BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ahmad Fawzi Issa spent the days after the deaths of an East Westwood grocer and his brother shoring up his alibi, witnesses said. His suspected accomplice was talking to friends and police.
Mr. Issa, 28, is on trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, charged with aggravated murder. He faces the death sentence if convicted.
He is accused of arranging the death of his boss, Maher Khrais, 35, who was gunned down outside his market, Save Way II, and his boss'brother, Ziad Khreis, 49, on Nov. 22.
On Tuesday, witnesses told jurors how Mr. Issa had asked them what they had told police after the deaths.
Mr. Issa suggested to one co-worker that he say they had spent the night of the shootings at a bar. But the worker, Souhail Gammoh, testified that he and Mr. Issa did go drinking, but only after a half-hour span during which he didn't know where Mr. Issa was. It was in that time that Mr. Khreis' and Mr. Khrais' bodies were found.
Dwayne Howard, whom Mr. Issa had showed an assault rifle before the shootings, testified that Mr. Issa cautioned him about telling police about the gun. Prosecutors say it was the rifle Mr. Issa gave Andre Miles, whom they say he hired to kill Mr. Khrais.
Prosectors have said Mr. Khrais' widow, Linda Khriss, asked Mr. Issa to set up the killing, but a jury acquitted Mrs. Khriss in May.
At a hearing Tuesday with the jury out of the courtroom, Cincinnati police Spc. David Feldhaus said Mr. Miles told friends about the shootings and gave a taped statement to police. The hearing, about whether to allow that statement to be played before the jury, continues this morning.
Mr. Miles, of Winton Place, faces trial on aggravated-murder charges.
