McDonald's Murder Case Takes Shocking Turn

She's a bully. I'm telling you. She's a bully. She could keep being a. bully if she wants to, but that is going. to catch up to her. You might remember. this woman, Afeni Muhammad, the. McDonald's employee who apparently went. on a rant that prosecutors say turned. deadly when she was accused of killing. her manager at McDonald's following an. argument. Well, now a major decision has. flipped this case and we are going to. break down what it means for what comes. next in court with a criminal defense. attorney. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law&Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

[Music]. This all started with a rant. It was. raw, it was angry, and it was all over. Instagram. She's a bully. I'm telling you. She's a bully. Somebody going to have to. do something about that. It's not funny. It's not fair. It isn't funny at all. So, you know, she could keep being a. bully if she wants to, but that is going. to catch up to her. So, yeah, you might remember this woman, 27-year-old Afeni Muhammad, who we have.

talked about here before on Sidebar. That was her apparently venting online. about her manager at a McDonald's in. Eastpoint, Michigan. And hours later, that same manager, Jennifer Harris, was. dead. And now, after months of silence. and questions about what would happen. next in this case, there is finally a. new development that we have to talk. about. One that clears the way for what. comes next in court. Now, we're going to. get to that, but first we got to rewind. This is one of those stories that. actually started on social media and it.

spiraled into something that no one. could have imagined. On July 10th, police say that Afeni Muhammad, an. employee at the McDonald's on 9 Mile. Road, got into some sort of argument. with her manager, Jennifer Harris, after. she said she was sent home early. According to investigators, Muhammad. left, sat in her car for a while, and. then came back with a knife. So, when we. talk about premeditation, let's think. about that. When officers arrived, what.

did they find? Harris had been. reportedly stabbed up to 15 times. A. customer with a gun had stepped in to. stop Muhammad from fleeing. Now, Harris. was rushed to the hospital. She. tragically died later from her injuries. Horrific case. And on July 11th, when we. talk about what's going on in the court. process, Muhammad made her first court. appearance for her arraignment. This is. where detectives laid out what they say. happened in chilling detail. Prior to.

the stabbing, Muhammad was sent home by. Harris for not performing her work. duties and told Harris, "I'll be back.". Muhammad was arrested on scene and knife. was recovered. Muhammad admitted that. she intended to kill Harris and stated. that after she was sent home, uh she. drove to a nearby park, decided to come. back and stab Harris with a knife uh. that she had inside of her vehicle. When. Muhammad returned to stab Harris, she. entered the back entrance with a hooded. mask over her face in an attempt to. conceal her identity and attempted to. flee the scene after the stabbing, but. was stopped by an armed customer. So,

Muhammad was charged with first-degree. premeditated murder and carrying a. dangerous weapon with unlawful intent. Now, she's also been charged as a. habitual offender. What does that mean? Well, it's a designation that stems. seemingly from a prior stabbing. conviction in Virginia. We're going to. talk about that, too. Her bond was also. set at $25 million cash or surety, strict conditions if she were to be. released, so that includes GPS. monitoring, drug and alcohol testing, no. contact with the victim's family, and a.

ban on returning to that particular. McDonald's. Now, if you're a fan of. Sidebar, if you're a fan of what we do. here at Law&Crime, then you know that we. cover a lot of cases. And you might be. wondering, how are we able to share so. many clips with our followers in such. real time, in such a fast fashion? Well, I'll tell you, if you're interested in. getting content up there very fast, we. use a platform called Opus Clip. This is. an all-in-one AI editor that makes it. easier and faster to cut, create, and. upload videos across all social media. platforms. Through the power of AI, Opus. Clip automatically generates b-roll, it.

cleans up audio, and it reframes your. videos for any platform. Opus Clip is so. easy to start using. I'm going to show. you how right now. All you got to do is. go to opus.pro/sidebar. You sign up, you. upload a video, and in just a few. minutes you will have tons of perfectly. edited clips ready to go. So, whether. you're making videos for TikTok or. shorts or Instagram Reels, Opus Clip is. your one-stop shop for getting your best. content seen by more viewers across all. these platforms with the press of just. one button. And if you're wondering how. good these AI-edited videos are from. Opus Clip, just look at our content here.

