A state appeals court has refused to grant a new hearing in the case of a Crawford man serving a life sentence after stabbing a man in 2014.
The Mississippi District 3 Court of Appeals denied Akeem Rasheed’s request for a hearing, according to court documents.
An Oktibbeha County jury found Rasheed guilty of aggravated assault and burglary after a trial held in 2016.
Circuit Court Judge Lee Howard sentenced Rasheed, who has an extensive criminal history, to two terms of life in prison with no possibility of parole under the state’s habitual offender law.
Rasheed kicked in the door of his girlfriend’s apartment on July 29, 2014. During the ensuing struggle, he pulled a knife from his back pocket and stabbed the father of the woman’s 5-year-old daughter, according to court documents.
Rasheed’s attorney filed a motion for a rehearing in September. The Court of Appeals refused to grant Rasheed a new trial or amend his sentence.
Because the charges in the stabbing incident included two counts, the judge sentenced Rasheed to two terms of life in prison, to run concurrently.
Rasheed denied stabbing the man when he took the stand during the trial. In the motion for a new hearing, his attorney said the judge erred by not allowing the jury to consider self-defense. The judge said that testimony didn’t support a self-defense claim.
The Court of Appeals upheld that decision, and agreed that other issues related to trial procedure Rasheed’s attorney raised in the appeal were without merit.
The ruling handed down by the Court states “there is ample evidence to support the convictions, and none of the other issues raised by Rasheed, either through appointed appellate counsel or in his pro se supplemental briefs, warrants reversal, a new trial, or resentencing.”