The trial of a suburban Chicago landlord accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in a 2023 attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son is set to start on Tuesday.
Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of Hanan Shaheen on October 14, 2023.
Authorities said the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and in response to Israel's war on Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Opening statements start on Tuesday morning in a trial that is expected to last about a week.
Czuba has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges.
His defence attorney, George Lenard, declined to comment before the end of the trial.
The attack on the family in Plainfield, nearly 65 kilometres southwest of Chicago, has renewed fears of anti-Muslim racism in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community.
“We firmly pray and hope that Mr. Czuba will be locked up for the rest of his life, so we can send a message that hate crimes against anyone on the basis of their religion and national origin are not tolerated,” Joe Milburn, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told reporters on Monday ahead of jury selection.
Stabbed 26 times
Prosecutors allege Czuba became increasingly paranoid about the war because of listening to commentary on conservative talk radio.
Shaheen told police that Czuba was upset over the war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”
The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was stabbed 26 times.
Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.
The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behaviour.”
Czuba remained detained with prosecutors arguing that Czuba was a danger to Shaheen and others.
Hundreds attended the boy’s janazah, or funeral service, where the boy was remembered as kind and into sports and Legos.
Separately, the father of the boy, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live at the home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
