The defense for the former University of Iowa student accused of trying to strangle a woman to death argued that prosecutors failed to prove intent to kill.
Ali Younes, 22, is awaiting a verdict on charges of attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree theft from an Iowa City alteraction in 2022 He waived his right to a trial by jury and opted to have the outcome of his case determined by a judge.
The three-day trial began on July 8 and included testimony from Anne Rizzo, the 63-year-old woman Younes allegedly tackled and strangled, two college students who came to her aid, Younes’ then-girlfriend, a former friend of Younes and local police officers.
Each side was offered “more than a month” to formulate written closing arguments by District Court Judge Kevin McKeever, The Gazette reported.
Prosecutors submitted their closing argument on July 30, suggesting that two college students saved Rizzo’s life. The defense focused on Younes’ interactions with police and testimonies about strangulation. The defense said prosecutors have not “irrefutably proven” Younes truly intended to kill Rizzo.
Defense says Younes ‘would not have realized the danger’ he put Rizzo in
Much of the defense’s argument relies on testimony from Katy Rasmussen, the Johnson County Sexual Assault Response Team coordinator.
Rasmussen said that strangulation around the jugular vein takes about 4.4 pounds of pressure to “occlude” or stop blood flow. She said the time was “surprisingly little,” according to the defense. She said it would take between 35 and 46 pounds of pressure to fracture the trachea. She said someone can be strangled unconscious in as little as 10 seconds.
The defense believes unintended injuries from strangulation are “not only possible, but common,” suggesting that Younes wasn’t trying to kill Rizzo.
“It is therefore reasonable that the defendant, himself less than 20 years old at the time, would not have realized the danger he was putting Ms. Rizzo in,” Younes’s attorney, Jeffrey Powell, wrote. “And realistically that he did not inten(d) to kill her.
It is reasonable that he may have been legitimately surprised at how quickly she passed out. That does not prove that the defendant acted with intent to kill.”
Younes ‘attempted to downplay’ role when he allegedly lied to police
The defense said Younes told police he “just got pissed” and thought Rizzo “had a lot of money” in a September 2024 interview. He admitted to attacking Rizzo and stealing her money, which was not refuted by the defense.
Younes also allegedly said he didn’t think Rizzo was “100% dead” and told police that he attempted to resuscitate her. Younes allegedly told police that he wondered to himself, “What have I just done?”
“Even if the defendant did wonder if he had accidentally killed Ms. Rizzo, the State’s burden would not be met,” Powell wrote in the closing argument.
In a rebuttal released on Thursday, Aug. 21, Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann-Smith said Younes’ statements from the 2024 interviews, which took place after he fled from the U.S. to Jordan and returned, “lack any credibility.”
“Those statements were made after (Younes) had an opportunity to review all of the evidence and strategize with his Defense attorneys who obviously had the same defense strategy as his current counsel,” prosecutors wrote. “(Younes) was merely parroting those strategies when officers interviewed him.”
Zimmermann-Smith argued that if Younes only wanted to steal from Rizzo’s purse, which contained about $1,000 in cash, credit cards and other personal items, he “would have stopped there” and he would have “run off with her purse which was on the ground, but he didn’t.”
“Instead, he sat on top of her, and strangled her while she pleaded for her life, and he kept doing it until she was unconscious…” Zimmermann-Smith wrote. “He thought she was dead, and that was the goal.”
Comment about murder, Mexico is ‘simply not evidence’
Younes allegedly told a friend in March 2022, a few weeks before the alleged attack, that he “wanted to kill someone and then run away to Mexico.”
The defense argues the comment was “utterly disconnected” from the Iowa City incident because Younes did not know Rizzo and did not go to Mexico. The statement is “simply not evidence,” Powell wrote.
Powell asked the court to find Younes not guilty of attempted murder, instead asking the court to find him guilty of first-degree theft and first-degree robbery.
In a rebuttal, prosecutors asked the judge to find Younes guilty of first-degree theft and attempted murder.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Younes’ defense claims prosecutors didn’t prove ex-UI student’s intent to kill woman
Reporting by Ryan Hansen, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
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