Minnesota Supreme Court overturns aiding and abetting murder conviction in Moorhead shooting

The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a first-degree murder conviction for a man serving life in prison for aiding-and-abetting in the shooting death of a Moorhead man three years ago, ruling that there was no proof that he knew his acquaintance was going to commit the killing.

A trail of evidence connected Ibrahim Abdiaziz Isaac of St. Cloud to Idris Abdillahi Haji-Mohamed on the day Haji-Mohamed shot Abdi Abdi in Moorhead in a Casey’s parking lot in 2021. That evidence was strong enough to get Isaac convicted in a Clay County court trial in February of 2023 where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Supreme Court ruled the evidence did not clearly show Isaac knew the crime was going to happen ahead of time and reversed the decision. Isaac will be released from prison once the judgment is entered.

Clay County Attorney Brian J. Melton said the reversal left a terrible taste in his mouth, arguing that the courts decision means “if you can find somebody else to carry out a murder in the state of Minnesota then you can do that.”

Calls to Isaac’s attorney were not immediately returned.

Many of the investigative details about the crime and relationship between Isaac and Haji-Mohamed were not under question.

Isaac was nowhere near the scene of the crime when Abdi was shot and killed by Haji-Mohamed, but earlier in the day Isaac had driven Haji-Mohamed from St. Cloud to the Fargo-Moorhead area. Isaac then bought a Chrysler 200, gave it to Haji-Mohamed and filled it with gas. Isaac was driving to St. Cloud in another car when Haji-Mohamed called him moments after the shooting. Isaac immediately turned around and drove to meet Haji-Mohamed before bringing him to his apartment in St. Cloud.

Haji-Mohamed was arrested five days later. Police found bullets similar to the ones used in the shooting in Isaac’s bedroom. They had jail calls between the two men where Haji-Mohamed reminded Isaac they were being recorded and Isaac lied to police about giving the Chrysler 200 to Haji-Mohamed.

But while the Clay County court determined that Isaac knew ahead of time that Haji-Mohamed was going to kill Abdi and helped him carry it out, the Supreme Court disagreed. Chief Justice Natalie Hudson wrote in her 12-page opinion there is insufficient evidence to prove Isaac had premeditated knowledge of the murder.

Hudson wrote that while it’s clear Isaac was aiding the shooter after the murder and trying to escape being arrested himself, it’s reasonable to infer that “Isaac did not know about the shooter’s plan to murder Abdi until at least 8:08 p.m., when the shooter called him, which was approximately 4 minutes after the murder occurred.”

Justice Paul Thissen concurred with the opinion while Justice Sarah Hennesy took no part in the decision.

Melton said that as the prosescuting attorney, he felt that the court was limited in how they examined all of the evidence connecting Isaac to Haji-Mohamed.

“Each one thing may be innocent in and of itself,” Melton said. “But all of it adds up to [Isaac] beind involved in the murder.”