Holt woman gets life in prison without parole in conspiracy that led to husband's murder
LANSING – Zahraa Al-Yasari said she waited patiently for the legal system to deliver justice after her brother, Ammar Al-Yasari, was bludgeoned to death in his Holt home in February 2019.
She got the justice she was hoping for. But minutes before Ammar's wife, B'dour Al-Yasari, was sentenced in his killing, Zahraa still had one unanswered question.
"Why?" the woman said, speaking to her former sister-in-law in an Ingham County courtroom on Monday afternoon. "Why kill Ammar? ... Did you really think you'd get away with what you did?"
B'dour Al-Yasari, 31, received mandatory life without possibility of parole for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. A jury in April found her guilty on both counts following a trial spanning nearly three weeks.
Prosecutors said B'dour Al-Yasari conspired with her boyfriend, Jacob Ficher, to murder her husband. On Feb. 4, 2019, Ficher lay in wait for Ammar Al-Yasari inside the married couple's home, then struck him more than two dozen times with a hatchet-like weapon.
Ficher had been romantically involved with B'dour for years, and the couple planned to move to California and get married, according to testimony.
Ficher admitted killing Ammar Al-Yasari and is serving mandatory life in prison without parole.
B'dour Al-Yasari manipulated Ficher into killing her husband, fueling Ficher's hatred with claims that her husband was abusing her, Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Nicole Matusko said during Monday's sentencing hearing. In fact, there was no credible evidence of domestic abuse, she said.
Months earlier, Ammar offered to give his wife a divorce, but like every other time that had happened during their struggling marriage, she begged him not to leave her, Matusko said.
"She chose to be a cold-hearted murderer," the prosecutor said.
Matusko described Ammar as "a man with a heart of gold." A friend of Ammar's, Mary Gebbia-Portice, gave a similar description in her victim statement.
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"You took the ultimate advantage of him and his kindness," she said, directing her comments to B'dour Al-Yasari. "I learned that evil really does exist in this world, and that you are its manifestation."
The Al-Yasaris had two young children who are now living with a relative.
Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk, who had no discretion in setting B'dour Al-Yasari's sentences, appeared to fight back tears while placing them on the record.
"Justice is finally being done for Ammar ... a man whose blood will forever be on your hands," she said.
B'dour Al-Yasari did not address Draganchuk on Monday.
Zahraa Al-Yasari said she sat through nearly three weeks of trial without hearing "any logical reason" for B'dour Al-Yasari to kill Ammar.
"You got what you deserve, B'dour.," she said. "Game's over. You're done."
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: B'dour Al-Yasari of Holt gets life sentence in murder of her husband
