Rochester man with lengthy criminal record gets 17 years for murder

By Jan Gregorson
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Thursday, January 28, 2010

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For the second time this month, a mother was back in court Wednesday, facing one of the men who killed her son.

This time, Renee Walz also told an Olmsted District Court judge that the justice system bears part of the blame for her son's death.

Walz's son, Ryan Nissalke, 30, was shot at his northwest Rochester apartment on July 20. Muhidin Omar Abukar, 21, and Abdulkadir Ali Mohamud, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October, admitting they went to Nissalke's apartment to steal drugs or money and that he was shot during a confrontation.

Abukar was sentenced to 14 years in prison earlier this month. Mohamud was handed a 17-year prison sentence Wednesday. He must serve two-thirds of it, or 136 months, before he's eligible for supervised release.

Mother's words

During the sentencing hearing, Walz stood in front of Mohamud and spoke directly to him. She said she hopes he messes up in prison and has to serve the full term or that if he is released, he violates probation and is sent back.

"Your crime spree is done,'' she said, and noted his lengthy criminal history, which includes 17 convictions since March 2003. A dozen of those cases, she said, were for driving while impaired, possession of controlled substance and brawling. But there also were several felony convictions.

In 2005, Mohamud was given a three-year prison sentence for firing shots at people outside a northeast apartment complex during the winter of 2003. When he entered his plea, he said he fired the shots to frighten people.

A month before the murder, he was charged with second-degree assault with a weapon for rushing into the apartment of another man, pushing him against a wall and pulling out a handgun and putting it to his head.

He was given a concurrent 60-month prison term on that conviction Wednesday.

"I ask the court and the district attorney: Were there not enough convictions to prove that this is a violent, dangerous man?" Walz asked. "The police brought him to you lots of times after he's committed a violent crime. Had you acted, tried, convicted and jailed this man, Ryan would be alive today. I believe a piece of his death is on your shoulders."

Court records

Court records give a snapshot of the debate about how to deal with Mohamud. In January 2008, he was before Judge Joseph Chase for sentencing on 10 misdemeanor and felony offenses. Many had been committed while he was on supervised release. Nine occurred in a five-month period, and most involved alcohol or chemical dependency issues.

In that hearing, Mohamud pleaded for a chance at treatment and promised he would change. He wanted to see the birth of his second child and a chance to get out of the criminal system. He got that chance, but in August 2008, he was back in court for violating probation, accused of failing to follow rules, failing to complete chemical dependency treatment and failing to be law abiding. He was accused of six violations.

A native of Somalia, Mohamud came to the U.S. about 15 years ago.

When asked at that hearing by his attorney why he violated probation, he said he was lost.

"I've been drinking since I was 12 years old. I've been using since I was 12 years old. I knew what the police, the system, the court, the judge, the jail was all about. I never knew nothing else. And since I was 12 years old, that's when I started just messing up with other people,'' he said.

But he also said he wanted to be sober.

"I want to be sober. I told myself a hundred times I'm going to be sober. But guess what? I'm not sober. I want to be happy. I want to be able to breathe. I want to be able, like, there's kids my age out there, they have ... they have bank accounts. They have lives. I need help. I need help."

The prosecutor at that hearing said he didn't know what to recommend. Senior Assistant Olmsted County Attorney Jim Spencer said people in the justice system understand better than most the difficulties of addiction.

"When he (Mohamud) drinks, he is a really mean, nasty guy. And he doesn't stop drinking." Spencer said the system could keep taking a risk on Mohamud and spend more time and effort on him but that there was no assurance anything had changed.

Defense attorney Bill Wright argued for another chance for Mohamud, saying there were unresolved personal issues.

"His addictions, his lack of self worth, his inability to find a job, his inability to parent. You know, those things are tough on normal young men, but here's a young man from Somalia that probably experienced civil war in his life and now is dislocated as an American citizen because of his life experiences. I think we really owe it to him to give him another chance at treatment." Wright said Mohamud's behavior was not justifiable but understandable.

Chase, the judge, said he couldn't take another chance and could not replace good judgment with pure hope. He executed a 17-month prison term. By then, Mohamud had already served all but a couple weeks of the time and was released on Sept. 15, 2008.

Sentencing decision

At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Senior Assistant Olmsted County Attorney Ross Leuning acknowledged Mohamud's violent criminal background and his effect on the community.

"It's affected the reputation of the Somali community, too,'' Leuning told the court, "and those people close to Mohamud who fear retribution.

"His violent lifestyle has no place in our society except in prison."

Mohamud, when given a chance to talk, apologized. But Wieners questioned his sincerity. He also addressed Walz's concerns.

"The criminal justice system is imperfect at best,'' Wieners said. "It consists of people, and people are not perfect." He conceded there were times along the way when Mohamud's behavior might have been broken but wasn't.

Wieners referred to Walz's comment to Mohamud, that the defendant imagine what it would be like to see a close relative in a casket, to have it haunt him.

"He has no conscience whatsoever,'' the judge said, "and that makes me wonder if his apology is heartfelt. Time will tell."

In addition to the prison sentence, Mohamud will be jointly responsible for restitution of $6,080 for Nissalke's funeral expenses.

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