DETROIT – The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office was not able to appear for Tuesday's jury selection in the murder case against Fadi Hassan Faraj.
Faraj, 35, is accused of killing 23-year-old Hassan Zeidan at a Dearborn basketball court in July. Witnesses said Faraj shot Zeidan after he punched Faraj because of an altercation during a basketball game.
Faraj faces first-degree murder and felony firearm charges. The trial already was delayed from its original Dec. 5 starting date.
On Tuesday, when jury selection was supposed to take place, the prosecutor showed up late to the courtroom and the judge decided to dismiss the case.
The murder charge against Faraj already has been re-filed by the Prosecutor's Office, but that doesn't mean Zeidan's family is not severely frustrated.
"We waited for them two months from Dec. 5, when the trial was supposed to be, we waited for them and we didn't say a word," said Mariam Zeidan, the victim's mother. "And today, because our prosecutor was late like one hour or one hour and a half, she couldn't come, (the judge) dismissed the whole thing."
The prosecutor handling the case was in another courtroom in front of a judge and asked the judge for an adjournment. Judge Carole Youngblood denied that request and said that another prosecutor could pick the jury in Faraj's case. When the prosecutor refused, the judge dismissed the case.
"And that judge is like punishing us because our prosecutor was late one hour," said Mariam Zeidan. "Our prosecutor was not having a good time somewhere. She was not having lunch. She was doing another job in the same building. I mean, you know, what is this?"
The Prosecutor's Office said prosecutors are not interchangeable parts and that the prosecutor who has been working the case for months needs to select the jury.
Both parties decided it was best for the court to dismiss the case so the proper prosecutor could be involved in jury selection.
Faraj is being held at the Wayne County Jail.
-- Fadi Hassan Faraj
-- Hassan Zeidan