved in the fight faced criminal charges, which Ahmed felt was unfair. The lead detective on the case said at trial that he didn\u2019t charge the man who started the fight because he felt that the man had learned his lesson because his friend got shot.<\/p>\n<p>When the judge read the jury\u2019s verdict \u2014 not guilty on all counts \u2014 Ahmed broke down in sobs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally, it all kinda came out,\u201d he said. \u201cA weight was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5259831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Kyrie Ahmed, 24, pictured on June 7, 2022, is trying to move forward with his life after being acquitted of several felonies for a shooting in which he fired his gun to break up a group attacking Ahmed's younger brother.\" width=\"6000\" data-sizes=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TDP-L-kyrieahmed-20220607-jh-014.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Jintak Han, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>Abdirahman Ahmed, 24, pictured on June 7, 2022, is trying to move forward with his life after being acquitted of attempted murder for a shooting in which he fired his gun \u2014 striking one person \u2014 to break up a group fighting Ahmed\u2019s younger brother.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>The fallout<\/h3>\n<p>Eight months after the Dec. 13 verdict, Ahmed is still waiting for life to start again.<\/p>\n<p>He took a job with a family member\u2019s company answering phones and doing administrative tasks. He\u2019s tried applying for other jobs, like driving for UberEats, but the charges on his record always get in the way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he wants to get a job or continue his education, he has this thing on his record \u2014 attempted murder,\u201d Richards said. \u201cHe has to start every conversation with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed hopes to return to school and resume his dreams of working in finance.<\/p>\n<p>For Ahmed, it\u2019s been difficult watching his family struggle through the trial and the aftermath. His parents moved to Colorado from Somalia for him and his five younger siblings to have a better life.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\"\/>\n<p>When his mugshot was published in Fort Collins\u2019 newspaper, he felt like he had unwound their work. The image brought his family shame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was heartbreaking, seeing my face like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not me. That\u2019s not me at all. It makes me out to be this terrible person to anybody who just searches me up. It\u2019s not a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The image and the news stories about his arrest remain online, without any indication that he was found not guilty. Fort Collins police distributed a news release about his arrest, but neither police nor prosecutors sent a follow-up news release announcing the acquittal.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed\u2019s arrest record is still publicly available because the district attorney\u2019s office decided to appeal Villasenor\u2019s decision at trial to dismiss menacing counts against Ahmed. The case can\u2019t be sealed until that issue is resolved, Richards said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could be sitting here still next summer with no decision,\u201d Richards said. \u201cI don\u2019t understand how that\u2019s fair to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed\u2019s experience made him see the criminal legal system in a new light. He wants to help other people navigate the system, especially those who can\u2019t afford an attorney or bond. He knows his story could\u2019ve ended with a lengthy prison sentence instead, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of these social justice issues affected me before,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I think I have to do my part.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2022\/07\/31\/kyrie-abdirahman-ahmed-fort-collins-shooting\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Abdirahman Ahmed pulled out his handgun when a group of men knocked his younger&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34329,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34327\/revisions\/34329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}