Guilty plea ends attempted-murder trial
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 01:19 p.m., January 10, 2008
Updated 01:19 p.m., January 10, 2008
Abdi G. Abdi, 30, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder Wednesday morning in Lyon County District Court.
Abdi pleaded to the most serious of the three charges that had been filed against him: attempted second-degree murder or an alternative charge of aggravated battery with intent to do bodily harm; aggravated assault; and obstructing legal process.
Assistant Lyon County Attorney Rick Buck said that his office had agreed not to oppose that Abdi be sentenced for a Level 4, person felony, rather than the more serious Level 3, person felony sentence that accompanies a charge of attempted second-degree murder.
“We agreed to not oppose a durational departure,” Buck said. “Of course, that’s up to the judge.”
Abdi had been accused of stabbing Liban A. Ali, 24, multiple times during a public altercation Aug. 25 at an east-side Emporia apartment complex.
During testimony at the preliminary hearing in October, Ali testified that he had been talking with a couple at the top of the stairs near his apartment when Abdi approached with a beer bottle in his hand. Abdi pushed him and tried to squeeze him against a wall, then began speaking rudely to him in a Somali dialect.
As Ali attempted to go into his apartment, Abdi came from behind and stabbed him in the back, Ali testified.
The men scuffled, with Ali slugging Abdi in an attempt to get away. Ali said Abdi stabbed him several times during the course of the altercation, which moved from the second floor of the building, down the stairs to the ground below.
"He was keep coming at me. I fight back because I didn't want him stabbing me," Ali testified in October. "... I knew if I let him keep stabbing me I was going to die. I didn't want to die. ... He was saying in my language he was going to kill me."
Ali ran toward a stop sign and began to collapse. He testified that he was dizzy and having difficulty breathing.
"Actually, I didn't have enough strength to stand up. ... My left knee was on the ground," he said. Ali lost consciousness and did not come to until he was in the hospital.
Emporia police and witnesses to the altercation testified in support of Ali at the preliminary hearing. Abdi did not present any evidence, and was bound over for trial.
Jurors already had been called for the trial that was to have begun Thursday morning.
“They were downstairs waiting while we did this, so they got to go home,” Buck said.
jibberish66 (anonymous) says...
Emporia has really changed since I left town in 1992. It used to be "a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit there." Now it seems it's become the opposite. In fact, visiting depresses me as well any more.
January 10, 2008 at 6:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
the nine hundred block of east street is in the daily report so often, twice for fights in last nites paper, give it another ten years, and emporia will be a mess beyond reconition
January 11, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
what a lot of you folks don't remember is that the entire east side used to be a mess. now if it's down to a few blocks, applaud the men and women of the Emporia Police Department for doing their jobs.
I don't live too far from there and i have had no problems with my peace or my property for the last 11 yrs i've live in my house.
January 11, 2008 at 12:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
We used to call an area on the East side "Sin City" 30 years ago.The area around 9th to 11th on East ain't a place I want to live.I have in the past,though.Doesn't sound a whole lot different there today.Now I feel things are closin' in if I have a neighbor within 300 yards.But to be fair,I've seen some bad things in the making in about every area of town.I think it just comes down to a higher density of people.
January 11, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
i wasnt trying to single out that block, i lived on that block for a SHORT time and i couldnt hardly move fast enough, i took the first place i could move into. it s not the only place that has problems, but they do have more than they should
January 11, 2008 at 4:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )