Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Robbery case goes to court
Christmas shooting to be decided
By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Toward the end of Christmas Day, prosecutors say, Altone Shaheed decided to get dressed up for the holiday.
They say the West End man put on black pants and gloves, a black shirt, a black hat and a mask that covered most of his face.
Then he slipped a .44-caliber pistol in his pocket.
Prosecutors told a jury Tuesday that Mr. Shaheed, 20, used that pistol less than an hour later and pointed it at the head of a grocery store clerk in the West End.
The clerk, Mabel Malcolm-Washington, was a mother of eight who died minutes after a bullet struck her in the neck. The robber got away with about $500.
“He did this,” assistant prosecutor Jerry Kunkel told jurors at Mr. Shaheed's murder trial. “The only question you'll have is how he could be so cold to shoot this woman for $500 on Christmas Day.”
But Mr. Shaheed's lawyer, Perry Ancona, said what happened that night is not as clear as prosecutors claim.
Mr. Ancona said the only evidence prosecutors have against Mr. Shaheed are statements from two friends who claim he confessed to them.
Mr. Ancona said one of those witnesses, a former girlfriend, accepted $1,000 in reward money. The other, he said, is a convicted felon.
“These are not credible people,” Mr. Ancona said.
He noted that no one was able to identify the gunman at the store and that Mr. Shaheed has consistently denied involvement.
He also said the owner of the store, Cornell Hope, had gunpowder residue on his hands, indicating he may have fired a gun within days of the robbery.
Prosecutors say Mr. Hope was hiding in a bathroom at the time of the robbery. They say all the evidence gathered by police points to Mr. Shaheed, who is facing a life sentence if convicted.
Mr. Kunkel said Mr. Shaheed was arrested about two weeks after the shooting when a police officer stopped him for jaywalking.
During the routine stop, Mr. Kunkel said, the officer found Mr. Shaheed was carrying a black hat, black mask and a .44-caliber handgun.
He said Mr. Shaheed had talked to a friend about robbing another store. He also was carrying a videotape of the movie Heat, which is about a series of violent robberies.
Mr. Kunkel said Mr. Shaheed had earlier told his girlfriend he robbed the store and shot Mrs. Washington because she “wasn't moving fast enough” to the cash register.
He said the defendant later admitted to a friend, “I got away with murder.”
The case is expected to resume today before Judge Mark Schweikert in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
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