Brother found guilty of killing parents in San Jose home

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A Santa Clara County jury on Thursday found Hasib Bin Golamrabbi guilty of killing his parents at his San Jose home in 2016.

The jury of 9 men and three women found the 24-year-old guilty of first degree murder, as well as lying in wait and discharging a firearm while in commission of the crime.

“It is in many ways a tragic and sad end to the lives of Hasib’s parents. A couple is dead. One son is orphaned, and the other is convicted of killing them,” said Alaleh Kianerci, who filled in for Carlos Vega, who prosecuted the month-long case, but was unavailable to hear the verdict. 

Golamrabbi was charged in the shooting deaths of his parents, 59-year-old Golam Rabbi and 57-year-old Shamima Rabbi, in their home in San Jose's Evergreen neighborhood.

According to testimony during the trial, where he represented himself, Golamrabbi blamed his younger brother, who was cleared of a murder charge due to "insufficient evidence."

Legal analyst Steven Clark said representing himself was almost an "impossible job."

The case made national news due to the grizzly crime scene, with macabre writings on the wall and floor near the bodies..

“Sorry my first kill was clumsy,” read one.

 “I can’t be like you telling a lie. I can’t love someone without telling them,” read the second.

Hasib initially told investigators an intruder shot his father, and someone else killed his mother, but his young brother contradicted that account, saying there were no intruders in the home.

“The staging of the crime scene and trying to make it look like someone else seems to suggest this was beyond a rage killing but something was premeditated,” said legal analyst Steven Clark.

The Santa Clara County Deputy DA said she’s satisfied justice has been served, but this case is tragic on many levels.

“A conviction in a homicide case is never a triumph," said Kianerci. 

After the verdicts were read, Golamrobbi raised the possibility of making an oral argument at the time of sentencing. But legal analysts say he may have sealed his fate by being  both defense counsel and the accused in a murder case.

“He’s not going to be able to say he didn’t get a fair trial because he represented himself poorly. But he will be able to hire a new attorney at this point to go in and look at the entire trial process to see if other mistakes may have been made,” said Clark.

Sentencing is slated for Nov. 16. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.