Courtroom tensions flare as ‘Zizian’ cult murder case nears trial
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FAIRFIELD, Calif. (CN) — Accusations of “misconduct” and ulterior motives flew across the courtroom aisle on Wednesday in the high-profile “Zizian” murder case when prosecutors accused the defense of intentionally delaying proceedings ahead of trial.
“I have serious concerns that the defense is trying to delay this trial,” attorney Ilana Shapiro of the Solano County District Attorney’s Office told the judge.
Prosecutors accused the defense of filing “untimely motions” to continue that day’s hearing to dismiss the case, suggesting that they had ulterior motives to continue the overall trial.
The prosecution argued it had “the right to a speedy trial” and said it had several concerns with the defense’s recent motions to continue, including that the trial has already been pushed back multiple times, the prosecution’s star witness was killed in January by one of the defendants’ friends, and their key back-up witness is losing his memory.
“I have a witness at the age of 80, who I am concerned that, if alive, will not be medically well enough to testify at trial,” Shapiro stated.
The two defendants, Alexander Leatham and Suri Dao, belong to a group called the “Zizians,” a loose, cult-like organization of radical vegans and computer savants who claim AI is a danger to humanity and are currently linked to six killings across the country.
Leatham and Dao were originally due for trial in early April in the attempted murder of their former Vallejo landlord in 2022.
Defense attorney Carole Long, who represented Leatham, assured the court its continuance motion was related to court-approved time off for a personal trip of hers and fired back with accusations of “misconduct” by the prosecution, saying it had not provided key documents to the defense, despite having them in its possession.
In a turn for the personal, Long also claimed Shapiro previously told her to get documents “through the court” several months prior, despite possessing them herself.
Long called the whole thing “beyond ridiculous.”
Superior Court Judge Daniel Healy ultimately continued the motion to dismiss the hearing.
“It’s just bad timing,” Healy told the prosecution.
Attorney Brian Ford, who represents defendant Dao, called Shapiro “a liar” outside the courtroom.
“She lies and lies over and over again, I think to see if she can get away with it,” Ford told Courthouse News.
Shapiro declined a request for comment on the proceedings.
Notably, this was also the first time in more than six months that defendants Suri Dao and Alexander Leatham appeared in person together in the courtroom.
However, the reunion between the former friends didn’t last long. Soon after Leatham sat down at the defense table, she began one of her now-signature outbursts that have come to define her hearing appearances.
“I am an innocent woman! I have done nothing wrong! This is a show trial to coordinate the genocide of transgender people! What will you do when they come for you?” Leatham said with a raised voice, reading from a piece of paper in her shackled hands.
Leatham also accused prison guards of denying her estrogen while in custody, saying she had been “kidnapped” by a “gang of dead-eyed brutes.”
“Where have the good men gone? Where are the gods?” she questioned.
Afterward, Leatham repeated her initial statement over 10 times before being removed from the courtroom by three officers from the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.
The next hearing will be on Sept. 24, when the court will hear the rescheduled motion to dismiss the charges.
Dao and Leatham’s trial is currently set for Oct. 21 in Solano County Superior Court.
Dao and Leatham are two of roughly 10 known members of a group called the Zizians — a group dedicated to the ideas of blogger Jack “Ziz” LaSota, a 34-year-old transgender woman who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016. A former aspiring tech worker, LaSota came to the tech-saturated region to study the dangers artificial intelligence could pose to humanity and developed a following among AI theorists and tech bloggers for her radical and rigorous ideas on AI, veganism and gender.
In August 2022, LaSota faked her death and disappeared from the world. She was later arrested in Maryland this February on charges of trespassing and possession of a handgun in the vehicle.
Although “Ziz” has not been charged in any of the killings her followers have carried out, the group itself has been linked to several violent killings, including the one prosecutors say Dao and Leatham tried to carry out.
In 2022, prosecutors claim Dao, Leatham, and fellow Zizian Emma Borhanian faced eviction from a Vallejo lot where they rented space for the retrofitted box trucks they lived in. In an attack, the right side of his skull was shattered, and his torso was impaled with a samurai sword.
Lind ended up shooting and killing Borhanian and wounding Leatham. Though he survived and was set to testify at Leatham and Dao’s trial, he was killed in January 2025 by another Zizian, Maximilian Snyder, who is now awaiting trial for murder.
Another member of the Zizians accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges last week, marking her first court appearance since prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against her.
Content retrieved from: https://www.courthousenews.com/courtroom-tensions-flare-as-zizian-cult-murder-case-nears-trial/.
