DETROIT — Wayne County Judge Paul Cusick sentenced Hassan Alwaily to 10 to 40 years May 24 for second-degree murder in the April 6, 2020 death of 29-year-old Balkees Sadek in Dearborn.

If it were up to Cusick, Alwaily would spend the maximum 40 years of his sentence in prison for fatally strangling Sadek, who was his girlfriend, and leaving her body in her bathtub. But the judge was limited by a plea deal and sentencing agreement when he gave Alwaily, 37, a 10- to 40-year prison sentence. 

He said during the sentencing hearing Friday that it was “clear beyond any reasonable doubt” that Alwaily killed Sadek. He had concerns about Alwaily’s plea deal, which lowered a felony murder charge to second-degree murder and set the 10 to 40-year sentencing agreement. He thought it was too light of a sentence and only accepted it because the family wanted him to, so they could avoid going through a trial.

Sadek’s sisters found her strangled to death in her bathtub on April 6, 2020. She is believed to have been killed earlier that day. Her sisters said she and Alwaily had a tumultuous on-and-off dating relationship and he had recently threatened to “make Sadek’s life hell,” according to a 2022 Court of Appeals ruling on the legality of the police’s seizure of Alwaily’s cell phone.

Alwaily told police he had not spoken to Sadek in about a week, but investigators found a deleted text message to her saying he was on his way to see her at about 2 a.m. April 6. His phone had been turned off from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. and he’d searched the Internet for how to delete Google location history.

Surveillance footage showed Alwaily entering Sadek’s neighborhood around 2:15 a.m. and leaving around 5:25 a.m., according to the appeals court ruling. Her security system confirmed these times.

Amir Makled, Alwaily’s attorney, said his client understood that a trial would be exposing the family to another traumatic and horrifying experience. Alwaily declined to say anything before Cusick sentenced him.

“Alwaily stands by the no contest plea he accepted,” Makled said. “It is a show of remorse to the extent that he can say anything.”