A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 25) sentenced Saleh “Sam” Omar to 40 years in prison for his conviction of killing a man by tightly wrapping his face and torso with duct tape, leaving him unable to free himself to breathe.
A jury on April 24 found Omar, 47, guilty of manslaughter in the death of Mohamed “Mo” Mezlini, 29. Omar was indicted with second-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense.
In sentencing Omar to the maximum punishment for manslaughter, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court noted Wednesday that Omar’s use of duct tape to kill Mezlini was “particularly heinous.”
“I believe the defendant got a windfall from the jury,” Judge Faulkner noted, when it found Omar guilty of the lesser offense. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Click here to read about the trial.
Omar owned a cell phone repair business in a strip mall on Terry Parkway. He previously employed Mezlini. The men had unspecified animosity that culminated in a vacant suite in that strip mall on Sept. 8, 2018.
With the help of his half-brother Yazan Omar, then aged 17, Omar lured Mezlini to that vacant suite. A fight ensued and ended with Omar binding Mezlini with duct tape. He left Mezlini in the locked suite and fled from the strip mall.
Seventeen minutes after Omar fled, Yazan Omar and two of Omar’s employees broke into the vacant suite and found Mezlini bound in duct tape. They removed the tape, attempted chest compressions and called 911. Mezlini died the following day. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office said Mezlini died from asphyxia due to strangulation and smothering. His hyoid bone, in his throat, was also broken, indicating strangulation.
Omar fled to Central America, where he was arrested two weeks later in Panama and was returned to Jefferson Parish to face charges.
In December 2021, Yazan Omar, now 24, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Omar’s attorney provided the testimony of character witnesses and arguments in seeking leniency.
On the state’s side, more than two-dozen people provided victim-impact statements to the court seeking justice for Mezlini and the maximum punishment for Omar.
“He had his whole life ahead of him,” Mezlini’s widow testified. She will never forgive Omar, she told the court. She noted that the coldness of how he used duct tape to kill her husband “demonstrates a level of violence and depravity beyond comprehension.”
Mezlini’s mother called him “the epitome of good character and ethics.” His father added, “My son did nothing to deserve what happened to him.”
Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case. They were assisted by Assistant District Attorneys Mallory Grefer and Darren Allemand.