After the prosecutor's remarks, only a handful of people watched the trial, mostly Minor's relatives. His mother, Elzora Minor, held her son's cremated remains in a box. Flint police Officer Todd Pillsbury testified that he was with Minor when an emergency medical crew arrived.

"He was struggling to breathe. ... He stated, `Help me, I'm dying,'" Pillsbury recalled.

Outside court, Minor's sister, Stephanie Ward, said she'll never understand the tragedy.

"I can't get that fear out of my head, what he went through that night," Ward said.

Abuelazam also is charged with attempted murder in Toledo, Ohio, and is suspected in attacks in Leesburg, Va., where he formerly lived.