Man Who Killed Wife With Curling Bar Gets 29 Years Prison

JOLIET, IL — For more than seven years Bahaa Sam has lived inside Will County's jail after being charged with murdering his 38-year-old wife, Nermeen, in their front yard. He bludgeoned her to death with a weight-lifting bar as the couple's 4-year-old son watched. On Tuesday, Will County Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced the Tinley Park man to 29 years imprisonment for the Dec. 19, 2012 homicide.

In November 2018, a Will County jury found Sam guilty of first-degree murder. He killed his wife following an argument. Sam was represented by the downtown Joliet criminal defense firm of Charles Bretz & Associates. At his client's trial, Bretz argued that Sam should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, but the jury rejected that defense.

According to Will County prosecutors, Sam hit his wife repeatedly in their front yard with a curling bar, resulting in severe trauma to the back of her head. Then he moved the body under an evergreen tree. The body was discovered by someone who drove past the couple’s home.

The couple had four children and their 4-year-old son saw the murder unfold, according to Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow.

“It is truly impossible to comprehend the visceral violence of the savage bludgeoning of this defenseless mother of four,” Glasgow said in Tuesday's press release. “Sam’s ruthless beating of his wife as his innocent 4-year-old son witnessed the atrocity is irrefutable evidence of an abandoned and malignant heart. Prison cannot undo the horror this cold-blooded murderer perpetrated upon his family.”

On Tuesday, Bretz told Joliet Patch that Judge Bertani-Tomczak issued a very fair sentence for his client. Bretz said that several medical professionals determined that Sam was suffering from serious mental illness in the weeks leading up to the homicide.

Bretz presented 22 witnesses who gave testimony at the sentencing hearing plus 43 letters submitted on behalf of Sam by friends, family and coworkers. Bretz said that Sam's mental ilness back in 2012 "caused a complete personality change.

"He went from a hardworking, good spirited family man to someone who didn't want to eat, didn't bathe and became paranoid about people coming to get him," Bretz told Patch.

According to Bretz, all the doctors who treated Sam "indicated he was mentally ill at the time of this offense."

Now 54 years old, Sam has remained in the county detention center since his arrest on Dec. 20, 2012. At sentencing, Sam faced a range of 20 to 60 years in prison.

He does receive good-time credit for the seven years and three months of time he has already spent in custody, the Will County State's Attorney's Office noted.

Glasgow praised the Tinley Park police for their work in investigating the crime, the hard work of Assistant State’s Attorneys Steve Platek and Tom Slazyk who prosecuted the case, victim advocate Kelly Sullivan, and Gus Martinucci who provided audio and video assistance throughout the course of the trial.