Jordanian father convicted of two Houston-area ‘honor killings’ tells jury he treated his daughters ‘like princesses”

In this June 25, 2018 photo, Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, center, sits in court with his defense attorneys Allen Tanner, left, and Rudy Duarte, right, in Houston. Irsan, a 60-year-old Jordanian-American, is charged with capital murder, accused of killing his daughters husband and her best friend, an Iranian activist. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP) less In this June 25, 2018 photo, Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, center, sits in court with his defense attorneys Allen Tanner, left, and Rudy Duarte, right, in Houston. Irsan, a 60-year-old Jordanian-American, is charged ... more Photo: Melissa Phillip, MBO / Associated Press Photo: Melissa Phillip, MBO / Associated Press Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Jordanian father convicted of two Houston-area ‘honor killings’ tells jury he treated his daughters ‘like princesses” 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

A Jordanian immigrant convicted in a pair of “honor killings” told jurors on Friday that he treated his daughters “like princesses” and constantly gave other people gifts, an attempt to avoid the death penalty for separate 2012 slayings of his son-in-law and his daughter’s best friend.

“I would buy a lot of gifts. I love to make people smile,” said Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, as he testified in his own defense for the second time. “Put a smile on people’s faces.”

He was insistent that witnesses lied about his bad acts, and when prosecutors asked why so many people, almost 100 witnesses, would come to court to lie, he flashed the observers in the gallery a broad smile and said, “When the cow trips, everyone sharpens their knives.”

The 60-year-old father of 12 insisted on testifying, despite his attorneys’ numerous warnings, and gave jurors a three-pronged defense that included his love for family, how the people who testified against him lied and how hard it was to grow up in a war zone in Jordan with a strict father.

“I decided I would rather live in hell than live with that man,” Irsan said of growing up with an abusive father in Jordan. “I took 120 aspirin pills to kill myself.”

His brother found him and took him to a hospital to get his stomach pumped.

Prosecutors later had a field day when they cross-examined Irsan about earlier testimony that he killed a different son-in-law in 1999, scammed money out of government agencies and family members, as well as the days he spent beating his first and second wife and their children.

Special prosecutor Marie Primm spent more than an hour asking Irsan about dozens of schemes to get money from FEMA, his family, his mosque and the airlines every time he flew.

“Did you ever fly without claiming you lost baggage and valuables?” she asked.

Irsan said it was not his fault that airlines constantly lost his bags.

It is the second time that Irsan has taken the stand in his own defense. He is expected to be the last witness in the capital murder trial that has lasted seven weeks in state District Jan Krocker’s court, and after closing arguments the jury must decide whether to give Irsan the death penalty or life in prions without parole.

Two weeks ago, prosecutors convinced the jury that Irsan was a Muslim extremist who spent months stalking one of his adult daughters after she ran away from the family’s rural Montgomery County compound and converted to Christianity.

Prosecutors told the jury Irsan planned to kill a total of five people including his daughter for converting and marrying a Christian.

The case has made international news since Irsan was arrested in 2014 and accused of killing his son-in-law and his daughter’s close friend because they disgraced his honor by helping his daughter, Nesreen, convert to Christianity.

The fatal shootings of Nesreen Irsan’s husband, Coty Beavers, and her close friend, Gelareh Bagherzadeh happened 11 months apart in 2012. Earlier in the trial, Irsan took the witness stand and tried to counter evidence he stalked his daugher by claiming he missed his daughter and was just following her as he tried to get an explanation for why she left home.

Because prosecutors were able to prove that Irsan committed both homicides as part of the same scheme, he was convicted of capital murder in less than an hour.

The trial has shocked Houstonians as details emerged about the way Irsan treated his family in his rural Montgomery County property that had a house, several trailers and buildings.

Primm reminded jurors that earlier in the trial, Irsan’s first wife and oldest daughter both testified he raped them and subjected them to years of persistent, brutal abuse.

After jurors convicted Irsan, his oldest daughter testified that she married in 1999 out of desperation to get out of Irsan’s house only to learn — after her father drugged her and shipped her off to his homeland in Jordan — that her father had shot and killed her new husband.

On Friday, Irsan maintained that he killed that son-in-law in self-defense after he came to Irsan’s home with a pistol and shot at him twice.

He also said any of his children who said he beat them were liars.

“They were princesses,” he testified. “I treated them like princesses. They had everything they wanted.”

His attorneys, Allen Tanner and Rudy Duarte, have repeatedly held hearings outside the presence of the jury to say they have advised Irsan not to testify.

Judge Krocker said she expected closings arguments Monday.

Brian Rogers covers Houston crime and courts. You can email him at brian.rogers@chron.com and follow him on Twitter at @brianjrogers.