Judge rejects dismissal request in Alsaid trial
Aug. 2—The fate of two men charged in the robbery and murder of a popular South End merchant could go to a Niagara County Court jury as soon as today.
Prosecutors have concluded their case against Jonathan McEnnis and William Coleman and defense attorneys for the men were believed to be questioning their final witness at the end of testimony on Friday afternoon.
Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin sometime this morning and then State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr., who is presiding over the trial, will charge the jury and their deliberations will start.
McEnnis, 36, of Keystone Avenue in Buffalo, and Coleman, 31, of Niagara Falls, are accused of robbing and gunning down Ahmad "Poppy" Alsaid, as he sat in his Bridgeway Market store at Memorial Parkway and Niagara Street at 7:24 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2018.
In addition to the Alsaid homicide and robbery, the jury of six men and six women will also weigh charges in two other violent robberies in the Falls that police and prosecutors have tied to McEnnis and Coleman.
As prosecutors wrapped up almost six days of testimony, in what had been expected to be a three- to four-week trial, attorneys for McEnnis and Coleman asked Kloch to dismiss all the charges against their clients.
McEnnis and Coleman are each facing two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the slaying of Alsaid. The pair are also accused of holding up a 7-Eleven on Buffalo Avenue in the Falls, at gunpoint, not long after the murder of Alsaid.
And, the two men, who were each on parole at the time of Alsaid's murder, after serving 10 years in prison on charges related to a violent robbery in Buffalo, are accused of the robbery of a Falls man on Ninth Street, 11 days before the Bridgeway Market homicide. In that case, prosecutors say, McEnnis and Coleman stole the man's wallet and then shot him in the hip.
Defense attorney Christopher Privateer, who represents McEnnis, told Kloch that despite security camera video showing Alsaid being shot and robbed and an analysis of cell phone call records and location data that appear to place the two men in the area where the three crimes occurred, nothing directly ties them to the crimes.
"There's absolutely no evidence, there's no proof my client did these things," Privateer told Kloch. "There's no evidence my client was there."
Defense attorneys for Coleman joined in that argument. But Kloch was unpersuaded.
"The testimony of the people's experts and exhibits, which are based on phone and (other) records. can be seen as a digital fingerprint which places (McEnnis and Coleman) at the scene of every crime," Kloch said. "I'm persuaded. But you know what, it's not up to me. The jury will decide."
Video clips, taken by cameras located both inside and outside of Alsaid's Bridgeway Market, show two suspects, wearing masks and with hoodies up over their heads, walking hurriedly down Memorial Parkway and then running in the front door of the store. Alsaid can be seen sitting behind a protective shield just inside the doorway and right next to a cash register.
Both suspects can be seen wildly waving black handguns, first in the air and then at the startled shopkeeper. One of the suspects can be seen darting behind the counter and confronting Alsaid.
Alsaid stands up and reaches toward the register.as the suspect approaches him. Prosecutors said they believe that when the robbery erupted, Alsaid grabbed a BB gun that family members said he kept under the cash register, pointing it at the suspect.
Though there was no sound recorded on the security camera video, the suspect can be seen stepping back from Alsaid, leveling his handgun and then, the popular store owner falls to the floor.
Alsaid was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, where he died from a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