at Law&Crime. Our producers have used. Opus to help us cut and share clips of. some of our biggest trials and we do it. really, really fast. Look, at Sidebar, we know our listeners have a lot of. opinions and ideas to share. And this is. the most powerful tool there is to help. you edit like a pro and grow your. audience. So, give it a try for. yourself. Go to opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. Now, we got to talk about what happened. at her next hearing on July 23rd. This. is when Muhammad's defense attorney. requested a com- petency and criminal.

responsibility evaluation. In other. words, does she understand the legal. process and what's happening? And you're. asking that this matter be adjourned for. discovery, number one, and number two, you want to refer to the Forensic Center. for competency and culpability, is that. correct? Yes, Your Honor. Counsel does. request at this time that Ms. Muhammad. be referred to to the Forensic Center. To the Forensic Center for this matter. I'm just merely saying that this Ms. Muhammad herself personally objects to. being referred at this time.

What is the uh. factual basis that you're relying on for. the referral? Your Honor, based upon my. observations of the case um and in. reviewing the case, um specifically the. police reports, um in litigating my. observations and interacting. with Ms. Muhammad, um I need to check. those two boxes. Being I need to make sure that one, she. is competent to stand trial, and then. two, if there is not an issue with her.

mental health and culpability. So, this meant that the case would pause. while doctors, evaluators would. determine whether Muhammad really. understood her charges, whether or not. she could assist in her own defense. We. actually spoke with forensic. psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober about what. evaluators look for in these situations, what it really means to be competent to. stand trial. This is what he had to say. Competency is a moving target. You know, someone could be competent one week and. they could be incompetent the next week. So, in the United States, competency is.

determined by US Supreme Court case USV. Dusky. And essentially, what that case. says is that you have to have the. ability to work with your attorney, to. collaborate with them, and have a. rational and factual understanding of. the charges against you. So, there are. so many different reasons. Uh I watched. the Instagram video that she had posted. prior to the incident and you clearly. have someone who has poor impulse. control, is emotionally dysregulated, has escalating anger, repeated.

frustration, feels powerless over her. situation, and you know, feels that. she's being subjected to this perceived. injustice. There are so many different. things here in the differential and. obviously, I've never examined her, so I. can't make a diagnosis, but I think. about things like psychosis, a. personality disorder, substance use, perhaps repeated exposure to trauma, and. I think about delusions, I think about. psychosis when I hear something like. that, but again, there's just so much.

information that we would need. For. example, uh was she treated for a prior. mental health condition? Was she under. the care of a psychiatrist? These are. things I'd want to know. Talk to people. that were around her in the hours and. days prior to the incident. Now, during. this same period, we also learned that. Afeni Muhammad had a prior violent. conviction. In March of 2022, she. pleaded guilty in Virginia to unlawful. wounding injury, stab wound, cut without. malicious intent. Court records from. Virginia that were reviewed by.

ClickOnDetroit show that Muhammad had. stabbed her then boyfriend during an. argument in 2022, later telling police, "I stabbed him. Is he okay?" Now, she. was sentenced to 4 years, but that term. was suspended, so meaning she only. served probation. Now, it becomes a. question, could that affect the current. case? So, now the case is back in motion. after the results from the findings on. her competency evaluation came in. And. we're going to break down that report in. a moment, but first we got to get into. all aspects of this case. So, let me. bring on somebody to talk about this,

somebody I'm always happy to have on, criminal defense attorney John Day. John, thanks so much for taking the time. to come back here on Sidebar to talk. about what is a very, very strange and. yet sad case. Um from a prosecutorial. point of view, maybe even a criminal. defense point of view, uh what do you. think the strength of this case is? I. mean, you have this social media post, you have a potential eyewitness who. allegedly stopped the defendant. Um talk. to me about how strong you think the. evidence is in this case. I mean, you.

