OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) - Jury selection in a 2017 murder case against a man accused of killing his mother concluded just before 5 p.m. on Friday after a whole day of questioning.
Muhammad Al-Tantawi was arrested when he was 16 years old after police allege he pushed his mother, Nada Huranieh, out of an upstairs window at their Farmington Hills home and tried to cover up his crime.
Al-Tantawi, now 20, is charged with one count of first-degree premeditated murder.
Huranieh, 35, was found dead by authorities who responded to the upscale residence on Howard Road; her body was sprawled out on the back patio under an upper level window.
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As police investigated, however, they found evidence to suggest Huranieh had not fallen to her death, but rather the scene was staged to throw off police.
Home surveillance video captured shadows on camera that police said showed someone pushing a body out of the upstairs window.
The Oakland County medical examiner said her death was caused by asphyxiation.
Huranieh had been working as a personal trainer for the Franklin Racquet Club at the time of her death. Police found she and her husband, Bassel Altantawi, were in the process of a divorce after being married for almost 20 years.
Altantawi has a felony conviction tied to health care fraud and was not living at the Farmington Hills home at the time of his wife's death. Police determined he was no where near the residence on the day of the killing after checking on his court-ordered GPS tether.
The selection process took most of Friday, where the jury pool was questioned on their thoughts and feelings about certain topics from attorneys.
Questions ranging from divorce, Muslims, domestic violence, and women's roles in the workplace were asked, along with making sure jurors could view graphic photos taken during Huranieh's autopsy.
Statements taken from a police interview with Al-Tantawi had been ruled inadmissible in court last year by the Michigan Supreme Court after it was discovered Al-Tantawi had not been appropriately advised of his rights.
The statements were made to investigators hours after Al-Tantawi allegedly killed his mother.
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