Man who killed Columbus imam, Somali community leader sentenced to prison
A man who kidnapped, robbed and killed a prominent member of the local Somali and Muslim communities will not be eligible to apply for an early release from prison for at least 73 years.
John Wooden, 48, received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 38 years, plus at least an additional 35 years, during a hearing held Thursday afternoon. Wooden would be more than 120 years old before he would ever be eligible for a parole hearing.
A jury found Wooden guilty of murder, aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in October in the December 2021 death of Mohamed Hassan Adam, the 48-year-old imam at Masjid Abu Hurairah mosque on the city's Northeast Side.
Mohamed Hassan Adam's son brings prosecutors to tears
Adam's family and religious community members provided statements to Franklin County Judge Karen Held Phipps before she handed down her sentence.
Abdulkhabir Hassan, one of Adam's sons, told Phipps about helping to lower his father's upper body into his grave in accordance with religious tradition.
"I can still feel his head on my hands, his hair going through my fingers," Hassan said. "He raised us and taught us to never touch an elder's head as a sign of respect and there he was."
As Hassan spoke, the prosecutors on the case, Assistant Franklin County prosecutors Jack Wong and Debra Gorrell, wiped tears from their eyes, as did many of the more than 65 people who packed Phipps' courtroom for Wooden's sentencing.
Hassan also spoke about the night before his father went missing in 2021, sitting in the family's living room discussing an upcoming family vacation.
"We were all gathered, joking, laughing, not knowing that tomorrow might be his last day," Hassan said.
All those who spoke asked Phipps to impose the maximum possible sentence allowed under Ohio law, which would have been life in prison without any opportunity for parole.
"The true crime is the theft of life. The theft of those memories that my younger siblings will never get to have," Hassan said.
During his statement, Hassan spoke about his father's journey to the United States, fleeing Somalia as a civil war raged, a war that had claimed the lives of two of Adam's younger brothers.
"He came here in hopes of a better life," Hassan said. "He came to this country, learned the language, learned the culture, built a family, built a community, created businesses and those businesses created jobs. All of that uplifting the community. And here we have John Wooden Jr. A stark difference would be an understatement."
Adam's daughter, Shukri Hassan, also spoke, saying her father had left a country in fear for his life, only to lose it in a place he felt safe.
"After two years and two months, after kissing his forehead on the funeral day, seeing the spot where this man shot, I still hope he would knock on the door and be there safely," Shukri Hassan said.
As her brother had said before her, Shukri Hassan told Phipps of her father's smile, willingness to help others and community focus. All of those things were a sharp contrast to Wooden's lack of remorse and humanity, she said.
"He did not value or respect human life or the law. In his cruel act of cold murder, John Wooden and his associates did not end just a life, they traumatized a whole community," she said.
Phipps agreed that Wooden did not show remorse for his actions.
"Rehabilitation is not something I need to consider," the judge said. "I don't believe you have any remorse and I don't believe you can be rehabilitated."
Why was John Wooden's sentencing delayed?
Wooden was initially scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 5, but Wooden fired his attorney, Paul Scarsella, at the last minute and asked for a new one.
At that hearing, Phipps told Wooden that he would be sentenced on Thursday for the crimes he was found guilty of at trial, regardless of whether other charges filed against him were ready to be resolved.
Imam killing rocked Columbus' Somali and Muslim communities
Adam was found shot inside a van parked in an overgrown lot on Dec. 24, 2021. The imam, a prominent member of the local Somali and Muslim communities, was last seen two days earlier.
Testimony at Wooden's trial revealed Columbus police located bullet casings where Adam's body was found that matched a gun later found at Wooden's home. That gun had Wooden's DNA on it. Wooden's family had also owned the lot where the body was found.
Testimony further revealed Wooden and Adam had met before when Wooden had sold a box truck to Adam. That sale happened about two months before Adam's death.
Hundreds of people gathered for Adam's funeral, coming from as far away as Kenya to pay their respects.
Wooden also pleads guilty to pair of bank robberies
On Thursday, Wooden also entered guilty pleas to two counts of robbery related to bank robberies that occurred in December 2021 and January 2022 at a Kemba Financial Credit Union branch in Clintonville. Wooden's prison sentence on those counts was ordered to run concurrently with the prison sentence he received in Adam's murder.
Wooden has an extensive criminal history, according to court records, including having been released from federal prison on unrelated charges less than a year before Adam was killed.
On Tuesday, Wooden's co-defendant, Isaiah Brown-Miller, 24, received a sentence of at least 26 years and no more than 31 years in prison for his role in Adam's kidnapping and robbery.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man who killed imam, Somali community leader gets life in prison
