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Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child\u2019s body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could not escape,\u201d Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state\u2019s attorney, told jurors at trial. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict.<\/p>\n
The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee\u2019s funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.<\/p>\n
Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds<\/span><\/a> and it took her weeks to recover.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room. Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me \u2018You, as a Muslim, must die,\u2019\u201d said Shaheen, who testified at trial in English and Arabic though a translator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n