With Aziz’s Sentencing, Sweeney Case Is Closed
Man Who Hired Hit Man Given 32 Years Behind Bars

 

By JOHN W. SIMMS
Special to the Chronicle

 

TULSA--The man who hired the hit man and other conspirators to kill a businessman was sentenced last week, thus, closing the sordid case.
A judge sentenced former convenience store operator Mohammed Aziz, 60, to 32 ½ years in prison plus 2½ years of probation for setting in motion the plot to murder Neal Sweeney.
“A tragedy comes to a close in Tulsa County,” said Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris, adding that the murder-for-hire was a “career case.”
“We are grateful that today has finally come,” said Jan Sweeney, the slain man’s widow.
The killing occurred in 2008, and there were three murder trials.
Mr. Sweeney was shot once in the head on Sept. 4, 2008, at his business, Retail Fuels Marketing.
The former University of Tulsa football standout wide receiver died the next day.
Retail Fuels Marketing had stopped regular delivery of fuel to Mr. Aziz’s convenience stores after he failed to make payments, resulting into major financial problems for Mr. Aziz.
He then decided to have Mr. Sweeney killed.
Mr. Aziz, a native of Pakistan, operated two stores in Tulsa and one in Collinsville.
The convenience owner told prosecutors he agreed to pay $10,000 to have Mr. Sweeney killed, but actually paid $11,100.
Jan Sweeney told Mr. Aziz last week that her husband “would be alive today if it weren’t for you.”
Mr. Aziz “decided to blame someone else” for his own failures and made installment payments to have him killed, she said.
Neal Sweeney was an “amazing” man of integrity, his wife continued.
Allison Sweeney Turner, one of Mr. Sweeney’s three daughters, said she is “forever honored to be his daughter.”
She said that at his funeral--which Mr. Aziz attended--she pledged to her father that “we would remain “Sweeney Strong” in his honor.
His family and the community rallied around this concept, and “every father should be honored like that,” the daughter said.
She described Mr. Aziz as “pathetic.”
She said her father loved his family and community and “had a genuine spirit that soared above any man I have ever known.”
Ken Sue Doerfel, Mr. Aziz’s defense attorney, said Mr. Aziz accepted responsibility a year ago when he pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting murder.
Mr. Aziz’s family was not in court last week because they felt shame over his actions, Mr. Doerfel said.
Mr. Aziz did not speak in his own behalf at the sentencing.
In Jan. 2012, he pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder, and prosecutors dismissed murder and conspiracy counts against him.
His deal called for him to testify for the prosecution and to get a prison sentence in the 25-to 35-year range.
Last week, Tulsa County District Judge Tom Gillert sentenced Mr. Aziz.
Soliciting murder is not a crime that requires an offender to serve 85 percent of a prison term before becoming eligible for parole.
Gillert gave Aziz credit for one year in jail since his guilty plea.
District Attorney Harris said earlier that “a deal with the Devil” was reached during plea negotiations, but said it was necessary to piece together the conspiracy and to have a live witness in court after Allen Shields, another witness, killed himself.
One jury found Alonzo “Jack” Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
He was sentenced to two life prison terms.
Terrico Bethel, described as the hit man in the case, was convicted at a trial and sentenced to life without parole for murder plus 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.
Fred Shields Jr. was sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms--one of them without the possibility of parole—after he was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Allen Shields pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count and testified for the prosecution at a preliminary hearing after he was offered a deal, which would have given him 10-years probation and no prison time.
He died in 2011 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound