Abdullah Hameen was executed by the State of Delaware for the murder of Troy Hodges
According to court documents Abdullah Hameen was on parole for murder when he would engage in a drug deal with Troy Hodges. When an argument would break out Abdullah Hameen would fatally shoot Troy Hodges
Abdullah Hameen would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Abdullah Hameen would be executed by lethal injection on May 25 2001
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Abdullah Hameen FAQ
When Was Abdullah Hameen Executed
Abdullah Hameen was executed on May 25 2001
Abdullah Hameen Case
Abdullah T. Hameen, a career criminal who killed 2 men before embracing Islam and preaching nonviolence while on death row, was executed early today. Hameen, born Cornelius Ferguson, received a lethal injection at Delaware Correctional Center just after 12 a.m. as punishment for the 1991 murder of Troy Hodges during a drug deal at a Claymont mall. Hameen, 37, was pronounced dead at 12:07 a.m. He was the 13th inmate executed by Delaware since the state resumed executions in 1992.
Hameen’s execution came after several appeals were filed Thursday by his attorneys and supporters seeking to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison. Those appeals were rejected by the state superior and supreme courts. Hameen and his supporters argued that society would have been better served by letting him spend the rest of his life in prison. They claimed Hameen had become a model inmate and mentor to other prisoners and at-risk youths. But prosecutors and some members of the state Board of Pardons were troubled by his long and violent criminal career, during which he killed 2 men and shot and seriously wounded 2 others. Some also doubted that his conversion from hardened criminal to peace-loving activist was genuine, noting prison writings in which he blasted the criminal justice system as racist and oppressive.
After 2 hearings and hours of deliberations over 4 days, the pardons board on Wednesday decided not to recommend that Gov. Ruth Ann Minner commute Hameen’s sentence to life in prison without parole. Board members concluded that Hameen had expressed true remorse for his crimes and had made genuine attempts at rehabilitating himself and others. But they did not find sufficient justification to overturn a jury’s unanimous recommendation that he be put to death. Late Thursday morning, Superior Court Judge Richard Gebelein, who followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Hameen to death in 1992, denied a defense motion asking him to reconsider. Also Thursday, Judge Gebelein and the state Supreme Court denied requests for a stay of execution filed by Hameen’s spiritual adviser, who claimed that Hameen’s religious rights were being violated. The Board of Pardons has never recommended clemency for a death row inmate but said Hameen’s argument could not be easily dismissed and there may come a day when a death penalty case merits a commutation.
Thursday afternoon, a handful of Hameen’s supporters held a protest rally outside Legislative Hall, vowing to hold the state responsible for his death. Also Thursday, Judge Gebelein denied a motion filed by the Wilmington- based North American Islamic Foundation to halt the execution. Ismaa’eel Hackett, director of the foundation and a spiritual adviser to Hameen, said Hameen’s religious rights were being violated. God states that a Muslim cannot be put to death for killing a disbeliever, Mr. Hackett said. Based on those premises, we have to say that Abdullah Hameen should not be put to death. Judge Gebelein ruled that the foundation had no standing to seek a stay of execution. Mr. Hackett filed a similar motion with the state Supreme Court, which affirmed Judge Gebelein’s denial.
Hameen becomes the 32nd condemned individual to be put to death this year in the USA, and the 715th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
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