A county judge set bond at $2 million yesterday for two 17-year-old Somali men, each charged with felony murder and two counts of aggravated robbery.
If convicted, Abdifatah Abdi, 17, and Mohat Osman, 17, could spend the rest of their lives in prison for their role in the shooting death of 39-year-old Donnie Putnam. Investigators say Abdifatah Abdi and Mohat Osman carried guns to a trailer in New Marshfield, planning to steal cash and possibly drugs from its occupants. During an ensuing gunfight, someone fatally shot Putnam in the chest. Investigators haven't said who killed Putnam or whether they have located the gun that caused his death.
In February, a grand jury indicted two others - Hamda A. Jama, 21, and Phillip D. Boler - on felony murder and aggravated robbery charges. All four planned to rob the house and will be tried for Putnam's death, according to court documents and statements from prosecutors.
Investigators say a fifth man, John W. Perry Jr., fired back at the would-be robbers from inside the trailer, then fled the scene with a 9 mm pistol. Prosecutors arrested Perry for tampering with evidence.
Abdifatah Abdi and Mohat Osman, Somali immigrants who now live in Columbus, grew up together, said Farhan Osman, Mohat Osman's older brother. Farhan Osman married Abdifatah Abdi's sister, Ismahan Abdi, linking the two families.
It doesn't look like a fair trial because of color
religion (and) all those things Farhan Osman said. We came here to have a good future - peace love (and) all that. If we wanted to kill people we would have stayed in our country.
The families fled Somalia to escape the violence-ridden country and start new lives in America, Farhan Osman said. Fourteen members of both families attended the arraignment hearing yesterday.
County Prosecutor C. David Warren asked Judge Michael Ward to set bond at $2 million for each man to match the bonds set for Jama and Boler. The seriousness of the crime and the possibility that both men might flee if released merited the bond, Warren said.
Larry Thomas and Isabella Dixon Thomas, a couple who runs Columbus law firm Thomas and Thomas, represented Mohat Osman and Abdifatah Abdi. Both unsuccessfully argued for lower bonds.
I think $2-million bond is unreasonable under the facts of this case
said Larry Thomas, who proposed $200,000 bond with supervised release, if necessary.
A lower bond would allow Abdifatah Abdi and Mohat Osman to attend school. The Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail, unlike the juvenile detention center, does not offer high school classes. After juvenile court hearings, a judge decided both men should be tried as adults.
In previous hearings, the prosecution has argued that all four charged with Putnam's death are members of a Columbus gang. Ismahan Abdi said her brother isn't in a gang.
They're trying to say that they're part of some Somali pirate gang
she said. What the hell do they know about that?
dh100006@ohiou.edu
1
News
Dave Hendricks
27873a.jpg
(Dave Hendricks | Web Editor) The families of Mohat Osman and Abdifatah Abdi watched yesterday as Judge Michael Ward arraigned the two 17-year-old men.
