Case closed.

The Shelby Food Mart is located in Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after store employee Firas Al Kurdi began his shift on October 12, 2002, a man brandishing a knife entered the store and demanded money. The thug, later identified as James Abdul-Shajee, grabbed Al Kurdi and held the knife to his throat. After inflicting a few cuts, Abdul-Shajee made numerous swipes at Al Kurdi's face, nearly severing the beleaguered employee's nose.

Meanwhile, another employee retrieved a handgun kept under the cashier's counter for self-defense, but put it down when Abdul-Shajee, who was still menacing Al Kurdi, ordered him to do so. A struggle then ensued between Al Kurdi and his knife-wielding assailant, during which Al Kurdi managed to grab the gun and shoot his attacker three times. When police arrived minutes later, they found Abdul-Shajee lying in front of the store. He was pronounced dead later that day at a local hospital. Al Kurdi survived, but required extensive plastic surgery for his wounds.

Abdul-Shajee was charged posthumously with first-degree robbery. His extensive criminal record, dating back to 1988, included six convictions for armed robbery, two for wanton endangerment, and one for kidnapping. He had been granted parole in the fall of 2001.

Incredibly, despite persuasive evidence that the store employee had shot Abdul-Shajee in self-defense, in March 2003 a Jefferson County grand jury indicted Al Kurdi on one count of murder. His jury trial commenced on May 4 of this year, with Jefferson County circuit judge Martin McDonald presiding.

Attorneys for the prosecution argued that while Abdul-Shajee had entered the store to rob it, he did not deserve to die. They called a number of eyewitnesses who gave seriously conflicting accounts of what they had supposedly seen. After they rested their case on May 6, Al Kurdi's attorney moved to have Judge McDonald decide the case with a directed verdict from the bench, rather than leave it to the jury.

Judge McDonald granted the request, ruling that there simply was not enough credible evidence against Al Kurdi to continue. The judge declared: "If there is a victim in this room fight now, it's Mr. [Al] Kurdi. He was viciously assaulted by this animal [Abdul-Shajee] and his actions were completely reasonable under the circumstances." Describing the case as "troubling to me from the get-go," the judge wondered how it "got by the grand jury" in the first place. He contended that it "screams out for justice" and "needs to be dismissed, and that is exactly what I am going to do."

The May 8 Louisville Courier-Journal further quoted Judge McDonald from a subsequent interview as explaining that "the proof was overwhelming that the shop owner was lending for his life. And the perpetrator was not just a robber. This was an attempted murder."

Since the directed verdict cannot be appealed, the case, at last, is closed.