Maria Isa

Case details

Maria Isa was a Brazilian mother who assisted in the murder of her sixteen-year-old daughter Palestina (Tina) in 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Palestina (Tina) was murdered by her Palestinian father, Zein Isa, with the aid of Maria Isa. Zein Isa repeatedly stabbed his daughter Tina, while Maria held her down.

Background

The case involved clashes of cultures within the Isa household. Palestina (Tina) listened to American popular music such as dance, rap, R&B, and rock. The family context included parental attempts to control their daughter’s behavior, including disputes over a part-time job taken without parents’ permission and dating a non-Muslim African American man.

Maria Isa was Roman Catholic, while Zein Isa and the other family members were Muslim. The family had lived in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and on the West Bank before Palestina (Tina) was happiest in St. Louis. She played high school soccer over her father’s objections and went to the junior prom only to be taken away by family members.

In the Isa household, it was brought out that the daughters were supposed to work only for their parents at home or at their small grocery store, and they were not to date outside the faith or leave home without permission.

The offence

On the day of the murder, Zein Isa repeatedly stabbed Palestina (Tina) as Maria Isa held her down. The killing was recorded by electronic bugging devices placed in the family’s home.

Investigators said Tina was stabbed six times in the chest with a boning knife, which pierced her heart, one lung, and liver. The killing was described as being captured over a brief sequence in which Tina pleaded for mercy while her parents attacked her.

Verbatim statements included shouts by Zein Isa in Arabic during the recorded killing, including:

• "Die! Die quickly! Die, my daughter, die!"
• "Die! Die quickly! Die quickly!"
• "Quiet, little one! Die my daughter, die!"

During the recorded exchange, Zein Isa stated:

• "Here, listen, my dear daughter, do you know that this is the last day. Tonight, you're going to die?"
• "Do you know that you are going to die tonight?"

Tina responded:

• "Huh?"

Maria Isa asked her questions about items in her schoolbag during the killing sequence. In the midst of her conversation with Maria, Tina began to shriek in fear. Verbatim statements on the tape included:

• "Keep still, Tina!" said her father.
• "Mother, please help me!" said Tina.
• "Huh? What do you mean?" said the mother.
• "Help! Help!" said Tina.
• "What help?" said the mother.
• "Are you going to listen? Are you going to listen?" said Maria.
• "Yes! Yes! Yes, I am!" Tina gasped and then added: "No. Please!"
• "Shut up!" said the mother.
• "Die! Die quickly! Die quickly!" said the father.
• "Quiet, little one! Die my daughter, die!" said the father.

Zein Isa admitted on the witness stand that he put his foot on his daughter’s mouth to quiet her. Maria Isa did not testify.

Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation planted listening devices in the Isa apartment. The devices were placed in connection with suspected terrorist activities involving Zein Isa.

The investigation involved electronic bugging and the recorded killing on an audio cassette. The surveillance unit was not staffed on Nov. 6, 1989, the night Tina Isa was killed.

Soon after the killing, the FBI turned over a number of tapes to the prosecutor, Dee Joyce-Hayes. The tapes included telephone conversations in which Zein Isa discussed with his other daughters methods of getting rid of Tina, including accusing her of attacking him with a knife.

A crucial factor in the trial was that the FBI recorded Tina’s murder on an audio cassette, which was important in confirming that Maria was an active participant in the murder and that Zein’s claim of self-defense against Tina was false.

The defendants argued that the tapes should be excluded, and the court allowed the tapes as evidence, enabling the jury to hear Tina’s voice from the recording.

Trial

On December 20, 1991, Zein Isa and Maria Isa were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Both were tried in connection with the 1989 stabbing death of Tina Isa at their apartment.

A jury that convicted the couple on Oct. 25 recommended the death penalty. The jury deliberated more than four hours before asking for the death penalty against Zein Isa and his wife, Maria.

Judge Charles A. Shaw of Circuit Court set a Dec. 13 sentencing date for Zein Isa and his wife.

Bob Craddick, an assistant prosecutor for seven years, described the impact of hearing the tape in court: "It's worse than any movie, any film, anything I thought that I would ever hear in my life"

A quotation attributed to Maria Isa appeared in connection with reported statements during the sentencing coverage: "If my father is sent to death because he is a Muslim, then he is proud of himself to die that way," the dead girl's sister, Fatima Isa, screamed after the sentences were handed down by Circuit Judge Charles A. Shaw.

Zein Isa testified in Arabic through a translator. He stated: "When I said, 'You are going to die tonight,' she already had the knife in her hand," "I then directed the knife toward her to stab her until she fell down."

During deliberations, jurors asked to rehear the tape of the killing, and they did so over the protest of defense lawyers.

Verbatim statements by jurors and legal personnel during the trial coverage included:

• "We don't want them to play it. If they hear it again, it'll kill us."
• "I cried because I wish I could have been there to help her," said Bob Craddick? (The alternate juror Carl Smith was quoted.)
• "For him to say 'die quickly' and put his foot over her mouth, at some point I just wanted to stand up and scream." said Jean Lloyd.

Alternate juror Carl Smith said: "I cried because I wish I could have been there to help her,"

Alternate juror Jean Lloyd said: "For him to say 'die quickly' and put his foot over her mouth, at some point I just wanted to stand up and scream."

After the verdicts were returned, Tina Isa’s high school friends burst into tears, while the Isa family and friends quietly clenched hands.

Soraia Salem, one of Tina’s sisters, said the system failed her sister and that the family sought help from the police in the months before the murder, including asking for Tina to be placed in a foster home. Prosecutors said they found only one police report.

Verbatim statements from people at the scene included:

• "I feel it's not right. We follow our religion," said Mrs. Abraham.
• "They'd be embarrassed in front of everybody in the country like somebody when they go without their clothes outside."
• Charles Heuvelman said the parents had no right to kill their child "just because she wants to be an American teen-ager. Tina Isa America's Honor Killing By Erika Lyn Smith - BellaOnline.com" (as included in the scraped text)

Sentencing

On December 20, 1991, both Zein Isa and Maria Isa were sentenced to death by injection for the 1989 stabbing death of their daughter Tina Isa.

The only alternative to the death sentence described in the coverage was life in prison without parole.

Maria Isa’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without parole.

Appeals

Maria’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without parole after she challenged her conviction regarding the sentence in comparison to her husband who stabbed Tina to death.

Outcome

Zein Isa was indicted by the FBI on April 1, 1993 in connection with his terrorist activities within the Abu Nidal Organization; the charges were dropped because he was already on death row for his daughter’s murder.

Zein Isa later died of diabetes complications on February 17, 1997.

Other details

Maria Isa and Zein Isa were described as a fundamentalist Muslim couple in the sentencing coverage.

A Forensic Files episode featured the case. An NBC? (none provided) and no further confirmed outlets were listed beyond a mention of an episode and scraped references.

Tina Isa’s full name was Palestina.