IOWA CITY, Iowa (Court TV) — An Iowa man was sentenced to spend 50 years in prison for the attempted murder and robbery of a woman at the University of Iowa.
Ali Younes is led out of court after his sentencing on April 27, 2026. (Court TV)
Ali Younes, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of escape and was convicted separately of first-degree robbery, attempted murder and theft.
Prosecutors said that Younes lay in wait for the victim on April 25, 2022. “He waited for her to be alone in a dark place and he brutally attacked her, strangling her until she was almost dead,” prosecutors said at Monday’s sentencing hearing. “The only reason she isn’t dead and that she’s in the courtroom here today is because two students … were walking out from studying and caught him in the act.”
Prosecutors urged Judge Kevin McKeever to hand down consecutive sentences of 25 years for both the robbery and attempted murder. Younes’ attorney argued that the two sentences should be served concurrently, saying his client was an 18-year-old freshman in college at the time of the crime and had virtually no criminal history. Younes’ attorney also argued that, “although that does not make him not guilty of the offenses, it is relevant for the Court to determine whether or not there are separate and distinct crimes committed here.” Younes’ attorney argued that grabbing the victim around the neck and taking her earrings were part of the same act rather than separate crimes.
Younes declined to speak when offered the opportunity at Monday’s hearing. “I wasn’t planning on it,” he told the judge.
McKeever ultimately found the two acts were separate and sentenced Younes to 25 years on each charge, to be served consecutively. The five years for pleading guilty to escape will be served concurrently to the other sentences.
Younes’ parents have already been paroled after serving less than a year of their five-year sentences for aiding their son in his escape, KCRG reported. Younes fled the United States on May 6, 2023, after cutting off his ankle monitor and using Jordanian travel documents and getting help from his parents. He agreed to return to the United States and self-surrender in August 2024, University of Iowa Police said at the time.
