Prosecution Shows Videotaped Confession of Man Accused of Strangling Football Player's Daughter

A man on trial for strangling the daughter of a Hall of Fame football player in 1999 broke down in court Tuesday as prosecutors showed an emotional video of his confession just days after the murder.

Mohammed Haroon Ali, 36, is charged with killing his girlfriend Tracey Biletnikoff -- the daughter of former Oakland Raiders wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff -- on Feb. 15, 1999 at a drug rehab facility in San Mateo.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe Tuesday morning showed a videotape of Ali and San Mateo County Sheriff's Detective Doug Steiner, who questioned the defendant on Feb. 18 in San Diego after he was arrested trying to cross the border from Mexico in Biletnikoff's car.

During the interview, Ali said he was inspired to tell the truth by a dream he had while in jail, in which Tracey appeared all in white surrounded by clouds.

"I had a dream," he said. "Tracey was chasing me."

Ali then described in detail the fight with his girlfriend that took place in the office at "Friendship Hall," a meeting place at the Project 90 substance abuse treatment center where both had been through rehab for drug addictions and worked as counselors Ali said that Biletnikoff was enraged that he had relapsed just days before, having gone on a Saturday night binge that involved drinking in San Francisco and buying cocaine in San Mateo.

Biletnikoff cornered Ali in the office at Friendship Hall and insisted that he give up his position as peer counselor and restart the substance abuse program he had already completed, Ali said.

"She was pissed that I relapsed," he said. "She wouldn't let it go."

Ali claimed that Biletnikoff -- who was then 20 years old with blond hair and a petite frame -- called him a prick, a loser and a mother f***er, and slapped him once on the face and hit him several times on his chest.

Ali said she stood in the office doorway and refused to let him leave.

He said he grabbed her by the shoulders and told her to move.

"I said, 'get out of my way,'" Ali said.

When she refused to move, Ali said his hands moved from her shoulders to her neck.

"I pressed harder," he said.

Ali said that a vicious struggle ensued, with Biletnikoff swinging her fists wildly at his face and head while he continued to strangle her and force her onto the ground.

Biletnikoff's body became limp in Ali's arms and "white stuff" came out of her mouth, he said.

While that moment of the videotaped confession played on a screen in front of the courtroom, Ali sat with his head down and sobbed.

"I didn't mean to kill her," he said in the interview.

Later in the video, Ali told Steiner that he grabbed a black T-shirt from a table in the office and strangled Biletnikoff a second time.

"Did you tie that T-shirt around her neck after she was on the floor, after she was dead?" Steiner asked.

"Yeah," Ali said.

Ali faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

Defense attorney Peter Goldscheider has argued that the homicide was a crime of passion, which carries a much shorter sentence.

This is the second time that Ali has been on trial in San Mateo County Superior Court for the 1999 murder.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to 64 years to life in prison.

In 2009, an appellate court overturned the conviction stating that prosecutors had improperly dismissed at least one black juror, thus requiring a retrial.

Ali's second trial began in January.

The prosecution is scheduled to continue its case on Wednesday.

-- Bay City News