State - Jury hears openings in 2009 teen abduction and slaying

MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) -- A Macomb County jury has heard opening statements and witnesses in the trial of an 18-year-old accused of carrying out a crime spree that included the gunpoint abduction and killing of a man. Assistant Prosecutor Bill Cataldo told the jury Tuesday that Ihab Maslamani is clearly guilty. Maslamani and 17-year-old Robert Taylor are charged in the August 2009 abduction and slaying of 21-year-old Matt Landry of Chesterfield Township. Taylor's trial is upcoming. Defense lawyer Joseph Kosmala says Maslamani did rob a bank and steal a car but denies his client killed Landry. Authorities say Landry was kidnapped at gunpoint in Eastpointe and held four days in a vacant Detroit house before being shot in the head. Published: Thu, Sep 23, 2010