Jury finds New York TV executive guilty of murder for wife’s beheading

(CNN) — After a three-week trial and one hour of deliberations, an upstate New York jury on Monday found Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan guilty of second-degree murder for beheading his wife.

In February 2009, Hassan, who founded a TV network aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes, went to a police station in the Buffalo, New York, suburb of Orchard Park and told officers his wife was dead, police have said.

Aasiya Hassan had been decapitated, with prosecutor Paul Bonanno saying during opening arguments that the long knife used by her husband had left marks on his office’s tile floor.
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According to prosecutors, Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce less than a week before she died.
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During the trial, Michael and Sonia Hassan testified that their father had become violent in the past, CNN affiliate WIVB in Buffalo reported.

While both said the couple argued, neither recalled a case in which Aasiya — their stepmother — instigated a fight.

Police earlier said they had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple’s home, but no one had ever been arrested.

Hassan was the chief executive officer of the network Bridges TV, and Aasiya Hassan was the general manager.

He launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States, in 2004. At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
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