Crime & Safety

Jury Selection to Begin Monday for Man Accused of 1999 Murder

Mohammed Ali, 36, was previously convicted of the murder, but a federal appeals court overturned the conviction.

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in San Mateo County for the second trial of a man accused of murdering the daughter of a Hall of Fame football player in 1999.

Mohammed Haroon Ali, 36, was convicted in San Mateo County Superior Court in 2001 of the strangulation murder of his girlfriend, Tracey Biletnikoff, but a federal appeals court in 2009 overturned the conviction, thus requiring a retrial.

Biletnikoff, 20, was the daughter of former Oakland Raiders wide receiver and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Fred Biletnikoff.

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Ali's second trial has been in recess following four days of motions, and jury selection is set to start on Monday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

Biletnikoff, who lived with her father in the East Bay, met Ali through a San Mateo County drug treatment program where they were both working as counselors after having recovered from drug addictions.

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Her body was found on Feb. 15, 1999, on the campus of Canada College near Redwood City. Ali was later arrested in San Diego as he drove Biletnikoff's car across the border from Mexico where he had fled.

Ali admitted to strangling Biletnikoff during an argument over his relapse into alcohol and drug use, but argued that the crime should be considered manslaughter rather than murder on the ground that he allegedly acted in the heat of passion because he feared the relapse would lead to his being deported to his native Fiji.

In his first trial, Ali was sentenced to 55 years in prison for murder plus another nine for a previous kidnapping conviction for which he had been on parole.

His conviction was upheld by state courts but was overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on July 7, 2009 on the ground that prosecutors dismissed at least one and possibly two black potential jurors from the jury pool for improper racial reasons.

Ali remains in custody without bail.

Bay City News contributed to this report.


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