Bond cut for dad in daughter's fire pit death (Detroit Free Press)

Bond cut for dad in daughter's fire pit death
Family worries about immigration status
By TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Posted: 11:24 a.m. Oct. 20, 2010

The family of the New Haven Elementary second-grader killed in a fire pit accident has hope today that her father soon will be released from jail while the child abuse case against him continues.

Judge William Hackel III – brother of Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel – dropped bond for Majd Mohammad Al-Shara of Lenox Township to 10% of $10,000 rather than requiring $10,000 cash at a hearing today in 42-2 District Court in New Baltimore.

Hackel also said Al-Shara will be required to wear a tether and not leave Macomb County, where his daughter, Aliaa Al-Shara, 6, was fatally burned Sept. 19.

But after explaining that a court report deemed Al-Shara a low fight risk, Hackel pointed out that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement still has a hold on Al-Shara.

The Jordanian citizen has been in the country illegally for nearly 10 years, said his wife, Cheryl Edgil, who is worried that the entire situation could end up with Al-Shara's deportation.

"I am worried. I'm very worried," she said. "He's never been in any trouble. He's a good man. He loved his daughter. He worked hard. I really hope this can be worked out, that they can let these charges drop."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Khaalid Walls said this morning that he expected to have information about the agency's involvement in the case sometime today.

Police say Al-Shara and Aliaa were sitting at a fire pit Sept. 19 at their home in the Quail Run subdivision when he tried to stoke the flames with gasoline. The resulting explosion caught Aliaa's clothing on fire; she died Sept. 22. Aliaa's mother and 14-year-old half-brother were on their way to a Christian concert in Clarkston when the accident occurred.

Al-Shara has been in the Macomb County Jail since he was charged with second-degree child abuse. And while allusions were made by a Macomb County assistant prosecutor at a previous hearing that charges could become more severe in light of Aliaa's death, Assistant Prosecutor Therese Tobin said today that no decision has been made.

"The bottom line is we can't be swayed by emotion," she said after the hearing. "We have to deal with the facts in front of us."

Test results from the Michigan State Police were still pending, and investigators from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office are still waiting for information from the Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office, Tobin said.

The judge rescheduled the preliminary examination hearing for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 8.

Al-Shara's lawyer, Richard Graving, said he hopes the test results will help prove Al-Shara shouldn't be charged with a crime for his daughter's death.

"When they complete their investigation, if they're ever able to explain that accident in detail, I'm optimistic the Sheriff's Office and prosecutors will be just as convinced as I am it was just a terrible accident," Graving said. He also said he expects to talk to the family's immigration lawyer sometime today.

Al-Shara attended today's hearing with his arms shackled over white bandages wrapping his hands and arms up to his elbows. He also was severely burned in the accident, during which neighbor Mark Elzerman came running with a Red Wings blanket to try to extinguish the flames that consumed Aliaa.

Elzerman, 27, attended today's hearing to show support for Al-Shara, a regular participant in the neighborhood's Sunday afternoon game of horseshoes. The community also held a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser at New Haven Elementary a few weeks ago that raised $7,000 for the family's medical costs and funeral expenses.

"This is just carrying it on, making it worse," Elzerman said as he sat in the back of the courtroom. "He's got a family to take care of. I'm sure he's suffering enough. And not only is it making it worse for him, it's making it worse for his wife and family. It's making it bad for everybody."