Tag: arlington homicide

Just after he killed his wife in Arlington, Tareq Alkayyali predicted in a telephone call to a colleague that he would be going to prison for the rest of his life.

Although he did not receive that bleak sentence, Alkayyali will at minimum be confined for about a decade longer than if had he not appealed his murder conviction.

In a retrial compelled by the defendant’s successful appeal connected to a judge’s flawed jury instruction, a state district court jury in Tarrant County on Friday imposed a prison term 17 years longer than did the jury in his first trial.

Alkayyali, an IHOP restaurant manager, was again found guilty of murder in the May 2019 killing of his new wife, Wasam Moussa, whose screaming mouth he covered with his hand inside their apartment.

The jury that heard the case this week in the 396th District Court assessed Alkayyali’s punishment at 40 years in prison. Alkayyali, who is 43, will become eligible for parole once he serves 20 years.

The jury’s verdict in the first trial in December 2021 carried a 23-year prison sentence. A retrial jury is not told that an earlier trial occurred.

Both panels were directed to consider a term of five to 99 years, or life. Both juries rejected a defense argument that Alkayyali was under the influence of sudden passion, and would have considered a term of two to 20 years if they were persuaded by the argument.

Alkayyali moved to Texas in 2009 and frequently traveled to and from Jordan, according to the case background in a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals opinion.

In April 2017, Alkayyali met Moussa in Jordan. His uncle is married to Moussa’s sister. In November of that year, Alkayyali and Moussa were engaged and in August 2018, they married. Both the engagement and wedding took place in Jordan.

Within 24 hours of the wedding, Moussa told Alkayyali and her relatives that she wanted a divorce, according to the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. She did not provide an explanation.

Alkayyali returned to Texas. Moussa continued living in Jordan until May 25, 2019, when she took a flight to Texas to live with Alkayyali.

Three days later, at 6:29 a.m., Alkayyali called Vernie Smith, his friend and coworker, while he was driving to work, Smith testified this week during the retrial at which Judge Vincent Giardino presided.

“He was crying, and he said he made a mistake, and he had hit his wife,” Smith testified.

Alkayyali told Smith that he covered Moussa’s mouth “to keep her from screaming,” Smith testified.

Moussa stopped breathing.

Smith told Alkayyali to call 911. Alkayyali returned to the apartment in the 2500 block of Park Village Drive and called 911. Smith also called 911.

Arlington Police Department officers found Moussa unresponsive on the floor, according to the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office pathologists concluded that asphyxiation caused Moussa’s death.

Allenna Bangs, a deputy chief in the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office’s criminal division, and Assistant District Attorney Madeline Jones represented the state in both trials. Defense attorney Kobby Warren represented Alkayyali in the retrial.

In the first trial Alkayyali’s defense attorney, Shawn Paschall, argued the theory that Moussa’s death was an accident and that she died due to a pre-existing heart condition.

Alkayyali testified that there was tension between himself and Moussa as soon as she arrived in Texas.

The retrial instructions to the jury indicate that Alkayyali also testified at the retrial.

The appellate court in Austin reversed Judge George Gallagher, who presided in the 396th District Court at the time of the first trial. It found egregious harm in an error in what is known as the jury instructions’ application paragraph, which repeated the language of the indictment prepared by the district attorney’s office.

Both omitted the element “that causes the death of an individual” from the second paragraph, according to the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion.

“So, while the first application paragraph required the jury to find every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt, the second application paragraph did not,” according to the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. ”Instead, the second paragraph informed the jury that it could nevertheless convict without determining whether [Alkayyali’s] actions caused the victim’s death.”

Paschall did not object to the jury instruction.