Mohamed Kamaludeen was found guilty today of murdering professor Judy Calder and of solicitation to commit murder.
Kamaludeen will be sentenced Thursday, with several members of the Calder family expected to testify.
The jury deliberated for less than five hours before returning the verdict on the Aug. 18, 2007 stabbing death of Calder, a professor in the human development and family studies department of the college of health and human sciences.
Members of the Calder family cried with the verdict.
“He deserved what he deserved,” Calder’s husband, James, said.
In closing statements, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Hahn attacked claims Kamaludeen made after being extradited from Mexico.
Kamaludeen told police that his worker, Carlos Filomeno, stabbed Judy Calder to death and disposed of her body. Kamaludeen also said James Calder wanted him to kill his wife due to a dispute over her will. Kamaludeen said James Calder paid Filomeno $50,000 to dispose of the body.
“These statements are designed to deceive,” Hahn said.
He called Kamaludeen’s claims that James Calder planned to dispose of the body in Incline, “where people are hiking,” ludicrous.
“It’s nonsense,” he said. “He’s far too intelligent.”
The defense implored the jury to look at the big picture.
“What really is the motivation of these four men?” Jay Slocum, the public defender, asked the jury.
Slocum pointed out that James Calder never went to Judy Calder’s hotel room at the Nugget, instead calling and leaving a message saying he would wait at the Starbucks. Slocum said James Calder paid $15,000 of Kamaludeen’s gambling debt and rented him a car, which Kamaludeen used to flee to Mexico.
Hahn questioned Slocum’s reasoning behind James Calder’s payoff of Kamaludeen’s debt.
“Why would he waste $15,000” if he knew Kamaludeen was fleeing to Mexico?, Hahn asked.
nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2008/10/22/kamaludeen-guilty-in-murder-of-unr-president
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