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SALT LAKE CITY — A judge is considering whether to keep the case of Abdullahi "Abdi" Mohamed in juvenile court or transfer it to the adult system.
Mohamed was shot as a teenager by police last year, leaving his legs paralyzed, when he allegedly advanced on a man while armed with an aluminum broom handle and ignoring officers' orders to stop.
Now 19, Mohamed is charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and drug possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony.
While prosecutors have sought to transfer the case to district court, where Mohamed would face the charges as an adult, his attorneys began arguing Monday to retain him in the juvenile system, where he could potentially receive treatment until he turns 21.
The retention hearing for Mohamed, scheduled to conclude Wednesday, has been extended to Friday, when attorneys will make closing arguments.
Third District Juvenile Judge Julie Lund said she will use the extra time to consider testimony presented so far, and will issue a decision at Friday's hearing.
According to prosecutors, Mohamed, a Somali refugee, was attempting to sell drugs to a man near the homeless shelter on Feb. 27, 2016, and take the $1.10 the man was carrying. When the man resisted, Mohamed is accused of hitting him with a 3-foot aluminum broom handle, then disregarding police commands to drop the weapon.
Salt Lake police officers Kory Checketts and Jordan Winegar shot Mohamed four times as he advanced on the man. The officers said they believed Mohamed was about to use the metal broom handle to hit the man again when they fired.
The shooting, which left Mohamed in a coma for weeks, was found to be legally justified in August.
Rioting broke out on Rio Grande Street in the aftermath of the shooting, followed by small, sporadic protests over the past year decrying the police department's use of force, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill's decision not to release the officers' body camera footage and his decision to charge Mohamed in the incident.
Testimony from witnesses Wednesday was closed to present private psychological information about Mohamed and details about his personal history, as his attorney, Lacey Singleton, said the defense sought to present "a whole picture of Abdi, not just about his criminal charge, but sort of his life as a whole and him as a person."
Singleton and the rest of Mohamed's legal team maintain that the case is best suited for juvenile court and that the option to transfer cases to the adult system under the Serious Youth Offender Act is reserved for "the worst of the worst."
"I think that it is clearly apparent that Abdi should not go to the adult system. It would be a travesty of justice to send him up there. He is much better served in the juvenile system," Singleton said. "There's no significant injury involved, there's no gun involved. In the grand scheme of aggravated robbery charges, this one is not, in our opinion, the worst of the worst."
The state did not call any rebuttal witnesses during the retention hearing. Prosecutor Mike Colby said following the hearing that he believes Mohamed's attorneys have not met the burden of proof required to keep the case in juvenile court.
