Jordan Laird
Thursday October 26, 2023
A Franklin County jury has convicted a man of kidnapping and murdering a local Somali imam in December 2021.
The jury returned its verdict Wednesday afternoon in the third grueling trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court related to the death of 48-year-old Imam Mohamed Hassan Adam.
John W. Wooden, 47, of Franklinton, was found guilty of all of the charges: kidnapping, aggravated robbery, two counts of murder and aggravated murder.
In the additional firearms specifications, the jury found Wooden guilty on the murder and aggravated murder charges but not the kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges.
Wooden is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 15. For aggravated murder, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the eligibility for parole after at least 20 years.
Wooden's codefendant, 24-year-old Isaiah Brown-Miller, previously went on trial twice for kidnapping and aggravated robbery. In both of Brown-Miller's trials, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. Brown-Miller is not charged with murder.
Adam, an imam at Masjid Abu Hurairah mosque on the Northeast Side, was found fatally shot on Dec. 24, 2021, near his yellow van in an overgrown lot on Columbus' North Side, two days after he was last seen on Dec. 22, 2021.
Franklin County prosecutors said during the trial that began last week that Wooden and Brown-Miller, were attempting to get money from Adam and possibly from the mosque’s funds to which the imam had access.
Adam was seen on surveillance video on the evening of Dec. 22, 2021, attempting to withdraw money from an ATM while accompanied by a man in a white mask. There were also numerous failed transactions on Cash App, a money-transferring app, from Adam’s cellphone that night, according to prosecutors. Some transactions were for thousands of dollars.
Paul Scarsella, one of Wooden’s defense attorneys, said during the trial that the prosecution's case against Wooden was built on assumptions and police failed to follow all leads.
On Monday, while cross-examining Columbus police Detective Earl Westfall, who investigated the case, Scarsella said, "You have no idea who pulled the trigger?"
"I have a theory," Westfall said.
Scarsella declined to comment on the verdict Wednesday when asked by The Dispatch.
Likewise, Jack Wong, one of the assistant county prosecutors on the case, declined comment.
What didn't come up at trial: Wooden's criminal historyWooden has a lengthy criminal history and was released from federal prison less than a year before he was accused of killing Adam and committing other robberies around the same time. But to avoid prejudicing the jury, none of this was brought up at trial.
Wooden waived his right to a jury trial on certain charges in this case: robbery and felonious assault charges for an alleged crime on Nov. 4, 2021, unlawful use of a weapon by a violent career criminal, possessing a gun illegally and specifications on charges for being a repeat violent offender and a violent career criminal.
A judge will rule separately on those charges.
In a separate pending case, Wooden is facing robbery charges for alleged crimes that took place on Dec. 18, 2021 and Jan. 4, 2022.
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