HOUSTON – The man who has listened during five weeks of his own trial is expected to now speak.
Ali Irsan is expected to testify in his own defense. He is accused of killing his daughter Nesreen Beavers' best friend, Gelareh Bagherzadeh and husband, Coty Beavers.
Prosecutors said Ali Irsan attempted to cleanse his daughter by killing everyone important in her life and next planned to kill Nesreen Beavers. Prosecutors said Irsan was angry that his daughter brought shame to his Muslim family when she started dating, then married, a Christian man.
“This is one man and one family's extremist views that were taken to the extreme and led to the deaths of two innocent people," Prosecutor Jon Stephenson said during opening statements.
“They're going to want you to either execute him or give him life without parole in a case which you truly are not going to know what happened," Defense Attorney Allen Tanner said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the defense attempted to use the testimony of three of Irsan's sons to undermine Nesreen Beaver’s earlier testimony.
She claimed she was the primary caregiver in an oppressive, sometimes violent home. The sons said on the stand that their father was not abusive. All three denied knowing anything about his stalking of the Beavers.
The sons said Irsan was upset when Nesreen ran away to be with Beavers, but not enraged as earlier witnesses testified.