A man has been convicted of capital murder in the 2008 "honor killings" of his two teenage daughters.
Yaser Abdel Said was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the slayings of 18-year-old Amina and 17-year-old Sara.
On New Year's Day 2008, Said took his two daughters for a ride in his taxi, and hours later, their lifeless bodies were found, with multiple gunshot wounds. Before her death, Sara made a brief, desperate call for help to 911 saying her father shot her.
After three hours of deliberation, the Dallas County jury reached the guilty verdict on Tuesday (August 9) and said: "There is nothing honorable about what Yaser Said did on January 1, 2008."
Watch WFAA coverage of the news below:"Dallas County has shown Mr. Said that there is no excuse for taking another human life. He must now spend the rest of his days confined to a prison cell living under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice." District Attorney Creuzot continued.
"While this verdict does not bring Sarah and Amina back, my office and this jury have done all that is in our power to see that justice is done," the attorney added.
Said became a fugitive for more than 12 years - with six of those years being on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List - and was eventually captured on August 26, 2020, in Justin, Texas, according to CNN.
On Monday (August 8), he took the stand in his defense and denied killing the teenagers, saying: "Definitely not, I did not kill my daughters."
Said testified that he was on his way to dinner with his daughters on the evening they were killed and thought that someone was following the taxi.
"I did not expect anyone would harm them," Said testified, explaining that he assumed one of their friends was following him. He said he was fearful someone would attack him, so he left his daughters in the taxi and escaped into nearby woods.
However, Amina's boyfriend has testified that the same evening she and her sister were killed, he and his dad saw them riding in the taxi with their father.
Prosecutors claim that Said - who was born in Egypt and came to the US in 1983 - murdered his daughters because he was upset that the girls were dating.
"He wouldn't even let these girls go to a movie. He wouldn't let them date,” a prosecutor said during closing statements.
Watch the closing arguments below:In a letter written to the judge overseeing the case, Said revealed, through a translator, that he was not happy with the teens' dating activity, saying: "I was upset because in my culture it's something to get upset about," but denied killing them, per CBS News.
Gail Gattrell, the sisters' great-aunt, described their death as an "honor killing," - which is when a woman is murdered by a relative to protect their family's honor.
According to ABC News, during the trial, prosecutors read an email written by Amina on December 21, 2007, to her history teacher where she said their father "made our lives a nightmare" and that he will "without any drama nor doubt" kill them.
"I am so scared right now," Amina wrote, according to prosecutors. "OK, well as you know we’re not allowed to date and my dad is arranging my marriage. My dad said I cannot put it off anymore and I have to get married this year."
Said's former wife, Patricia Owens, also took the stand and called him "that devil". She testified that he had convinced her to return to Texas from Oklahoma after she and the girls ran away.
After the verdict ruling, Said's public defender, Bradley Lollar, told CNN that they are disappointed with the result but are planning on appealing.
Said's defense team claims that he was targeted by law enforcement because of his religious and cultural beliefs, however, the prosecution rejected the claim that he was unjustly accused for his background.
