'It still haunts me': Man convicted in mistaken identity murder seeks parole

SALT LAKE CITY — During his murder trial 17 years ago, Mohamed Daffalla Kabor was described as "arrogant" and someone who maintained his innocence throughout the process.

Tuesday, at his first parole hearing, Kabor, now 36, was humble and apologetic and took full responsibility for the shooting death of 17-year-old Luis A. Trujillo in a case of mistaken identity.

Kabor has been an exemplary inmate since arriving at the Utah State Prison, so much so that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole agreed to hold his first parole hearing earlier than what was originally scheduled.

But Trujillo's family, who also attended Tuesday's hearing, says the pain they've suffered since losing their loved one has never gone away. They are hoping Kabor spends the rest of his life in prison.

Three shots

Prior to the fatal shooting on June 24, 2007, Kabor and his family had immigrated from Sudan, Africa, to Utah. Kabor told the board on Tuesday that by the summer of that year, he was just out of high school and was "lost."

"Life for me at that point was … just a lost teenager trying to find a place where he belongs," he said. "I didn't know where I belonged," while adding that he lacked self-esteem.

About three months prior to the shooting, Kabor met Samuel Paul Krokaugger. On the night of the killing, Kabor, Krokaugger and others were hanging out at an apartment and decided to go to a club.

Kabor recalled that he was sitting in the back seat and "not even paying attention" when Krokaugger suddenly made a U-turn and started following another vehicle onto I-15 near 2100 South. According to prosecutors, Krokaugger thought he saw someone in the other vehicle with whom he had a problem.

"Someone put a gun in my lap," Kabor emotionally recalled Tuesday. "I fired three shots, and it's the first time I'd fired a gun.

"My intention was never to hurt anybody," he said, claiming the intention was simply to scare the person in the other vehicle.

Trujillo — who police say was not the person Krokaugger thought he was — was killed. Kabor and Krokaugger then drove off. It wasn't until a few weeks later that police caught up with Kabor that he learned Trujillo had died. But even then, Kabor says he was in denial.

"For the longest time, I was in denial of that truth. 'There's no way. This is a joke. We're kids. My actions did not lead to someone dying,'" he told himself, which he says accounted for his attitude during his trial.

Kabor was convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to at least 15 years and up to life in the Utah State Prison. His original parole hearing was scheduled for 2028. But the board recently agreed to give Kabor an earlier hearing "based on Mr. Kabor's excellent institutional conduct over an extended period of time, programming, and education completion, risk assessment, employment history, and completion of the modified monitored program."

'I haven't been happy since the day this happened'

When asked on Tuesday how he has been able to maintain such a good record while incarcerated, Kabor told the board it was initially for his family, and later for himself.

He said after being sent to prison, he made a promise to his mother "to never put myself in a situation you'll have to worry about me." But Kabor says he also learned through classes at the prison about how his actions affect others, regardless of how small or severe the crime.

"My actions lowered my community. I made entire people feel like they can't be safe," he said while also noting that he now tries to put himself in other people's shoes.

"Over time, to be honest, it's something that I wanted; there's nothing more to it than that," Kabor added on how he became a better person.

But a tearful Guillermina Rodriguez, Trujillo's mother, told the board Tuesday that at least Kabor's mother gets to talk to her son.

"The pain he has caused me and he caused my son, when he didn't even know my son," she said through a Spanish interpreter. "That's the suffering I have to go through daily. ... It's been 18 years and the pain is still here. It is still here. That's why I ask for justice."

Rodriguez says she doesn't understand why Kabor would shoot into a vehicle with someone inside, whom he didn't even know.

"I know he will be judged by God, but at least he can talk to his mother," she said. "This pain is never going to go away.

"I haven't been happy since the day this happened."

Christian Rodriguez, Trujillo's brother, also pleaded with the board Tuesday to keep Kabor in prison, saying his murder conviction "was a promise … that justice would stand firm."

He said no matter how many classes Kabor has successfully completed while in prison, Trujillo doesn't get to have a second chance, so neither should Kabor. Kabor's actions were "not a mistake" but "a deliberate act that shattered lives," he said.

In his response to their comments, Kabor said he completely agrees.

"They're justified in how they feel ... because I'm the person who took away their son," he said. "I can't tell you how many times I've woken up in a cold sweat because of what I did.

"I do have remorse. … It still haunts me."

But Kabor added that he's no longer "that careless kid who couldn't think about any possible outcome other than what was happening at that very moment. ... I'm not that person who committed those crimes," he said.

"It's not who I am. Everything I've done and everything I'll do moving forward … is to redeem myself and to make my society and my community feel safe."

The full five-member board will now vote whether to grant parole.

Kabor's co-defendant, Krokaugger, is not scheduled to have a parole hearing until 2042. He was convicted of a series of violent crimes, including the shooting death of Aaron Wheelwright, 20, on June 29, 2007 — five days after Trujillo was killed — and also shooting a woman in the head who threw water balloons at him from a car. The woman survived.

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