A Middle Eastern man living in Elkhart County has had his battery conviction overturned due to a prosecutor’s comments during trial.
59-year-old Moussa Dahab was convicted of battery with a deadly weapon last year. A jury found he beat another man in the head with a metal pipe during a workplace dispute in January 2015.
However, the Indiana Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction due to Elkhart County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Munro’s comments during the trial. The South Bend Tribune reports the court ruled her 17 references to ISIS stated to the jury were improper and would have caused unfair prejudice among jurors.
Munro told the jury that Dahab said “This is ISIS” after his attack because he thought he could intimidate the victim, who was an Iraq refugee. She also discussed his potential ISIS ties during her closing remarks.
Dahab was sentenced to one year of work release and two years of probation. He already has completed the work release program, according to court records.
