On Friday, 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, a landlord from Plainfield, Illinois, is scheduled for sentencing after being convicted of crimes that include the hate crime murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the attempted murder of the boy's mother, as reported by CBS News Chicago. The jury found Czuba guilty of first-degree murder, and hate crime charges connected to the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi, and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, during the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.
The sentencing, which prosecutors say could range between 20 to 60 years or up to life in prison, is to take place at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. Prosecutors have previously presented evidence, including harrowing testimony from the victim's mother who recounted Czuba attacking her before turning on her son based on their Muslim faith. She expressed, "He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,'" a statement Shaheen shared through a translator, as per NBC Chicago.
The boy’s father, Odai Alfayoumi—who is divorced from Hanan Shaheen and did not live with them—has filed a lawsuit over his son's death. Additionally, lawsuits and a federal hate crimes investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice are in process, according to NBC Chicago.
