Jury deliberates in Socastee murder trial

CONWAY —A jury is deliberating in the trial of 55-year-old Asghar Eliaderani, who is accused of suffocating his wife at their Socastee convenience store.

Eliaderani initially was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, but prosecutors upgraded that to murder after his wife died soon after the March 15, 2008, incident.

Horry County police responded to the Socastee Mini-Mart, located at 8545 S.C. 544, after the couple’s teenage daughter called dispatchers for help.

Horry County police officer Alex Smith, who responded to the scene first, was the state prosecutor’s first witness March 2.

Smith said Eliaderani walked out of the store with blood covering his shirt and a cut on his left arm.

“He told me, ‘My wife put Prozac in my coffee to poison me and then she stabbed me,’” Smith testified.

Once inside, investigators said they found Farrah Abbasi lying bleeding and unconscious behind the counter.

State prosecutors and defense lawyers presented their closing arguments Monday morning.

“There is one truth and I’m asking you to speak it loudly today,” said defense attorney Russell Long, “Asghar is innocent, the truth lies in the evidence.”

“You’ve got a domestic dictator,” said 15th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Brad Richardson, “This is not self defense.”

Eliaderani’s daughter, Tina Abbasi, testified March 2 and described a tumultuous relationship between her parents.

“I have never heard him like this,” Tina Abbasi said of speaking with her father before she called 911 the day of the incident. “I’ve heard him angry, but never in my life heard him like this. He was hysterical.”

Richardson brought Eliaderani’s close friend and mentor, James Phillip Spruill, to the witness stand March 5.

Spruill explained to the jury that Eliaderani called him the night of the incident and left a voicemail on his cell phone.

Richardson played the tape recording of the voicemail to the jury. Eliaderani can be heard on it pleading with Spruill to take care of his children.

“Please this is the time I’m gonna die and hopefully she’s gonna die because she was using me for the past 16 years,” Eliaderani said on the tape, “Please take care of my kids, please make sure they have a good education.”

“I’ve never known a person who speaks more about his children, and speaks about the love he has for his children,” said Spruill, “Because I asked him, why are you working so many hours?---He wanted to and I will quote him ‘He wanted his kids to have the very best’.”

Later that afternoon Eliaderani’s defense team brought a few of his other close friends to the witness stand.

“He's a loving husband and father, one that loved his family dearly,” said Eliaderani’s next door neighbor, Anna Welch.

Prior to Welch’s statement Cheryl Fale who has known Eliaderani for 20 years took the stand.

Fale said she had never known Eliaderani to be violent. She also said that his wife never liked going to the mini-mart or even working there.

"His mother was outside, she (Farrah Abbasi) came out and blatantly said ‘You're not wanted here, why don't you just go back to Iran?’, and excuse me but I can't say it like she did because it was very angry."

News13 spoke with Eliaderani’s close friend, Pat Moody, March 4 who said she couldn’t believe his daughter would testify against him.

”I’m in awe that the both of the children could be so complacent,” Moody said, “In his heart he loves those children, right to this minute when he watches them not give him any credence that he is even in the room, that's what hurts me."

That same morning, prosecutors showed the jury dash-cam video footage from the night of the incident in which Eliaderani is seen pacing back and forth looking frazzled and confused.

The jury also saw numerous pictures from the crime scene which included some images of what investigators said was of a plastic bag with blood splatter and a razor blade underneath it.

Richardson showed the jury items of clothing that Abbasi was wearing the night of the incident.

He held up a black coat, a red t-shirt, black pants and a bra that were all covered with dried blood.

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman granted Eliaderani a $500,000 bond a few months after his arrest.

Eliaderani was ordered to wear a global positioning system (GPS) monitoring device and not to make any contact with his children. He also was ordered to surrender his passports and not to leave Horry County.

“I don’t hate him,” Tina Abbasi said of her father March 2, “but I hate what he did to my mother, what he did to my brother.”

That same morning, Richardson gave his opening statements.

“This is a murder,” he said. “She (Farrah Abbasi) wanted to make her own money and he (Eliaderani) would not allow it.

“And then he (Eliaderani) takes us through the next two years with (an) increasing number of late-night screaming matches where the defendant would wake up and go the mother’s door and (shout) ‘Get up!’” Richardson said, banging his hand on a hard surface for emphasis.

In his opening statements, Long, described his client as a family man.

“Asghar would do any and every single thing he could do for his family. That’s not just his children,” Long said “But that is his wife and he loved her dearly. He is broken up and saddened and ruined today.”

Count on News13 and scnow.com for continuing coverage on the jury’s decision.