know, the social media post, the. eyewitness, those are all, if you're the. prosecutor, you really, I guess it. doesn't get much better than that. I. mean, you know, eyewitnesses, of course, are. always subject to uh you know, the idea. that what we see is not necessarily what. really happened. There's always a lot of. research on that, but if I'm prosecuting. this, I'm pretty, I feel pretty good. about that. I mean, that's some. uh that's enough for me to keep going. and you're going to hope that a jury. sees this the same way. Now, we'll talk about mental health in a. second, but looking at this, if we build.

up the narrative that she was angry at. her manager, she had this, you know, you. know, it was fuming for quite some time, but how does the law separate between, let's say, an emotional impulse, maybe. in the heat of an argument, even though. she allegedly stepped out, came back in, and premeditation? Or is it just a very, very thin line? Well, you know, premeditation can occur in an instant. and that's what prosecutors are always. trying to convince a jury when they're.

asked to step down a charge in a in a. homicide case. I mean, it's the the premeditation. It's the. what was going on in that defendant's. mind, what was leading up to that. Um. it's could just be a snap decision, but. in the right circumstances, you can have. premeditation that occurs in that snap. decision moment. And so, um it's the it's the idea that there's a. backstory. Okay? This is not just a. chance encounter road rage type. homicide. This There's a backstory. There's something going on.

And if you're the prosecutor, you want. to hammer that home for the jury. You. want to say, "Look, this is This is what. was building. It's like turning on a tea. kettle, and eventually the the the steam. explodes, and that's what was happening. here." And so, the prosecutors are going. to look at the backstory. They're going. to try to uh build it up. They're going. to try to put a foundation together so. the jury understands uh really why this. occurred, even though it was um you. know, obviously it was a horrifying. situation. In the eyes of the. prosecutors, there's a reason that this. happened, and jurors, we're going to. explain to you why.

And from a legal point of view, how does. a prior conviction like Muhammad's 2022. stabbing case out in Virginia, how does. that influence either the current. charges or potential sentencing if she's. convicted? Right. Well, clearly it's not. happening in a vacuum. I mean, this is. not a a situation where it's an you. know, it's an aberration. At least in. the eyes of the prosecutor, in the eyes. of the state, it's it's not an. aberrational thing. It's something that. there's a history. She knows full well what happens when. you take a blade to a human body. She's. experienced that before. So, at the very.

least in sentencing, it's going to play. a huge role. Um and of course, a lot. depends on what gets in what the judge. lets in in front of the jury. But the. idea that this is someone who's not uh. who is who has a familiarity with what. happens when you when you take an. instrument like that, a deadly weapon, and you apply it to a human body. Um. she's she fully In the eyes of the. prosecutors, she fully knew what was. going to happen. Well, let's talk about this. So, the. defense, they requested this competency. evaluation.

um and a criminal responsibility. evaluation. How often do we see that in. the beginning stages of these cases or. maybe during the course of a case, right? Competency doesn't necessarily. have to be an issue that happens right. at the beginning. It could sometimes. happen in the middle. Um how often do we. see that? Right. Well, generally, so. what happens is in in a court in the. judicial system, anyone who has a a. concern, generally it's the defense. lawyer. But a judge can raise it. A. prosecutor can raise it. Of course, that's much more rare. But um lawyer.

defense lawyers have an obligation. If. you think there's something going on. with the client, with the defendant, that raises the issue of competency. Remember, competency is very different. from things like, you know, not guilty. by reason of insanity, things like that. Competency is pretty narrow. It's just. the idea that this defendant understands. the charges against her. This defendant. understands what's being. played out in court. She understands the. role of the judge. She understands the. role of the prosecutor. She understands. the role of the defense attorney. And. can she assist her defense attorney in.

preparing her own defense? Those are. really the only issues that a competency. evaluation gets into. It doesn't get. into, oh, you know, did she know what. was right or wrong? Those are the issues. for the jury if it gets to that point. So, competency is simply limited to in. this current state she's in, does she. understand what's happening to her, can. she assist in her defense? Does she know who the players are? It's. It's pretty limited. And states that. that have this process, it sometimes you. can be treated to competency if you're.

