DA's office dismisses murder charge in Iranian student killing

Gelareh Bagherzadeh participated in a 2009 protest outside the Islamic Education Center in Houston. Gelareh Bagherzadeh participated in a 2009 protest outside the Islamic Education Center in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Staff Photo: James Nielsen, Staff Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close DA's office dismisses murder charge in Iranian student killing 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

The brazen killing of an outspoken young Iranian activist as she pulled into her parents' Galleria-area townhome complex languished for two years even as Crime Stoppers offered $200,000, its largest reward in history, for information leading to an arrest.

Then suddenly, in a flurry of activity on May 22, 2014, federal authorities arrested the father of one of Gelareh Bagherzadeh's closest friends. But Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan wasn't taken into federal custody for her slaying. Instead he was charged with Social Security fraud. Hours later, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said he'd also been indicted in Bag­herzadeh's death.

Now, in the latest twist in a bizarre case that captured global headlines and fueled widespread conspiracy theories even involving the Iranian government, the district attorney's office said it has dismissed the murder charges against Irsan but would seek more charges soon.

Meanwhile the 57-year-old remains in solitary confinement on the fraud charges for which, in any normal case, he'd long ago have walked out on bond.

"It's an unusual situation and case and has been since day one," said John T. Floyd, Irsan's defense attorney on both the federal and state charges. "It is very unusual for the federal government to play ball with the state prosecutor's office to basically find a way to hold Mr. Irsan … while the state figures out a way to charge their case."

More charges coming

DA's spokesman Jeff McShan said more charges will be filed soon but declined to say why they were dropped in November or offer any further detail. Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, also had little to say.

"It would also be inappropriate for us to comment upon charges brought or dismissed by anyone other than us," Dodge said in an email. "I can tell you that a federal grand jury found there was sufficient evidence to bring a 10-count indictment charging Irsan with committing several violations of federal law - conspiracy to defraud the U.S., aiding and abetting theft, making several false statements and Social Security fraud."

Floyd said dismissing the charges, then filing new ones later, is either "strategic, or there's a problem with the case." The dismissal means he's been unable to obtain what evidence the government does have against Irsan on the murder charge. He said the federal case has been a "ruse, while the state tries to find information that supports the murder investigation."

Meanwhile, Floyd said, Irsan and his family have been "surveilled in ways that are highly unusual, highly intensive." He said Irsan, who is from Jordan and is a strict Muslim, is suffering unfair treatment. In a letter in February to Assistant U.S. Attorney James McAlister, Irsan asked him to "ease off" on his restrictions, noting that he'd been in isolated segregation since June, was limited from using the phone, and had been treated "very harshly" by guards.

Religion called a factor

"I have to believe my client's religious background and his deeply held religious beliefs have caused him to go under greater scrutiny than usual," Floyd said. "If this was a normal case he would have been given a bond and walked out that day while the case was settled or tried."

In an online petition last October, Irsan's family wrote that they have been racially profiled and harassed by law enforcement for the last two years. They say it began soon after Irsan's son-in-law was shot dead in November 2012 in the northwest Harris County apartment he shared with his wife, Irsan's daughter Nesreen.

The young couple had a strained relationship with Irsan, who relatives say was outraged when his daughter moved out of his house without his permission and married 28-year-old Coty Beavers. They say the father blamed Bag­herzadeh, with whom his daughter had become close friends at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center where both studied molecular genetics. Irsan believed that Bag­herzadeh, who was dating Beavers' twin, had encouraged his daughter to marry a Christian against her father's wishes.

Irsan harassed the couple for months, relatives said. Even after they obtained a protective order, he would show up unannounced or call in the middle of the night, they said.

In January 2012, Bagherzadeh was driving from the Beavers' home in Spring when she was shot while turning into her parents' townhome complex in the 800 block of Augusta. She was chatting with a friend on the phone, who told police she screamed before her car crashed into a garage. Police say her assailant fired several times through the glass of her passenger window.

About 45 minutes later, state troopers stopped a silver car driven by Irsan, who was with his wife and going from Houston to Conroe, where they lived, according to testimony in his fraud case. They were stopped for speeding and given a warning. Witnesses later told police they saw a silver car flee the scene of Bagherzadeh's killing.

Eleven months later, Beavers was found dead, too, shot multiple times in the third-floor apartment he shared with Irsan's daughter. He'd told relatives and friends that if he was ever found dead, Irsan was to blame.

Previous killing noted

Almost 18 months passed. Then, in May, federal officials raided Irsan's Montgomery County home, accusing him of stealing money from the U.S. government with bogus benefits claims and hiding the cash in various bank accounts in Texas, his native Jordan and in his Conroe attic. But the most significant part of the detailed 16-page complaint was one short paragraph calling Irsan a suspect in the killings of both Bagherzadeh and Beavers. It also noted that he had killed another son-in-law in 1999 in a slaying that was ruled self-defense.

Armed with a warrant related to the fraud charges, federal officials searched two of Irsan's properties. They also arrested his wife, 37-year-old Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh, and another daughter, Nadia Irsan, 30, on fraud charges. Like Irsan, both remain in custody. Federal prosecutors requested they all be held without bail, calling them flight risks. Irsan holds dozens of credit cards in various names and they have family in Jordan. But the principal reason cited for denying bail was Irsan's murder charge, which now has been dismissed

"The state charges were used to basically jam these people up in custody and support no bond while the state decides how to handle the murder case," Floyd said. "You don't see the federal government working in concert like this very often."

In February, Irsan's 21-year-old son, Nasim, was arrested after allegedly dragging a donkey behind a pickup along a stretch of Old Houston Road in Montgomery County. He was charged with cruelty to livestock animals and remains in jail in lieu of $60,000 bail.