A 40-year-old security guard was acquitted Thursday in the fatal stabbing of a transient at an apartment complex in Stanton two and a half years ago.
Amro Mahmoud Abdelfattah Shahin was acquitted of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
Co-defendant Mustafa Mohamedat Mohamed, 40, is a fugitive in Egypt who is charged with a felony count of voluntary manslaughter.
Shahin had been charged with the killing of 43-year-old Brandon Cook on Jan. 7, 2023.
Shahin and Mohamed worked as security guards at Park Place Apartments in the 7000 block of Katella Avenue where the deadly conflict took place.
The two worked for New Concept, the company that provided security at the building.
Shahin’s attorney, Faisal Dittu, argued Mohamed was the culprit and that his client was innocent.
“It was an honor to represent him,” Dittu said of his client. “I’m so happy for my client.”
Shahin, who has been in custody since the day of the killing, “was crying and hugging me and kissing me on the forehead” after the verdicts were read, Dittu said.
The defense relied on an expert on light defraction because some of the video evidence in the case was taken behind a window, so it affected what viewers could see in the conflict, Dittu said.
The defense also had its own pathologist testify about the cause of death, challenging a prosecution theory that a screwdriver was the deadly weapon. Dittu said both pathologists, including the one for the prosecution, agreed the wound was from a knife, and not a screwdriver.
Surveillance video from a nearby auto body shop also provided more context as it showed Mohamed and Cook struggling.
“My client doesn’t even get involved with the two other individuals until they’re in the street,” Dittu said.
Deputy District Attorney Kara Lisa Thompson said in a trial brief that Mohamed first saw Cook as he entered the property with his bike and asked him where he was going. Cook said he wanted to visit a friend, but Mohamed told him it was past visitor hours and he had to go, Thompson said.
Cook left the area, but Mohamed saw him again holding a screwdriver that he thought Cook was using to break into a car, Thompson said.
Cook and Mohamed got into an argument as Cook pocketed the screwdriver and then walked into the building and tried to get on an elevator, Thompson said. That led to a physical scuffle, Thompson said.
Mohamed said Cook “punched him a couple of times in the head” while Shahin watched, the prosecutor said.
As Mohamed attempted to usher Cook out the victim took a chain and lock around his neck and placed it on Mohamed’s neck and started to drag him out of the building, the prosecutor said.
When Mohamed freed himself of the chain the two got into another scuffle, pushing and shoving each other into the street, the prosecutor said.
As the two continued fighting over the chain, Shahin was accused of pushing Cook down and getting on him to hold him down, Thompson said.
The prosecutor accused Shahin of kicking away a knife that fell out of Cook’s pocket and using a screwdriver that also came out of the pocket to stab him. Mohamed was accused of using the lock from the chain to hit Cook in the head, Thompson alleged.