PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia man convicted of third-degree murder for the 2020 death of Tracy “Mia” Green was sentenced to 17 1/2 to 35 years in prison Friday.
In the courtroom, Abdullah El-Amin Jaamia apologized and asked Green's mother and grandmother for forgiveness, saying he acted in self-defense when he shot the 29-year-old transgender woman four times after picking her up in West Philly for oral sex.
A jury convicted him in August, acquitting him of first-degree murder.
The defense had argued to jurors that 41-year-old El-Amin Jaamia reacted to Green trying to grab his gun. His attorneys called psychologists to testify that he had post-traumatic stress disorder from a father who abused him, a mother with a drug addiction and a prior shooting incident in 2006 when he killed another man in self-defense.
The defendant’s sisters and fiancee told the judge El-Amin Jaamia is “kind,” that he has a “tender heart,” and he has taken responsibility.
But prosecutors told the judge El-Amin Jaamia gave three different versions of what happened – he tossed the gun and he “minimizes” his actions. They said when police, on the day of Green’s death, pulled him over for blowing through a stop sign, he was “not panicked” and had no defensive injuries. And they said he called his fiancee instead of 911 because he had no respect for Green’s life.
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El-Amin Jaamia told the judge he panicked, and said it was an unfortunate situation, but that he takes full responsibility.
Green’s grandmother told the defendant how hurt their family is, but she forgives him, saying God is the controller of all.
Judge Diane Anhalt said it continues to astonish her how many people — mostly women — can forgive when someone has taken away from them a person they loved. In the end, Anhalt said, because of those four shots to Green’s back and side, she can’t help but think Green was trying to get away and called the killing “horrific and horrendous”.