3 brothers told police they tied down younger brother to prevent harm to family

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids police officers responded to a call regarding an unconscious or dead person on Nov. 9, 2024, but they only had to walk inside the mobile home to determine a person was dead after being “struck” by an overwhelming odor, a prosecutor said in his opening Thursday.

The officers found the body of 18-year-old Ezekiel Baseme inside the mobile home at 2504 Roemig St. SW, Assistant Linn County Attorney Geoffrey Van Deusen said.

Ezekiel’s three brothers — Pierre, 27, Azane, 24, and Christian Baseme, 30 — are on trial this week in Linn County District Court, charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault causing serious injury and false imprisonment. They are accused of unintentionally causing their brother’s death.

The brothers told officers that Ezekiel had been acting erratic and strange since Oct. 28, 2024.

His behavior escalated after he ran into a neighbor’s house, so they restrained him to a mattress with ropes and ratchet straps Van Deusen said. He had been left for several days at a time. He attempted to break free twice but they tied him down after each incident, Van Deusen said.

When Ezekiel died, the brothers untied him and moved him to another room where they placed blankets on top of him. He didn’t receive medical attention, and police were not immediately called after he died.

According to a criminal complaint, a medical examiner determined Ezekiel Baseme died from “complications of probable starvation and dehydration in a setting of physical restraint.”

Defense statements

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The three defendants each have a separate lawyer, and lawyers for Pierre and Azane opted to do opening statements Thursday. The two lawyers for Christian reserved their opening for when the defense starts its case.

Mark Meyer, the lawyer for Pierre, said Pierre reported his family was living in “fear and confusion” because Ezekiel was acting out and he was sometimes “violent and troubling.” Ezekiel was threatening his family and asked them to kill him.

Pierre said they felt trapped, Meyer said. After Ezekiel tried to attack Christian on Nov. 4, they made the decision in consultation with their father, Joseph Mbalama, to restrain the teen.

Meyer said Mbalama was a refugee from the Congo who came to the United States at some point. He is a minister, and he thought Ezekiel was “possessed by a demon.” He told his sons to restrain him and pray for healing.

Meyer said Mbalama, who was the family’s “patriarch,” will testify during the trial and explain how “common” it is to restrain someone being “exorcised.”

Pierre said the brothers worked together to restrain Ezekiel but did it in a way to not harm him but enough to prevent him from harming others, Meyer said. They took turns watching over him.

Meyer said Ezekiel would fight them and that he stopped eating and drinking water. He had a “couple of bites” and drank three bottles of water Nov. 4. But on Nov. 5, when he acted out, it took all three brothers to restrain him.

Pierre checked on Ezekiel about midnight Nov. 5 and discovered the teen was unconscious, Meyer said. The brothers contacted their father, who told them to remove the restraints. They then moved him to another bed and cleaned him up.

Meyer said Pierre thought he had a pulse and could recover. But on Nov. 6, Ezekiel showed no signs of life. They “waited for a miracle,” but their father told them Ezekiel was dead.

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Jeremy Elges, the lawyer for Azane, told the jury that it isn’t their job to decide innocence. It’s their job to determine if the prosecution has proved their case beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution says Ezekiel died because of restraints, but if there’s a “logical alternative” that he died from something else — that’s reasonable doubt, Elges said. If Azane was trying to protect himself and his family from Ezekiel — that’s reasonable doubt.

Elges said the fact that Ezekiel died because he refused to eat and drink — that also can be reasonable doubt.

Testimony

Three officers testified about what they found when they entered the home and what the brothers told them happened to Ezekiel.

Officer Kenneth Allaire testified Azane showed him where to find the ratchet straps they used to tie down Ezekiel to the mattress. The straps, after being removed from the teen, were left in a detached shed by the trailer.

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Pierre told Allaire that Ezekiel was making threats to the family, saying he would kill them and he wanted to die. Ezekiel also made threatening gestures to them. They restrained Ezekiel to prevent harm, he told the officer.

Officer Maverick Gatrost testified Pierre and Christian told him Ezekiel had mental health episodes. His strength increased during those, and he became violent and was having delusions — seeing snakes and fire.

Gatrost said the two brothers told him they decided to restrain the teen when he ran into the neighbor’s house and the neighbor threatened to shoot him if he did it again.

The brothers initially used ropes to tie him down but then used ratchet straps when he got out of the ropes. They put the straps on Ezekiel’s legs, arms and torso, Gatrost said.

They restrained him from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7, Gatrost said.

Sgt. Matthew Messer testified he didn’t know what to expect when they responded because ropes and an unconscious or dead body was mentioned. He initially thought it might be a suicide.

Messer testified he immediately smelled a decomposing body and then saw the mattress on the floor but everybody inside the trailer was calm. Usually in similar situations — finding a body — people can be “frantic.”

Joseph and the three brothers showed him to the backroom, where he found Ezekiel’s body, with blankets “carefully” laid over it, Messer said. One person had gloves on and there were cleaning supplies nearby, which “stuck out” to him.

He said it appeared to him that the Ezekiel may have been dead for a while because bodies swell as they decompose. Ezekiel had a swollen face and he thought there had been some kind of trauma because his neck was “protruding.”

Messer said Ezekiel’s was a suspicious death, and he moved the family out of the area to preserve the scene for an investigation.

On cross-examination, Messer said he had had no medical training.

Doug Davis, one of Christian’s lawyers, asked if the blankets over the body looked ritualistic, and Messer said he thought that they did.

Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com