Stabbing Victim to Defendant: 'I'm Praying for You'

Originally posted at 2:36 p.m. Feb. 28, 2014.

By PAUL ANDERSON

City News Service

A one-time member of Afghanistan's national basketball team was sentenced today to 13 years to life in prison for stabbing a former El Toro High School standout basketball player during a fight at an Irvine party.

Abdullah Wahidi, 26, was convicted in November of attempted murder and aggravated assault for stabbing then-20-year-old Concordia University basketball player Andre Murillo in the early morning hours of April 26, 2009.

Wahidi contended the stabbing was in self-defense, with his attorney arguing that Murillo was on top of his client during the brawl and threatened him by saying, "I've got you now."

Murillo, who's in his senior year at Biola University, where he's a power forward, told Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue that he has found religion since being stabbed and was praying for the defendant and his family.

"I want to make it clear I don't have hateful feelings for Mr. Wahidi or his family," he said.

Murillo, who lives in Mission Viejo, recalled an encounter with the defendant's young son in the courthouse hallway in the midst of the trial.

"He got loose from his father and came running over to me and he kind of smiled at me," Murillo said, "and it was in that moment I wished that none of this had ever happened."

Murillo acknowledged he was "not lacking pride" at the time of the fight, but that since recovering from his wounds, "the Lord has really shown me grace."

"No one is too far from his grace," Murillo told Wahidi, adding, "I'm praying for you, Abdullah, I'm praying for your fiancée and I am praying for your son."

Nearly 30 friends and family of the defendant came to the sentencing hearing and told the judge that Wahidi has their support.

Donahue said a stiff sentence was warranted in light of the seriousness of the victim's injuries. The stab wound was "a millimeter away from a puncture of the heart muscle itself," the judge said, adding that Murillo was hospitalized for a month and at one point was "near death."

"It's too bad this happened," Donahue said. "It wrecked a whole bunch of lives."

Wahidi was given credit for 428 days in custody.

Deputy District Attorney Aleta Bryant said Wahidi stared down Murillo at a party they both attended at an Irvine townhouse, and Wahidi eventually bumped Murillo. The two went outside, and Wahidi went "running into the fight, not away from it," the prosecutor said.

Wahidi stabbed Murillo during the ensuing brawl, leaving the victim with a collapsed lung, according to Bryant.     

Wahidi's attorney, Kerry Armstrong, told jurors that Murillo was drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time. He contended Murillo was the aggressor in the fight, and Wahidi feared that Murillo's friends might join in the brawl when he was on the ground.

Jurors found true sentence-enhancing allegations of premeditated attempted murder, personal infliction of great bodily injury and personal use of a deadly weapon.