Doctoral Student Gets 15 Years for Killing BU Professor [on Richard Antoun]

A Binghamton University doctoral student, who stabbed a professor to death and initially sought an insanity defense, will serve 15 years in prison for the slaying.

Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, 48, was sentenced Friday in Broome County Court.

The Saudi national pleaded guilty May 20 to one felony count of first-degree manslaughter in the Dec. 4, 2009, killing of BU Professor Richard Antoun.

The 77-year-old emeritus professor of anthropology was stabbed several times with a knife by Al-Zahrani in Science Building 1 on the BU campus.

Broome County District Attorney Gerald F. Mollen said Friday he was satisfied with the plea agreement and sentence.

Under the plea, Al-Zahrani will be deported to Saudi Arabia after he serves his prison sentence. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he serves his 15-year sentence. Al-Zahrani agreed not to appeal his Broome County Court sentence, Mollen said.

He could have received up to 25 years on the manslaughter conviction. The minimum sentence is five years.

Mollen said there was a concern that without the guilty plea, the question of Al-Zahrani’s mental competency could have potentially changed his deportation status.

“The plea satisfies that concern,” Mollen said.

There was also the possibility of a jury verdict saying Al-Zahrani was not guilty by reason of insanity, had the case gone to trial. Al-Zahrani was deemed not competent to stand trial in February on the eve of his murder trial.

“This resolves various immigration issues that may have had to have been litigated,” Mollen said.

The Saudi Consulate has paid for Al-Zahrani’s legal defense. He was initially indicted by a grand jury on the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

Antoun, an expert on Middle Eastern cultures, had published several well-known works, including a book about fundamentalism.

In an interview with the Press & Sun-Bulletin, former roommates of Al-Zahrani said in the days before he killed Antoun, Al-Zahrani had been confrontational and upset about losing financing for his doctoral project in anthropology.

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