Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Ahmed Sharif-Mohamed Ali was sentenced to 15 years to life for murder.
- Ali was convicted of killing Modibo Diallo in 2015 during a fight.
- Ali's attorney cited his mental illness; the judge ordered consecutive sentences.
SALT LAKE CITY — Mohammed Diallo said his "entire world turned upside down" the day his brother was killed. It wasn't just a brother he lost that day; Diallo said his brother was also his closest friend.
The one thing he can do to make it better, Mohammed Diallo said during a sentencing hearing Thursday, is to go to each parole hearing for Ahmed Sharif-Mohamed Ali and encourage the parole board to keep the man who took his brother from him in prison.
"He denied my brother his future. My brother cannot make a family. … I want to make sure he (Ali) will stay there as long as he can," he said.
Modibo Diallo, 33, died on Feb. 22, 2015, after being shot twice. A police investigation found that he and Ali had gotten into a fight while at a gathering near 3300 South and 1500 East. Ali pulled out a gun and shot Diallo, who was unarmed, then walked up to him and fired a second shot, police said.
Ali fled the scene but was soon found in a garage about three blocks away and surrendered after a SWAT team surrounded him.
In January, Ali, now 39, was found guilty of murdering Modibo Diallo. Third District Judge Dianna Gibson on Thursday sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison for murder and five years to life for felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies. She ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
Mohammed Diallo walked out of the courtroom during the hearing as defense attorney Lacey Singleton talked about her client's life as a refugee who survived a Somalian civil war. Singleton said the killing was a tragedy for Ali, too, citing his 10 years of incarceration already since the death of Modibo Diallo and the future time he faces in prison.
She also said when Ali killed Modibo Diallo, he was suffering from hallucinations and delusions that he didn't know were not real — something he only received treatment for after he was incarcerated.
"Ahmed is not a cold-blooded killer," Singelton said. "He was a man with a serious and undiagnosed mental illness that he still deals with every day, but he is not a violent man."
She told the court that as she has represented Ali, she has learned he is kind and would not hurt someone while he had a clear mind. She asked the judge to close the case for felony discharge of a firearm — based on the 10 years he had already served — and sentence him only for the murder charge.
She said Ali is "deeply, deeply sorry" that Modibo Diallo died and believed that the case is a tragedy. Ali did not make a statement; his attorney said he wanted her to speak for him.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Vincent Meister, however, said he asked for the consecutive sentences because he believes Ali "knew what he was doing at the time" of the shooting. The prosecutor pointed out that Modibo Diallo was backing up and had his hands up, and Ali fired the gun anyway.
Meister said family and friends of Modibo Diallo are still victims, noting that friends who testified during the jury trial were teary-eyed and are still receiving counseling.
In the end, Gibson did not follow the sentencing requests of either attorney, noting that it was apparent that Ali's mental health was in question at the time, so she did not think consecutive sentences were appropriate. But she said the crime was serious enough that she didn't want to close one of the charges.
