Sentencing For Iraqi Man Who Beat Wife To Death

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — An Iraqi immigrant could get life in prison for his wife's fatal beating, which initially drew international condemnation when authorities believed it was a hate crime.

Kassim Alhimidi is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in San Diego Superior Court for killing Shaima Alawadi at their home in 2012 in El Cajon, a suburb east of San Diego.

Prosecutors said he killed her because she planned to divorce him. The couple's eldest daughter found her in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. Alawadi died two days later.

A note found nearby read: "This is my country, go back to yours, you terrorist."

That set off a hate-crime investigation, but investigators later determined the note was a photocopy that was possibly planted in the house.