Nebraska.TV (abc)
Friday, November 09, 2012
By Steve White
KHGI-TV/KWNB-TV/KHGI-CD-Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings
Refugees escaping civil war half a world from here face off in a Grand Island courtroom, where a Sudanese man stands trial for the death of a Somali man.
Arkanjelo Kot was shot in the foot and his cousin was murdered in 2009 by Somali gang members.
A year later, Kot was the one prosecutors say fired a deadly shot. And Thursday, they rested their case.
Kot, 35, is on trial for premeditated murder. He's accused of killing a Somali man he argued with outside a Grand Island convenience store two years ago.
Walid Omar Aden was sitting in a van when a shot pierced his hip and tearing through his internal organs. The injuries caused massive internal bleeding, according to doctors who testified.
The state wrapped its case Thursday with a ballistics expert from the state crime lab. Hal County Attorney Mark Young then called police to the stand, as "clean-up" witnesses.
The trial has progressed more quickly than expected, with just two and a half days of testimony by the state when they had anticipated the trial would last up to ten days.
The defense was not prepared to call witnesses, so their testimony will begin Friday.
Defense Attorney Clarence Mock is trying to make the case that his client acted in self–defense.
Mock said that's because Kot testified in another murder case he feared he was going to be killed.
Two men were convicted in the earlier murder. Mock said Kot thought he had been targeted for "snitching" on the men from the earlier shooting.