Appeals court upholds conviction of Downers Grove man in 2013 shooting of his mom
Michael Bassaly
WHEATON, Ill. - The 2017 conviction of a Downers Grove man for the shooting death of his mother has been upheld by a state appellate court.
Michael Bassaly, 34, had appealed a first-degree murder conviction in the 2013 fatal shooting of his mother, 61-year-old Yvonne Zaky Bassaly, in Burr Ridge. Bassaly was sentenced to a 55-year prison term.
The Second District Appellate Court affirmed the conviction Nov. 10, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in a statement Tuesday.
Bassaly had claimed in his appeal that the trial court “abused its discretion by denying his request for a lesser-included-offense jury instruction of involuntary manslaughter, as well as ineffective assistance of counsel,” according to Berlin’s statement. The appellate court rejected the claims.
Three years ago, Berlin said Bassaly committed an “execution-style” murder.
At 12:53 a.m. on August 29, 2013, Michael Bassaly made a 911 call, and officers were dispatched to St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church at 15W455 79th Street in Burr Ridge, prosecutors said at Bassaly’s trial.
They found Yvonne Zaky Bassaly gasping for air in the backseat of a vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to a hospital, where she died less than an hour later.