The Ellicott City man convicted of choking his wife, who is now in a vegetative state, demanded he represent himself in an emotional post-conviction hearing.
“I have committed a terrible crime. I killed my wife,” Ghafour Asemani yelled as he thrashed about and began crying Thursday in Howard County Circuit Court.
His emotional showcase prompted the victim?s sister Sohelia Salmassi to yell back at him.
“You killed my sister,” she said repeatedly before being escorted from the courtroom.
The hearing eventually was postponed after Howard Circuit Court Judge Louis Becker learned Asemani had not taken several medications critical to his mental health the previous night.
“I am concerned about how anxious he appears today … when he is extremely anxious, he?s also extremely impulsive … which could affect his ability to represent himself,” said Sydney Brooks, a forensic psychologist who treated Asemani in October 2006 at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center.
Asemani was admitted to the center after attempting suicide three times in the Howard County Detention Center.
But Asemani was adamant that he represent himself in arguing ineffective counsel during his original trial and three-judge panel review.
“I would love to have a competent member of the Maryland State Bar to assist me … I simply don?t feel comfortable putting my fate into Ms. [Olga] Brand?s hands or any other public defender?s,” Asemani said.
“It?s nothing personal,” he told Brand, the public defender who, through a clerical error, was assigned to Asemani?s case even though he had declined representation.
Asemani cannot afford a private attorney and has not found someone to represent him pro bono.
“I have no choice but to do it alone,” he said.
Asemani was sentenced in October 2006 to 30 years for attempted second-degree murder, but argued his attorney Sam Truette did not pursue his request for a mental illness defense.
But Becker told Asemani that many of his motions for the post-conviction hearing were appellate issues and only issues regarding his defense attorney?s strategies would be considered. He suggested Asemani retain a lawyer.
“It?s like trying to do brain surgery after reading a book. You?re not prepared,” Becker said.
The post-conviction hearing is set for Nov. 21.