found incompetent. That's a whole. 'nother. issue. You can be held in custody and. made to undergo psychiatric treatment. And then if you're treated to. competency, you can stand trial. This. case didn't even get that far. An. evaluator a PhD, probably psychiatrist, psychologist, somebody who's an advanced. uh uh. practitioner, said, "She understands what's going on. She's competent." Let's talk about this. And by the way, you know, in a. competency, I mean, you you you really. explained it quite well. It could delay. a trial for quite some time if the if. the defendant is not competent. But.

talking about the mental health of this. defendant and what might have been going. on, and yes, she's innocent until proven. guilty. But just before the stabbing, okay, Muhammad had gone live on. Instagram and posted this nearly. 7-minute video, this rant that many now. see as potential evidence and chilling. in hindsight. I got sent home early yesterday. I got sent home early today by the same. person. I'm telling you, she's a bully.

It isn't funny. She needs to understand that just. because she's a mother and got children, doesn't mean that she can come in in the. store, you know, disrespecting people, talking to them like everybody's beneath. her. She has no respect. And it isn't funny at all. Like seriously, man, I got I got to take. care of. And she keeps sending me home. early. It's It's not funny. She's playing games. And then all day throughout the day, she. keeps sending her little racial. And then throughout the day, she keeps. on like putting negative energy in the.

air, talking about people, gossiping. about people. It's not funny, man. That's going to have to stop. She's a. bully. I'm telling you. She's a bully. She She brings a lot of negative energy. in there. She always panic when when. it's a lot going on, and then she try to. manipulate that and make it seem like we. ain't doing something right, but we are. working really hard, doing great. It's. just the fact that she panic, and I. caught her a few times making a mistake, and she tried to hurry up and play it. off. You know, nobody's perfect. It's God it.

happens. You know what I mean? Like. sometimes like somebody might get. confused. So, it gets busy, yeah. But. she needs to stop playing like she like. she don't be making mistakes. I'll be. catching her. I'll be catching her. And. you could even hear her say there that. her manager's behavior would quote catch. up to her. An hours later, that grim. prediction came true. I mean, if you. listen to the allegations. John, I just want to highlight that. point one more time. Any way defense. attorneys can make sure that doesn't.

come into evidence in a criminal case? Because if you ask me, that could be a slam dunk for them for. for prosecutors. >> dunk for them is is the way to put it. I. mean, I rack my brain here to think. about how you keep that out as a defense. lawyer. I mean, it's What is it? It's. It's evidence of. uh premeditation, and not just. premeditation in a few moments before a. stabbing, but it's it's evidence of. premeditation long before that. And you. know, um. we actually two a couple of instances. we've seen that, these assassination.

attempts on President Trump where the. alleged assassin or the convicted. assassin says things on social media. about what they want to do. Situations. like that, we see that a lot where. somebody uh posts something on social. media. That gets back to the issue of. competency, though, because if somebody. is saying, "I'm going to do this," uh. you know, are they in their right mind? If you're the defense team, you want to. say, "Look, this is what was going on. with this person, so clearly they were. not uh they were not stable." And then. you want that to feed into the issue of.

competency if you're trying to defend. it. But at the end of the day, and in. the final analysis, having a social. media post where you make those kind of. threats, even if it's not a specific. threat, uh that's part of the whole you. know, the penumbra of what you're going. to present to the the jury. You're going. to say, "Look, this was in you know, set. in action a long time before, and she. completed the plan. So, take that as a. promise or a threat, and she fulfilled. the threat.". Yeah. Um I want to go back though to. this development in the case regarding.

mental health. Um and after several. delays, there was by the way a review. hearing in early early September, excuse. me, while doctors completed their. evaluation. Muhammad was back on court was back in. court, I should say, on October 8th. And. this is where the judge confirmed those. findings. The court is in receipt of a. report dated September 17th, 2025, and it's my understanding that both the. defense and the prosecution stipulate to. the uh September 17th, 2025 report,

which upholds that Ms. Muhammad is. competent to stand trial. Is that. correct on behalf of the people? That's. correct, your honor. On behalf of the. defendant? Yes, your honor. Very good. So, this matter needs to be set for a. preliminary examination. Now, in a. statement to WJB K, Macomb County. Prosecutor Peter Lucido said, "The. finding that the defendant is competent. to stand trial ensures that she can now. be held accountable through the proper. legal process. The allegations describe.

