United States v. Omar

157 F. Supp. 3d 707, 2016 WL 145318, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3625
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 12, 2016
DocketNo. 3:10-00260[24]
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 157 F. Supp. 3d 707 (United States v. Omar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Omar, 157 F. Supp. 3d 707, 2016 WL 145318, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3625 (M.D. Tenn. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN H. SHARP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Defendant Mohamed Sharif Omar has been imprisoned for more than four years, but has been convicted of no crime in this case. Rather, he merely stands accused of multiple crimes, the most serious' of which relates to his alleged involvement in a sex trafficking ring. Yet, more than five years after the return of a highly-touted Indictment alleging a widespread conspiracy spanning at least three states,1 no final judgment of conviction for sex trafficking has been entered as to any of the thirty individuals charged,in this case, and none of those who have pled guilty to lesser offenses have been sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment greater than the time that Defendant has already served in pretrial detention.

Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Renewed Motion to Reconsider Detention Order and Open Detention Hearing (Docket No. 3741), which raises the issue of whether continued incarceration violates his Fifth Amendment due process rights or his Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights. On November 20, 2015, the Court heard oral arguments on the Motion, after which the parties were provided the opportunity to submit supplemental briefs. The Government did so on December 16, 2015 (Docket No. 3757), and Defen[710]*710dant followed suit on December 18, 2015 (Docket No. 3758).

Having considered the arguments of the parties and the voluminous record, and further given the peculiar circumstances of this case, the Court finds that the continued imprisonment of Defendant for any appreciable length of time will violate the due process clause. Accordingly, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion and release him pending trial, subject to appropriate terms and conditions.

I.

On October 20, 2010, a federal grand jury returned a 54 page, 21 count Indictment against 29 Defendants, charging various conspiracies and offenses involving sex trafficking,2 interstate transportation of stolen goods, access device fraud, and obstruction of justice. Defendant Omar was charged in six of those counts, with the potential penalties ranging from 5 years to life imprisonment. The case was assigned to Judge Haynes.3

More than a year later, on November 3, 2010, the grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment. As to Defendant Omar, the charges were the same.

On May 3, 2011, a Second Superseding Indictment was returned. That Indictment added a 30th Defendant, but retained the same charges as to Defendant Omar.

After the return of the Second Superseding Indictment, a jury trial on the sex trafficking counts was held as to nine Defendants who had not been severed, either by Order of the Court or by filing a notice requesting severance. Defendant Omar was among those who opted for severance.

Trial commenced on March 20, 2012 and concluded on April 30, 2012.4 After five days of deliberation, the jury returned a split verdict — six Defendants were acquitted, and three were found guilty.5

On December 19, 2012, Judge Haynes entered an Order granting a judgment of acquittal or, alternatively, new trial as to the three Defendants who had been convicted. He concluded that while there was sufficient proof for the jury to find defendants engaged in a conspiracy to sex traffic a person under 18 years of age and that a jury could conclude that the Jane Does were minors, the Government’s proof established several conspiracies. Judge Haynes also found that the Government failed to comply with discovery orders, and that the submission of 6,000 pages of material during trial which contained crucial evidence concerning Jane Doe Two’s date of birth severely limited Defendants’ ability to investigate whether she was, in fact, a minor.6

On the same day as Judge Haynes’ ruling, Defendant Omar filed a “Motion, for Speedy Trial or Release From Confinement.” On February 1, 2013, Judge Haynes held a status conference and ordered that Defendant Omar and five others be released. Over the next few days, [711]*711Magistrate Judge Knowles entered an Order Setting Conditions of Release as to each of those Defendants.7 The Government appealed their release.

Defendant Omar was released from custody on February 1, 2013, and remained on supervision until March 25, 2013. According to United State Probation and Pretrial Service'Officer Paul Montgomery who testified during the hearing before this Court, Defendant Omar worked at Invesco Auto during this period and complied with all the terms and conditions of release.

In between the jury’s verdict and Judge Haynes’s ruling on the acquitted Defendant’s post-trial Motions and subsequent release of Defendant Omar and others, a Third Superseding Indictment was returned. That Indictment realleged many of the facts from the prior Indictment, but deleted counts relating to Defendants who had been acquitted, dismissed, or pled guilty.

Under the now controlling Third Superseding Indictment, Defendant Omar is charged with various crimes. He is charged in Counts 1 and 2 with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and in Counts 3 and 6 with obstruction of justice in relation to sex trafficking. He is also charged in Count 13 with recruiting, harboring or transporting a minor to be used in a commercial sex act, and in Count 14 with the attempt to commit that crime. Finally, Defendant is charged in Count 16 with conspiracy to transport in interstate commerce stolen goods or money, and in Count 19 with conspiracy in relation to counterfeit access devices. The potential penalties range from five years to life imprisonment.

If Defendant is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a) of trafficking a person under the age of 18, he will be subject to a mandatory term of imprisonment of ten years. Any sentence of this sort, however, would be an anomaly given the sentences that have thus far been imposed in this case.

According to the Government’s post-hearing brief, the dispositions to date have been as follows:

Fuad Faisal Nur: Originally charged with conspiring to sex traffic a persons under 18 and benefit financially from that venture (Counts One and Two), he was sentenced to 36 months after pleading guilty to Count 18 charging him with conspiracy to commit access device fraud.
Yahya Jamal Ahmed: Not charged in the sex trafficking conspiracy counts, he was sentenced to time served based upon his guilty plea to Count 19 charging conspiracy to produce, use, or traffic in counterfeit access devices.
Abdifitah Jama Adan: Originally charged in the sex trafficking conspiracy counts, those charges were dismissed when Adan was sentenced to ten month imprisonment based upon his plea of guilty to Count 22 charging him with providing a materially false statement.
Bibi Ahmed Said: Pled guilty to charge of perjury before the grand jury and was sentenced to time served. Two counts charging obstruction of justice were dismissed at the time of sentencing.
Ahmed Aweys Sheik: Not charged with the sex trafficking conspiracy offenses, Sheik was sentenced to 48 months im[712]

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Bluebook (online)
157 F. Supp. 3d 707, 2016 WL 145318, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-omar-tnmd-2016.