Dad Who Drowned Sons Receives Death Penalty
Naim Rasool Muhammad has been convicted of capital murder for drowning his two sons and received the death penalty. Naim, 5, and Elijah, 3, were drowned in a nearby creek in August 2011.
Muhammad told police that he abducted the boys and their mother, Kametra Sampson, but Sampson was able to get away and call police. He told his sons that they were going swimming in the creek in North Texas, but then held their faces underwater until they drowned. He also said that he was angry with the boys' mother for breaking up with him.
"I held them down. I didn't let them get up," Muhammad said in his videotaped confession, which was played to jurors.
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A jury took less than 10 minutes to return with a guilty verdict of capital murder, but nearly four hours to sentence Muhammad to death. Before he was sentenced, Sampson was allowed to speak, and she said that he had no "boundaries."
"You've shown that you have no boundaries, that nothing is sacred to you – not even the bond between a father and son," she said.
Muhammad's lawyer, Paul Johnson, attempted to argue that his client was "not evil but had committed an evil act."
"It was the ultimate textbook family violence power and control play – 'If I can't get you to do what I want you to do through violence, I will go to your very heartstrings,'" prosecutor Sherre Sweet said in response. "I don't have to recall the facts of the case because, although it was not filled with blood or gore, it was a horror unimagined," Sweet said.
Muhammad has a history of violence and was under investigation by Texas Child Protective Services, along with Sampson. Sampson alleged that Muhammad routinely beat her, and CPS was called after a report of family violence in 2011.
"I apologize for bringing any pain and hurt on anybody, for the actions that I have caused to you all," Muhammad said after the sentence was read.
