Murder-for-Hire Suspect to Stand Trial for Wife's Murder

A man who allegedly hired another man to kill his wife in a La Mirada park in 1992 was ordered Friday to stand trial on a murder charge.

Superior Court Judge Raul A. Sahagun denied the defense’s request to dismiss the case against Morrad Ghonim, 43, who could potentially face a death sentence if convicted in connection with the killing of Victoria Ghonim.

Ghonim’s 17-year-old wife was shot July 23, 1992, while sitting in a car with her husband and infant son in La Mirada Creek Park.

Ghonim was arrested in May 2015 in Antigua and returned to the United States.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain, but prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

The woman’s killing remained unsolved until 2009 when DNA linked a man named Leon Martinez to the crime.

Martinez was arrested in October 2010 and convicted last March of first- degree murder. He later struck a deal with prosecutors and testified against Ghonim during the preliminary hearing.

Martinez testified that he was offered $10,000 to kill the woman, and was actually paid $5,000.

Martinez is expected to be sentenced to 28 years to life in prison in exchange for his testimony.

Ghonim was charged in his wife’s killing just over a month after Martinez was convicted.

During the preliminary hearing, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Howard Cooper testified that Ghonim told investigators that he was with his wife and infant son at the La Mirada park standing near a foot bridge when they heard catcalls coming from a group of people standing nearby.

Ghonim told the investigator his wife began shouting back at the group, then the family hustled back to their car, where his wife continued to shout at the group, Cooper said.

Ghonim told investigators that he was about to put the key in the car’s ignition when he heard gunshots, then quickly started the car, sped away and realized then that his wife had been shot, according to the sheriff’s sergeant.

Cooper said Ghonim claimed he never saw the actual shooter, but sped away trying to find a hospital after realizing his wife had been shot. He was soon pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer for running a red light, according to Cooper.

The CHP officer said Ghonim was sobbing, and the officer saw the woman in the vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the sheriff’s sergeant.

Ghonim is being held without bail while awaiting arraignment Feb. 16.

Outside court, one of his attorneys, Dmitry Gorin, told reporters, “At the end of the day, I think it’s a pretty thin case.”

--City News Service, photo courtesy of the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Department