A jury found Alton Nolen, a.k.a. Jah’Keem Yisreal guilty Friday of beheading his co-worker. The Islamic convert is asking to be put to death for the crime.
An Oklahoma jury took just two hours to reject the defense’s plea of insanity and find Nolen guilty of murder and assault of his co-workers. Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn told local media that Nolen was not delusional but chose parts of radical Islam to rationalize his actions.
A worker at the plant who witnessed the massacre told news outlets that Nolen shouted Islamic phrases during the murderous rampage.
Nolan’s employer suspended him from work after an argument. He went home and drove back to the plant with a kitchen knife later that same day.
Breitbart Texas reported from the scene in Oklahoma soon after the gruesome knifing in September 2014. Breitbart Texas reported that Nolen apparently became a radicalized Muslim. Nolen attended the same mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, a man convicted in federal court of conspiring to kill U.S. citizens as part of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Nolen’s classmate told media outlets that a close family member reported that the company fired Nolen after he got into an argument at work. He allegedly told co-workers that women should be stoned for a certain offense. Traci Johnson also reportedly complained about him to Human Resources for saying something about not liking white people.
Nolen stabbed Johnson multiple times and would have probably beheaded her if an armed company owner who served as a reserve county deputy had not intervened.
A Moore Police Department spokesman, Sergeant Jeremy Lewis said that after conducting interviews with co-workers of Nolen’s, information was obtained that he recently started to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.
The murder and assault on September 25, 2014, occurred right after the release of an ISIS beheading video.
After covering the beheading in Oklahoma, Breitbart Texas’ Bob Price appeared on The Kelly File to discuss the conversation he had with Nolen’s mother, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
Price reminded Kelly’s audience that Nolen went to prison for beating an Oklahoma Trooper before he converted to Islam. Mrs. Nolen confirmed during her interview with Price that it was her son who was involved in the brutal attack.
Prosecutors are proceeding with the penalty phase of the trial next week and are asking for the death penalty.
The family of 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, the homicide victim, is also asking that Nolen receive the ultimate penalty. Nolen says he wants to be executed.
Nolen told criminal investigators when he was arrested, “You know all I was doing was … what I was supposed to do as a Muslim.” The audio was played to the jury during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial.
Breitbart News reported that the Islamic convert was apparently fascinated with beheadings. DA Mashburn told the Associated Press in 2014, “There was some sort of infatuation with beheadings. It seemed to be related to his interest in killing someone that way.” “Other than that, it seemed to be related to his being suspended earlier in the day.”
Nolen also posted images on his Facebook page that spring which seemed to justify beheading, reported Breitbart News. He posted an image of a partially decapitated man with someone standing over him pulling his head back to show the deep fatal wound. The Facebook post bears the quote, “Thus do we find the clear precedent that explains the peculiar penchant of Islamic terrorists to behead their victims: it is merely another precedent bestowed by their Prophet.”
Just below the photo is a citation from the Quran, “I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off of them.”
The image was taken from a 2008 PowerPoint presentation entitled “The Perfect Man,” intended to present a stark contrast between Mohammed and Jesus. The slide was just one of several which featured severed heads, reported Breitbart News.
On the same day that he made this post on his Facebook page under the name of Jah’Keem Yisrael, he also posted a black and white sign that said, “Islam will Dominate the World: Freedom can go to hell.”
After the beheading, the Obama White House sent a top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official to the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City to “present a special thank you to [Nolen’s] Muslim congregation” for its community service following a tornado, reported Breitbart News. The message from President Obama extended greetings during the Muslim holiday of Eid Ul-Adha which said, “Your service is a powerful example of the powerful roots of the Abrahamic faiths and how our communities can come together with shared peace with dignity and a sense of justice.”
Breitbart Texas reported in late October 2015 that a judge found Nolen competent to stand trial.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on GAB @lanashadwick and Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
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