DEARBORN — Board Members of the Islamic Institute of Knowledge on Schaefer Rd. have donated $7,500 to help a man who is believed to be mentally unstable seek a re-trial after he was convicted of assault with intent to murder. 

Hassan Ibrahim Bazzi, now 41 and facing 10 years in prison, was operating a vehicle on Schaefer Rd. in December 2011 when he allegedly tried to strike a Dearborn police officer before crashing into the ACCESS building.

Bazzi then attempted to escape on foot before he was captured by Dearborn Police. Since his arrest, family and friends have argued that Bazzi is mentally unstable and should receive a special trial.

Two attorneys that had originally taken on Bazzi’s case attempted to convince prosecutors that Bazzi had been suffering from schizophrenia and that he was not taking his medication, but Dearborn Judge Mark Somers ruled that there was enough evidence to warrant a trial at the Wayne County Circuit Court.

Bazzi.

During Bazzi’s trial, a Dearborn Police officer testified, claiming that the defendant tried to kill him during the incident. That testimony was good enough to convince a jury to find Bazzi guilty of the charge of assault with intent to murder. 

For several months now, the law office of Cyril C. Hall, P.C. has been preparing for a new trial and evidentiary hearing for Bazzi. Hall’s office is attempting to prove that Bazzi was denied the proper defense for someone of his mental state, and his previous attorneys’ failed to advance that defense. 

The lawyers will be using the $7,500 to round up a group of experts that will include doctors and attorneys in the fields of mental health and insanity defense to try to prove to the court that Bazzi was not given a fair trial in light of his mental condition. The doctors and attorneys will be carefully reviewing his mental records and trial testimony. 

“People with mental health problems deserve a fair shake and should have more of the law on their side because they aren’t in the same playing field as ordinary citizens. In some cases they can’t even understand what it is to be in the conformity of the law,” said Amir Makled, an Attorney from the Law Office of Cyril C. Hall. 

There could possibly be some good news working in Bazzi’s favor. The state of Michigan in the last year has been aiming to give more rights and alternatives to mentally ill residents who are in trouble with the law. The state is looking to pass a new law that expands its mental health court program, making the program a requirement in each county. The alternative courts offer an opportunity to rehabilitate mentally ill residents who violate the law rather than simply incarcerating them.

At press time, there is no date set for Bazzi’s hearing for a retrial. He is currently serving his prison sentence at the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian, Michigan.