A federal trial involving nine defendants accused of conspiring in a child sex-trafficking ring involving Somali gangs with Twin Cities ties is wrapping up in Nashville, Tenn., earlier than expected.
The defense attorneys for the defendants, most of whom are of Somali descent, rested their cases Tuesday, April 24, and closing arguments were expected to start Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors had expected the trial to take more than a month, but after several last-minute delays, testimony has taken just over two weeks. At trial, the government has attempted to lay out a complicated case for a wide-ranging conspiracy among multiple defendants to use a young Somali refugee as a prostitute in suburban Minneapolis.
The unidentified witness, called Jane Doe No. 2 in the indictment, testified earlier this month that she was in sixth grade when Somali gang members started making her perform sexual acts for money. Another witness, identified as Jane Doe No. 5, testified that young girls and women were being used as prostitutes in an apartment in Nashville.
The nine defendants are among a total of 30 who were named in an original indictment unsealed in 2010. It claimed young girls were being sexually trafficked in a ring operated by three Somali gangs in Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee. The other defendants might stand trial at a later date.
But defense attorneys tried to dismantle the government's case by noting that Jane Doe No. 2's exact age is unclear because her birth certificate was falsified. They also told jurors the witness was a runaway and a "party girl" who willingly had sex with multiple defendants and lied about it so her conservative Somali family could save face.
Her age is key to the government's case to prove conspiracy to commit sexual trafficking of children younger than 18. Prosecutors used pictures of the witness in middle school in an attempt to show she was very young when the prostitution occurred.
Inaccurate birth dates on immigration paperwork are common in U.S. Somali refugee communities.
Source: The Associated Press
The defense attorneys for the defendants, most of whom are of Somali descent, rested their cases Tuesday, April 24, and closing arguments were expected to start Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors had expected the trial to take more than a month, but after several last-minute delays, testimony has taken just over two weeks. At trial, the government has attempted to lay out a complicated case for a wide-ranging conspiracy among multiple defendants to use a young Somali refugee as a prostitute in suburban Minneapolis.
The unidentified witness, called Jane Doe No. 2 in the indictment, testified earlier this month that she was in sixth grade when Somali gang members started making her perform sexual acts for money. Another witness, identified as Jane Doe No. 5, testified that young girls and women were being used as prostitutes in an apartment in Nashville.
The nine defendants are among a total of 30 who were named in an original indictment unsealed in 2010. It claimed young girls were being sexually trafficked in a ring operated by three Somali gangs in Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee. The other defendants might stand trial at a later date.
But defense attorneys tried to dismantle the government's case by noting that Jane Doe No. 2's exact age is unclear because her birth certificate was falsified. They also told jurors the witness was a runaway and a "party girl" who willingly had sex with multiple defendants and lied about it so her conservative Somali family could save face.
Her age is key to the government's case to prove conspiracy to commit sexual trafficking of children younger than 18. Prosecutors used pictures of the witness in middle school in an attempt to show she was very young when the prostitution occurred.
Inaccurate birth dates on immigration paperwork are common in U.S. Somali refugee communities.
Source: The Associated Press
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