a brutal act that has tragically ended. the life of an innocent woman. Our. office remains committed to seeking. justice for the victim and her family.". Now, John, let's get a little bit more. granular here. What was that evaluation. when you're determining competency? We. talk about it, but what is it. specifically? What are they asking? What. are they looking for? How do you know. for sure that she understands, let's. say, the charges or the legal process or. what's ahead of her? What are the What. does that evaluation actually look like? Right. Well, you know, it can be not. necessarily, you know, an exhaustive.

comprehensive mental health evaluation. It can be an evaluator sitting in a room. with this defendant, and sometimes with. the lawyer present, and asking just very. specific questions about, "Do you know,". you know, starting off with things like, "Do you know where you are? Do you know. what day it is? Do you know who's. president? Do you know your your. birthday?". Getting into things about, "Okay, do you. know why you're here? Do you know what. the charges against you are? Can you. explain to me what those charges are, what you think they are?" Not Not what.

happened. They don't get into any detail. about the actual incident. And that's. very important, because the evaluator is. not. getting any information from the. defendant about the actual alleged. crime. They're just saying, uh "Look, what do you understand about. your circumstances? What do you. understand about uh your lawyer's role? Who is your lawyer? What is their job? Who is the prosecutor? What is the. prosecutor's job? And who is the judge? And which person is the judge? Is that. the person up on the bench wearing a. black robe? What does a judge do?

Um and it gets into those uh some. specific areas never touching on the. actual. uh allegation, never touching on. anything surrounding that, but it's just. very simple about uh you know, do you. understand why you're here today? Don't. talk to me about what happened, but um I. need to know if you can understand the. context of why you're here and what. could happen to you, what could happen. to you if you go to trial, what does a. trial look like, um who are the players. But so it's it's somewhat limited, um.

but in the eyes of the evaluator, they. want to determine does this person even. grasp. where they are, what's going on? Uh and. the the people who are found not. competent often have just absolutely no. clue about any of these things and. that's because of the wide range of. mental illness and various things that. can can affect the evaluation, but. evaluators generally are also very uh. well-trained in determine in trying to. determine who is um malingering, who is. making stuff up. They can see through. the uh the um. any kind of falsehoods or or dissembling.

that a defendant might engage in. So, that's one of the other things that a. trained a good evaluator knows. when they're telling the truth. essentially and when they're uh putting. on a show. And to be clear, this may not be the end. of the conversation regarding. competency. There are cases where. somebody could be found competent, something happens during the course of. the case, the criminal process, even. maybe before trial, where they there's a question of. competency once again, right? I mean, what what could happen? When would an.

attorney say, "Wait a minute, uh court, we're having a competency issue once. again." What would be some red flags? Right, and that can happen. I mean, again, if you're a defense lawyer, you. have an obli- every state in the in the. nation has a a code of conduct for. lawyers that say if you you have an. obligation to represent your client and. and if you have a belief, a good faith. belief, it can't be something you're. trying to. uh uh. do not good faith, something you're. trying to do for the purposes of delay. If you have a good faith belief that.

this defendant has an issue, and it can. come up again. I mean, they they they. she can be found competent to stand. trial and in 2 months some something may. arise with her defense team that they. say, "Look, this is this is happening. again. We have a real issue." And what. the competency does is it's it stops the. clock, okay? So, as soon as it's raised, generally a judge will consider it and. if they think it's legitimate, that's another filter. A judge can say, "No, I'm not going to agree to another. evaluation." But that's pretty rare.

