Jury convicts woman in 2022 shooting death of boyfriend
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Kent County jury on Thursday rejected a woman’s claim of self-defense in the shooting death of her boyfriend, finding Sakina Muhammad guilty of first-degree murder.
The verdict Thursday afternoon capped a trial that got underway this week in Kent County Circuit Court.
“This was an extremely difficult case,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker wrote in a statement. “(Assistant prosecutors) Kim Richardson and Angela Curtis really did an outstanding job presenting this case to the jury.
“We are thankful the jury took a look at all of the evidence, carefully considered it, and came up with the verdict they did,” Becker wrote.
Muhammad was accused of killing 27-year-old Kwan Winston at an apartment building on Taft Avenue SW south of 28th Street in Wyoming in March 2022. Court records indicate Winston had been shot in the head.
Police investigated after Muhammad’s parents called 911, saying there had been a domestic dispute. Muhammad and her 11-month-old daughter were gone by the time police arrived, but she was found the next day and arrested.
After the arrest, her attorney said Muhammad had been “brutalized” for years and also spent time in shelters for abused victims.
Court records indicate that Winston had tried strangling her twice — once in March 2020 and again in January 2022.
In addition to a guilty verdict of first-degree murder, Muhammad, 23, was convicted on a felony firearm charge. She faces life in prison when she returns to court for sentencing.
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