A Sacramento County Jury found a man guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife as she slept next to their 7-month-old son because the husband claimed “Allah instructed him to do so,” prosecutors said.
Asghar Ehsan, 49, who had a history of mental illness, was convicted of murder in the Jan. 14, 2020, death of his wife, Asmaa Ehsan Ashooqullah, a 32-year-old mother of two children. His murder charge included an enhancement of using a knife in the attack on his wife, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
The jury in Sacramento Superior Court returned with the guilty verdict on April 26. Ehsan entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. On Thursday, the jury found that Ehsan was legally sane when he committed the murder, prosecutors said.
The murder occurred at the married couple’s home in the 6700 block of Calvine Road in Sacramento’s Valley Hi/North Laguna neighborhood. About 3:44 p.m., officers were called to check on the residents at the home and found the wife dead, Sacramento police has said.
Prosecutors said Ehsan stabbed and strangled his wife before leaving the home with his infant son. Ehsan then met with a friend.
Ehsan told his friend that he had killed his wife “because Allah instructed him to do so,” according to the District Attorney’s Office. His friend tried to persuade Ehsan to turn himself into authorities.
Prosecutors said Ehsan refused to turn himself in, prosecutors said. The father left his son with his friend.
About three hours after the wife was found dead, the Roseville Police Department received a be-on-the-lookout alert from Sacramento police regarding a homicide suspect, who had been identified as Ehsan, along with a suspect vehicle description. Patrolling officers spotted a matching vehicle about an hour later.
Roseville police said officers surrounded the vehicle, but Ehsan refused to get out. The suspect then drove away; an officer had to jump out of the way to avoid the fleeing vehicle, a police spokesman said at the time.
Ehsan then tried to escape on North Sunrise Boulevard, but his vehicle crashed into a city bus, police said. Officers took Ehsan into custody shortly after.
One bus rider reported minor injuries in the crash, and Ehsan was hospitalized with minor injuries, police said. No officers were reported injured.
During the Sacramento homicide investigation, authorities discovered Ehsan tried to kill his roommate in 2000 in Santa Rosa, prosecutors said. In that case, Ehsan claimed he had been “commanded by Allah to start a holy war and needed to kill someone close to him,” according to the DA’s news release.
In Sonoma Superior Court, Ehsan was later found to be legally insane. Prosecutors said Ehsan was released from a state hospital in 2002 with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Ehsan went on to earn an associate’s degree in psychology and worked for over a decade as a mental health worker for Sonoma County. Prosecutors said Ehsan also was a member of the Sonoma County Mental Health Panel, and he gave critical incident training presentations to law enforcement officials on how to handle mentally ill suspects.
Ehsan on Monday remained in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail. He is scheduled to return to court July 12 for his sentencing hearing. Prosecutors said Ehsan faces a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in prison for the murder conviction.