The judge will stop the clock, the. evaluation will take place. It can be, you know, a month, 2 months, 3 months, but once the evaluation is in, then the. judge will say, "Okay, we're going to. have a hearing. We're going to go. through all this. Prosecution, defense. both get to present arguments and the. judge decides." So, it can happen in the. middle. of a trial, it can happen weeks, days. before an actual trial takes place. A. lot of it gets back to the obligations. of a lawyer when they believe in good. faith that something's going on with. that defendant. Now, she's due back in court for a.

preliminary hearing on November 14th. What can we expect from that? It's going to be your mini trial, your. mini probable cause hearing where the. prosecution gets to present just enough. evidence to get over the probable cause. hurdle in front of a in front of a. judge. It's it's a you know, it's sort. of the first glance that the defense has. as to some of the key witnesses in the. prosecution's case. Um we get a lot more information at. these kinds of hearings. Sometimes they. get waived when the pros- when the.

defense team decides, you know, there's. no benefit to us here. Let's just move. forward. But a lot of times you if. you're the defense lawyer, you're going. to get a lot of discovery out of this. You're going to get a lot of statements. You're going to get a lot of information. about theories from the state. So, it's. a valuable step, it's an important step. Uh and especially now that she's been. found competent, uh both sides get to. see what her reaction to the evidence. And if you're the prosecution, if you're. I'm sorry, if you're the defense, you. get more information about her role in. this and how she's going to respond.

Prosecution gets a chance to put on. their case for the first time, the first. bite of the apple. And and usually, I mean, when you're. talking about particularly like a case. like this, it it prosecutors would be. able to. go over that hurdle and have this enough. evidence that there was probable cause. this crime was committed and move. forward towards trial. And and as it. moves forward towards trial, uh. just to be clear for our audience, the. jury, the potential jury in this case, they would not know about the competency. issue, right? That wouldn't come up for.

them. That's not something they would. have to dis- you know, use in their. calculation about whether or not she. committed this crime. Right, the juries do not hear about all. the preliminary matters including. whether or not there was a competency. evaluation, whether it was she was found. competent. That is not something that. they need to or will hear. That's all. kept from them. Obviously, it would be. prejudicial. extremely prejudicial. It could be one. way or the other. So, that all that. information about competency doesn't. come in. Um of course, during a trial,

the defense can put on various experts. who can talk about. a lot of things. Expert witnesses can. get into these areas, but you're not. going to have a jury hear about the. prior competency battle or the. competency evaluation. Does this conversation we're having. right now, does it give you any insight. into where the defense may go? And and. B, it's always the defendant's choice about. whether or not they want to take the. stand, right? Their defense attorneys. can say, "Do not do this. I'm telling.

you do not do this." But it's up to the. defend- it's up to the defendant. themselves. Um any idea where the defense may go. with this? And B, do you think there. would be any advantage for her to take. the stand and explain her side of the. story? Right, as to A, a good question. So, the defense is going to want to. mitigate everything that they can. They. want to be able to explain why this. person reacted the way they did. They. want to explain what's going I mean, they want to get to that point. They.

want to get up to that line. They want. to get as close as they can to the idea. that she's not responsible for her her. own actions and this is why. They want. to establish. what's going on in her head, what her. mental state has been like. You know, there are a lot of reasons you're going. to want to get into her history to try. to give the jury some idea of why this. was not. uh for example, a cold-blooded killing, which the prosecution is going to be. trying to paint it as. Now, as to B, as. to whether she should testify, of. course, that's always the defendant's. choice.

It's such a rare case that it's going to. benefit a defendant to explain, sit. there on the witness stand, look at the. jurors and say, "This is why I stabbed. this person with a knife." I mean, that. really cuts into the defense's it. undercuts the defense's claims of "Look, look at this poor person's history. Look. at their mental state." Um when she's. able to get up there and articulate. things, it really. uh minimizes any chance the defense has. of appealing to one or more of these. jurors. And and unless it's a. self-defense claim, which we haven't.

seen here, uh she's not going to take. the stand. Well, we'll see. And I'll. tell you what will be difficult for her. is particularly when you you you have. these prior statements that she. allegedly made on social media and. having to be questioned about that and. talk about that could be problematic. John Day, thank you so much for taking. the time. It was really great seeing. you. Good to see you. Thanks. And that. is all we have for you right now here on. Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much. for joining us. And as always, please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm. Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next. time. [Music].