Jury acquits Lacey parents of attempted murder in altercation with teen daughter
A Thurston County jury acquitted two Lacey parents of second-degree attempted murder in connection with a physical fight with their daughter outside Timberline High School last October.
Ihsan Ali, 45, and his wife Zahraa Ali, 41, were accused of trying to kill their then 17-year-old daughter who was trying to run away from home.
Investigators alleged Ihsan Ali got into an argument with his daughter at a bus stop near the school, put her into a choke-hold and punched her then-16-year-old boyfriend. Zahraa was accused of assisting her husband during the incident and trailing the teens as they fled to the school, where the mother had previously been trespassed.
The incident happened in the presence of many witnesses, including students, and led to a lockdown at the campus, The Olympian previously reported.
A jury trial began on July 7 and concluded Thursday with a verdict in Thurston County Superior Court.
After three days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Ihsan Ali of second-degree attempted murder, domestic violence, but found him guilty of second-degree assault, domestic violence; unlawful imprisonment; and fourth-degree misdemeanor assault.
Zahraa Ali was also acquitted of second-degree attempted murder, domestic violence, as well as second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and second-degree burglary.
She was found guilty of violating a protection order previously put in place for her daughter’s then boyfriend.
Judge Christine Schaller ordered Zahraa Ali to be released on her personal recognizance following the verdict. However, she was ordered not to leave Thurston County or violate no-contact orders already in effect.
“Mrs. Ali has been incarcerated since about Oct. 22 and so with good time, good time being a third off, and not hearing from anyone that she wouldn’t be entitled to that, she has served the maximum time already that I could impose,” Schaller said.
Schaller did not release Ihsan Ali. He will remain in custody pending a sentencing hearing for both parents that’s scheduled for Aug. 18.
Ihsan Ali’s attorney Erik P. Kaeding asked that his client be released, saying he had already been incarcerated long enough.
“Mr. Ali, he lives here obviously,” Kaeding said. “His family is here. He doesn’t have any prior (criminal) history of any kind.”
Deputy Prosecutor Heather Stone said Ihsan Ali still faces a prison sentence. She said the range for his two domestic violence sentences is 12-14 months and his range on the unlawful imprisonment sentence is 4-12 months.
Was this an attempted ‘honor killing’ connected to an arranged marriage?
The initial probable cause statement used the phrase “honor killing” as a potential motivating factor for the incident outside the school.
According to the statement, the mother of the boyfriend told police that she was present during a previous Child Protective Services interview with the Ali’s daughter.
She said Ali’s daughter accused her father of threatening her with an “honor killing” for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in Iraq.
In a later trial memorandum, Stone said it’s unclear when the term “honor killing” first arose and by whom, but it appeared it may have been introduced by a CPS or hospital employee the day of the assault.
The phrase was then repeated at various points during the initial stages of the investigation and picked up by news media around the world.
“There is no express evidence that such was the motivation of either defendant in this case and the State does not intend to argue such,” Stone said in the memorandum. “Further, the State has no intention of even using the term at trial.”
Ali’s daughter told investigators she did not feel safe at home and her father frequently “disciplined” her for transgressions, according to the memorandum. The day of the fight, she said her father was trying to force her to go to another country.
In a separate memorandum to the court, Kaeding said the allegations of an attempted “honor killing” and arranged marriage were unfounded.
“The entirety of the claims appears to be the result of Islamophobia,” Kaeding said in the memorandum. “There is no evidence of either honor killing or arranged marriage supported by the evidence uncovered in the investigation of the case.”
He said the Ali family immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-2000s and were planning a trip back to Iraq to obtain passports for two of their younger children.
“Return dates were not made as it was unclear how long it would take the Iraqi government to process the passport applications once the boys were in Iraq,” Kaeding said.
Did Ihsan and Zahraa Ali intend to kill their daughter?
During closing arguments, Stone summarized the chaotic scene at the bus stop outside the school. She said Ihsan Ali held his daughter in a chokehold and refused to let go even as multiple witnesses yelled at him to release her.
“Let’s be clear, the state is not asserting that Ihsan Ali showed up on that day with the intention to try and kill his daughter. There was no premeditation that the state is asserting, but by the time Ishan goes into these events, the state’s position is that that has changed. His intent has substantively changed.”
Stone went on to say Zahraa Ali appeared to strangle her daughter rather than help her during the incident.
“You can’t strangle your child to restrain them,” Stone said. “She watches (the daughter) being strangled by Ihsan (Ali). She then puts her own arms around (the daughter’s) neck. She’s not comforting her. She’s strangling her to keep her from fleeing.”
Kaeding said the state did not meet its burden of proof to show Ihsan Ali intended to harm his daughter, and Ihsan Ali had a parental right to control his daughter.
“There’s no nefarious intents,” Kaeding said. “There’s not intent to hurt anybody badly. There’s no intent to kill anybody. There’s an intent to take your daughter home, a 17-year-old daughter who’s run away.”
Tim Leary, Zahraa Ali’s attorney, acknowledged there was conflict in the family and said the daughter had run away before. He said Zahraa Ali acted in the hopes of resetting her relationship with her daughter while she could still legally parent her.
“My client is not guilty,” Leary said. “I think we can all agree that this is a tragedy, and we certainly could have done things differently, but that doesn’t make this a crime.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
