Elias Syriani

Syriani petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his trial counsel was ineffective and denied him a fair trial. His children said they had forgiven their father and asked that his sentence be commuted. An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was denied in October 2005 and the execution date subsequently set for November 18, 2005.

Syriani was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. on November 18, 2005 at the Central Prison. None of his children witnessed the execution, though they did meet him during the previous day, leaving about 11 p.m.

It was the 997th execution in the United States since the Gregg v. Georgia decision.

Before Teresa's death, Syriani was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. This charge was changed to capital murder after her death. On June 12, 1991 he was sentenced to death in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, with the jury finding as an aggravating factor the crime being especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. This outweighed the eight mitigating circumstances they also found.

Teresa had received a protective order from a North Carolina court requiring that Syriani move out of their home and stay away from her and their four children. Around 11:20 p.m. on July 28, 1990, he drove to the house and found that Teresa was not home so he waited in the driveway. When she returned from work, he blocked her access with his van. After getting out of the van he went over to the car where, through an open window, he stabbed Teresa 28 times with a screwdriver, with their 10-year-old son, John, in the passenger seat. John tried to stop his father but was unable.

They then moved to the United States, living in Chicago, Illinois, where Teresa lived and dressed according to Middle Eastern tradition. But after moving in 1986 to Charlotte, North Carolina, she took a job at a gas station, dressed in a more American fashion and made friends. Syriani disapproved and the two argued over it.

At 67, he was one of the oldest people executed in the United States since 1976. He was also one of the people used by Benetton in their anti-death penalty advertising.

When he was 12 his father developed cancer, forcing Syriani, the eldest son, to leave school and go to work. The family moved to Amman, Jordan, where he worked as a machinist. After working in the Jordanian Army for nine years, he left and worked as a machinist for a company in Jordan and also for a radio station, singing in Arabic. In the mid-1970s he decided that he was now financially able to marry. He met Teresa through a mutual friend. She had emigrated to the United States and they exchanged letters and photographs for about three months. She returned to Jordan only two or three weeks before the wedding.

Elias Hanna Syriani (January 7, 1938 – November 18, 2005) was a convicted murderer executed by the U.S. state of North Carolina by lethal injection. He was convicted of the July 28, 1990 murder of his wife, Teresa Yousef Syriani, in Charlotte, North Carolina.