Post by Beach Police on Dec 15, 2010 13:53:00 GMT -5
Brothers who fled Kosovo sentenced to 10 to 40 years for Kentwood rape
Michigan
Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 9:41 PM Updated: Friday, December 10, 2010, 7:50 PM
Barton Deiters | The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS — After brothers Nesret and Imer Gashi were sentenced to 10 to 40 years behind bars Wednesday after pleading no-contest to raping a young woman, the men's family said they see the prison terms as a grave injustice visited upon their family by the American judicial system.
”The Serbs have not done anything to us compared to what the Americans have done,” said Vahide Gashi on Wednesday, not long after Kent County Circuit Judge George
Buth handed down the sentence for her sons, 22-year-old Nesret and 20-year-old Imer.
The brothers were Albanian refugees when they came to America as children in 1999, along with their family,
The 19-year-old victim reported that on Feb. 24, she had stopped with a friend at the Kentwood apartment of Nesret Gashi. The young woman said he carried her to a bedroom and then he and his brother sexually assaulted her multiple times before letting her leave the room.
The young woman said she did not immediately report the assault because she was frightened of them. She also said that after the alleged rapes, she grabbed her friend who was in another bedroom with a different young man, and the two left right away.
In 2008, an accusation of rape against the brothers ended with the prosecution deciding there was not enough evidence to convict. Those charges were dropped.
But this second accusation had the brothers facing life in prison if convicted. They were charged with six counts of rape for each separate act against the woman and for aiding the other brother in their rape of the woman.
Instead, lawyers for the brothers worked out an agreement with the Kent County Prosecutor’s office that had the pair pleading no-contest to one count each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, with a sentencing agreement that the minimum sentence would fall between five and 11 years.
Attorneys Kelly Lambert and Robert German told Buth that his decision to allow testimony in from the dismissed case to establish a pattern of behavior by the pair was the deciding factor in the decision to take the plea, rather than go to trial.
”This case is very troubling, frankly,” said Lambert, who represented Nesret Gashi.
Lambert and German said the inclusion of evidence from a case determined by prosecutors to have no merit should not determine the fate of their clients in a separate case, and they asked Buth to fashion a sentence much closer to five years than 11.
Buth disagreed.
”There is a pattern of assaultive behavior here,” Buth said. “The court believes these charges are valid.”
Before sentencing, the brothers told the judge there was no rape and the sex was consensual.
Nesret Gashi wept as he spoke about his newborn son, whom he has not seen because he was born while his father was in jail. Now, he’s headed to prison for at least a decade.
”I am not a rapist,” Nesret Gashi said. “I would never do that. I believe if someone does rape, they should not go to prison, they should be hung.”
The sister of the two men was outraged with the sentence and said it showed that racism against her people continues, even in America.
”If my brothers were American, this case never would have made it to trial,” said Mira Kajolli. “That they take away brothers, sons, grandsons and a father with no other evidence except her words is a despicable thing for America to do.”
www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/12/brothers_who_fled_kosovo_sente.html
Michigan
Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 9:41 PM Updated: Friday, December 10, 2010, 7:50 PM
Barton Deiters | The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS — After brothers Nesret and Imer Gashi were sentenced to 10 to 40 years behind bars Wednesday after pleading no-contest to raping a young woman, the men's family said they see the prison terms as a grave injustice visited upon their family by the American judicial system.
”The Serbs have not done anything to us compared to what the Americans have done,” said Vahide Gashi on Wednesday, not long after Kent County Circuit Judge George
Buth handed down the sentence for her sons, 22-year-old Nesret and 20-year-old Imer.
The brothers were Albanian refugees when they came to America as children in 1999, along with their family,
The 19-year-old victim reported that on Feb. 24, she had stopped with a friend at the Kentwood apartment of Nesret Gashi. The young woman said he carried her to a bedroom and then he and his brother sexually assaulted her multiple times before letting her leave the room.
The young woman said she did not immediately report the assault because she was frightened of them. She also said that after the alleged rapes, she grabbed her friend who was in another bedroom with a different young man, and the two left right away.
In 2008, an accusation of rape against the brothers ended with the prosecution deciding there was not enough evidence to convict. Those charges were dropped.
But this second accusation had the brothers facing life in prison if convicted. They were charged with six counts of rape for each separate act against the woman and for aiding the other brother in their rape of the woman.
Instead, lawyers for the brothers worked out an agreement with the Kent County Prosecutor’s office that had the pair pleading no-contest to one count each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, with a sentencing agreement that the minimum sentence would fall between five and 11 years.
Attorneys Kelly Lambert and Robert German told Buth that his decision to allow testimony in from the dismissed case to establish a pattern of behavior by the pair was the deciding factor in the decision to take the plea, rather than go to trial.
”This case is very troubling, frankly,” said Lambert, who represented Nesret Gashi.
Lambert and German said the inclusion of evidence from a case determined by prosecutors to have no merit should not determine the fate of their clients in a separate case, and they asked Buth to fashion a sentence much closer to five years than 11.
Buth disagreed.
”There is a pattern of assaultive behavior here,” Buth said. “The court believes these charges are valid.”
Before sentencing, the brothers told the judge there was no rape and the sex was consensual.
Nesret Gashi wept as he spoke about his newborn son, whom he has not seen because he was born while his father was in jail. Now, he’s headed to prison for at least a decade.
”I am not a rapist,” Nesret Gashi said. “I would never do that. I believe if someone does rape, they should not go to prison, they should be hung.”
The sister of the two men was outraged with the sentence and said it showed that racism against her people continues, even in America.
”If my brothers were American, this case never would have made it to trial,” said Mira Kajolli. “That they take away brothers, sons, grandsons and a father with no other evidence except her words is a despicable thing for America to do.”
www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/12/brothers_who_fled_kosovo_sente.html