United States v. Alaboudi, No. 14-1770 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseBetween September 2011 and May 2012, Alaboudi convinced and coerced four women, two minors and two adults, to engage in commercial sex transactions in his apartment in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Alaboudi was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a child, sex trafficking of a child, and sex trafficking by means of force, fraud, or coercion. The district court issued a life sentence for each count, all running concurrently. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, rejecting arguments that the government’s conduct during his trial deprived him of a fair trial, the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction, and the imposition of four life sentences violated his Eighth Amendment rights.
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Gruender and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Even if the government violated the court's pretrial order on opinion testimony during its questioning of one of defendant's witnesses, defendant was not prejudiced by the questioning or by the prosecutor's brief reference to the testimony in closing argument, especially in light of the government's strong case against him and defendant's failure to request curative action; any violation of the court's pretrial order on victim terminology was harmless; other claims of prosecutorial misconduct concerning closing argument rejected; evidence was sufficient to support defendant's convictions for conspiracy and sex trafficking; Eighth Amendment challenge to life sentences rejected.
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