A judge has dismissed child sex trafficking charges against three individuals indicted in a Somali gang sex trafficking ring because they were juveniles at the time the alleged crimes occurred.
U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes issued an order last Thursday, June 7, dismissing the charges against Abdullahi Hashi, Hassan Ahmed Dahir and Abdirahman Abdirazak Hersi, and defense attorneys were trying to get them released from jail this week.
Defense attorneys for the three successfully argued that their clients were juveniles when the alleged crimes occurred between 2006 and 2009 in Minnesota. The three all faced charges of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, conspiracy to benefit financially from the sex trafficking of children, attempt to commit child sex trafficking and sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion.
Haynes noted in his order that federal prosecutors failed to prove that they were at least 18 at the time of the offenses. The three were severed from the trial of nine other defendants held in April after defense attorneys argued that they were younger than reflected by the dates of birth listed in their immigration papers.
The three were among some 30 people indicted in a criminal case against members of Somali gangs called the Somali Outlaws, the Somalia Mafia and the Lady Outlaws. The indictment claimed that women, some under the age of 18, were being used a prostitutes in a ring that extended from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee.
The first nine people went to trial in Nashville in April and three were convicted and six were acquitted. More defendants from the indictment are expected to go to trial, but no trial date has been set.
But prosecutors handling the case have struggled with issues related to the ages of both the victims and the defendants. At the beginning of the trial, federal prosecutors acknowledged that the birth certificate for their main witness, who was identified in court as Jane Doe No. 2, was fake and it wasn't clear exactly how old she was.
Haynes noted that under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, government prosecutors could seek certification to transfer a juvenile's charges to the district court, but the government has not done that. However, an appeal of his order has been filed with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Source: The Associated Press
U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes issued an order last Thursday, June 7, dismissing the charges against Abdullahi Hashi, Hassan Ahmed Dahir and Abdirahman Abdirazak Hersi, and defense attorneys were trying to get them released from jail this week.
Defense attorneys for the three successfully argued that their clients were juveniles when the alleged crimes occurred between 2006 and 2009 in Minnesota. The three all faced charges of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, conspiracy to benefit financially from the sex trafficking of children, attempt to commit child sex trafficking and sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion.
Haynes noted in his order that federal prosecutors failed to prove that they were at least 18 at the time of the offenses. The three were severed from the trial of nine other defendants held in April after defense attorneys argued that they were younger than reflected by the dates of birth listed in their immigration papers.
The three were among some 30 people indicted in a criminal case against members of Somali gangs called the Somali Outlaws, the Somalia Mafia and the Lady Outlaws. The indictment claimed that women, some under the age of 18, were being used a prostitutes in a ring that extended from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee.
The first nine people went to trial in Nashville in April and three were convicted and six were acquitted. More defendants from the indictment are expected to go to trial, but no trial date has been set.
But prosecutors handling the case have struggled with issues related to the ages of both the victims and the defendants. At the beginning of the trial, federal prosecutors acknowledged that the birth certificate for their main witness, who was identified in court as Jane Doe No. 2, was fake and it wasn't clear exactly how old she was.
Haynes noted that under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, government prosecutors could seek certification to transfer a juvenile's charges to the district court, but the government has not done that. However, an appeal of his order has been filed with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Source: The Associated Press
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