Man who murdered teen in 2023 roadside altercation sentenced to 22 years

A man who shot and killed another driver in a May 2023 road rage incident was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison.

Dennis Mokin was convicted last year of murdering 19-year-old Diar Umari in the incident, which was caught on video by another road user and caused an uproar in Arab society.

The Nazareth District Court also ordered Mokin to pay Umari’s family NIS 258,000 ($84,500) in damages.

Mokin, a resident of the northern Jewish community of Gan Ner, opened fire on Umari, of the neighboring Arab community of Sandala, during a roadside argument in the area on May 6, 2023, and continued to shoot at him even as he tried to flee by getting back into his car.

Umari collapsed in a pool of blood and died as Mokin, who was driving drunk, left the scene. He later returned with his sister, whom he asked to lie to police and say that she had been the one driving.

The court found that Mokin’s actions were “of the utmost severity, ending the life of the deceased, a young man whose future lay ahead of him.”

רצח בן 19 בגלל ויכוח בכביש: דניס מוקין נידון ל-22 שנות מאסר.

בית המשפט המחוזי בנוף הגליל גזר 22 שנות מאסר על דניס מוקין בן ה-34, שהורשע ברצח באדישות של הצעיר דיאר אל עומרי בן ה-19 בשנת 2023 על רקע ויכוח שהתפתח בין השניים בכביש..>>> pic.twitter.com/cAgPmi4xkR

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In a two-to-one ruling in December, the judges in the case convicted Mokin of murder with depraved indifference rather than intent, because he fired the fatal shot when Umari was trying to pry away his gun.

Umari’s parents slammed the ruling at the time, saying their son was killed intentionally.

Umari’s father Ahmed told the Arab48 news site after the sentencing that the punishment, given the “murderous settler criminal, who hates our Arab people,” will not “quench our thirst, nor the thirst of our people, family and countrymen, for retribution.”

Gan Ner is not a settlement and is located in Israel proper.

“Our wound will keep bleeding forever,” Ahmed said.

Mokin’s attorney had argued that his client acted in self-defense, fired a warning shot in the air, and had thought Umari had gone to his car to get something with which to return and attack him. He also rejected suggestions that Mokin acted out of nationalist, anti-Arab sentiment.

צעיר בן 19 נורה למוות בצפון אחרי קטטה בין נהגים | תיעוד@Eliashkenazi12 pic.twitter.com/sRa6yUnSlL

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According to court documents, Mokin was driving home while under the influence of alcohol and with a suspended driver’s license when he tried to overtake Umari. He had a permit for the handgun he used in the incident, but was forbidden from carrying the weapon while drunk.

Umari, 19, then slowed down and drove toward the shoulder of the road before rolling down his window to ask Mokin, 32, where he was rushing to. The remark apparently set off Mokin, who quickly braked and hopped out of the car while it was still moving.

Prosecutors said Mokin, with pistol drawn, fired several shots into the air as Umari exited his vehicle and that the two then began to brawl, with the former continuing to hold his gun throughout the altercation.

As they wrestled on the ground — while another road user filmed the events — Mokin allegedly fired two shots at Umari’s chest “with the intention of killing him.” Apparently attempting to flee, Umari then ran back to his vehicle as Mokin stood and continued to fire at him, as seen in the video footage.

The three subsequent shots he fired at Umari’s back all missed their mark. According to the indictment, Mokin fired until he ran out of bullets.

As Umari lay mortally wounded, Mokin approached him, looked at him, and then fled.

Medical personnel alerted by bystanders took Umari to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, while Mokin continued home to Gan Ner, where he allegedly enlisted his sister in an attempted cover-up by instructing her to tell police she was driving at the time of the encounter.

Upon returning to the scene, prosecutors said, Mokin’s sister told officers she had been driving but shortly after confessed she lied.

Following the shooting, Mokin gave himself up to police and surrendered his gun.

Umari’s family and leading Arab lawmakers have blamed the killing on the hardline government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, in particular, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has sought to increase the number of citizens licensed to carry firearms as a way of countering terrorism and deadly crime.