Fankie Resto appeared in a New Haven Superior Courtroom Thursday morning; he rejected a potential plea deal in his felony murder case.
Judge Patrick Clifford previously discussed a 40 year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea with the man accused of killing Meriden convenience store owner Ibrahim Ghazal. After Resto’s refusal of the deal, the case will likely go to trial next month.
Resto is still in police custody on a $3 million bond.
Ghazal’s widow Sudqieh and his daughter Tharwat attended the court appearance. The family says more than a year after Ibrahim’s June 2012 murder; they had to close the convenience store they once owned and the presence of Ibrahim in their lives is deeply missed.
Family advocate and former State Senator Len Suzio explained, “Mrs. Ghazal and her 6 children are condemned for a lifetime of brutal and senseless murder of their father.”