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N.D. (AP) – The judge overseeing a murder trial in Jamestown says it could go to the jury by midweek.
 
Thirty-four-year-old Leron Howard has pleaded not guilty to murder and criminal conspiracy in the April 2011 death of Abdi Ali Ahmed, an 18-year-old Somali immigrant whose body was found in a ditch near Spiritwood. The trial began with jury selection last Tuesday.

State medical examiner William Massello testified on Friday that Ahmed was hit on the head and suffered a devastating brain injury, and that he also was stabbed in the chest and stomach area. The head injury has been ruled the likely cause of death.

Judge Thomas E. Merrick said Friday that the case could possibly go to the jury for deliberation by Wednesday.
 
One person already has been found guilty in Ahmed’s death. A jury in February convicted Janelle Cave on manslaughter and criminal conspiracy charges. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison and is appealing her conviction.

Cave is expected to testify Monday or Tuesday in Howard’s trial. As part of her sentence, she is required to testify in the trial.