Lawyers wrap up Shareef case

Rita Cox, a lawyer for the prosecution, is expected to begin closing arguments this morning in the Abdullah El-Amin Shareef capital murder trial in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Evidence for the defense and state was completed Wednesday.

Shareef, when asked by Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons, voluntarily declined the opportunity to testify on his own behalf.

The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. today in Room 4A of the Cumberland County Courthouse. The case could be in the jury's hands by this afternoon.

Shareef, 31, is accused of stealing two vehicles and running down five people in Cumberland and Harnett counties on April 14, 2004. One of the victims, Lonel Bearl Bass of Linden, was killed.

Shareef has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of murder and attempted murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Doctors have said Shareef suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He was twice found incompetent to stand trial, according to court records. The medication that he is on has made him competent.

The defense built its case in the monthlong trial on the premise that Shareef's criminal actions were caused by mental disease and not a defective character. The defense argued that he lacked the mental capacity to understand the criminality of his conduct.

The prosecution countered, suggesting that Shareef suffered from accelerated substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. The stress, according to court testimony, snowballed from a combination of family financial problems - his father's heart attack in December 2003 and a fire at the Shareef homestead in Raeford on Dec. 14, 2003.

His mother, Pauline Shareef, died less than a month after the house fire. Her death was caused by smoke inhalation from the fire, which had been started by Shareef, according to testimony.

Ammons denied a motion by the defense to dismiss all charges against Shareef, specifically charges related to Robert Fortier. Defense lawyer David Smith argued there was no substantial evidence of contact between Shareef and Robert Fortier on that April morning six years ago.

Shareef is charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill Fortier.

"We're taking a great leap of faith here that (the stolen city of Fayetteville) van came into the yard and hit Mr. Fortier," Smith said.

It was the second time in two days that Ammons dismissed the motion by the defense.

On Wednesday, Ammons said if the charges pertaining to Fortier stood alone, he would be inclined to accept the motion.

Assistant District Attorney Cal Colyer argued that "the series of events" that took place during the two-hour road rampage were, by circumstance, linked.

"Circumstantially," Colyer said, "that chain of events includes Mr. Fortier, even if he did not testify."

In Cumberland County, Shareef is accused of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder and several other charges related to assaults and the theft of two vehicles. An additional charge of attempted first-degree murder is pending in Harnett County.

Late Wednesday afternoon, lawyers on both sides debated the language of the charges on the verdict sheets that the 15 jurors will receive before deliberations begin.

"I told you this would take awhile," Ammons quipped at one point.

During the morning, Dajuana Amerson concluded testimony in the case after being called by the prosecution.

Amerson, Shareef's case manager at the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter, said his behavior appeared to change after he spent three days with his family the weekend before the incident.

Because he was homeless, Shareef applied for a bed in the shelter on April 5, 2004. After he was accepted, Shareef lived at the facility on Alexander Street until the day of the road rampage.

Shareef violated shelter rules when he left the shelter without permission to spend April 9 through 11 with his wife and three sons. After his return, Amerson said three shelter employees told her that his behavior was different.

Early on in his stay, she described him in court as well-mannered, nicely dressed and relatively sociable. After the family visit, , she testified, he seemed distant and not responsible.

The prosecution seemed to be implying that Shareef may have been doing drugs while absent from the shelter.

Amerson said he was acting unusual on the morning of the incident, running back and forth from the shelter's main entrance after he was required to leave the premises at 7 in the morning.

All residents of the shelter, according to testimony, are required to leave by 7 a.m., before they are allowed to return for lunch and dinner before the 9 p.m. curfew.

When defense lawyer David Smith asked Amerson to characterize Shareef's change in behavior as slight, moderate or great, she said:

"I would say slight, because there was not enough interaction with Mr. Shareef."