Judge to rule in Uzbekistan stripper case
06 September 2007 09:50
The wife of a University of Texas at El Paso research assistant convicted in 2002 of smuggling young women from Uzbekistan and forcing them to work as strippers, asked an El Paso federal judge today to rule that she received inefficient counsel from her lawyer during trial.
But the judge hinted he would not rule in her favor.
"The trial was not a close call and this is not a close call," U.S. District Judge David Briones said in court today. He said he would give his opinion in the next few days.
Gasanova and her husband, Sardar Gasanov, were convicted of conspiracy, alien smuggling conspiracy and three counts of alien smuggling for profit and sentenced to five years in prison each. The Gasanovs, of Uzbekistan, were accused of bringing three Uzbek women to El Paso between 1998 to 2001, withholding their passports and other documents, and forcing them to earn money stripping in nightclubs.
Gasanova claims she was not a human trafficker but an abused wife who was forced to strip and prostitute herself by her husband.
Gasanov was deported to Uzbekistan, and Gasanova is being held at the immigration detention center in El Paso. She has lost her criminal appeal and her deportation appeal, but is still awaiting a decision on an application for a U-visa, a visa reserved to victims of crimes.
If Briones rules in her favor, her conviction could be overturned.
Gasanova's lawyers argued today that Gasanova's court-appointed trial lawyer, Kenneth Del Valle, did not explore the possibility that Gasanova was an abused wife and lost interest in the case because he wasn't paid enough.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Gardes said Del Valle served his client well, getting her acquitted of one of the most serious charges, that of money laundering.
On the stand Del Valle said he grew frustrated with Gasanova, who had "goofy" requests, "couldn't stay on track" and "related different versions of a story."
"We discussed... the way she was treated in her marriage," he said. "I concluded that battery, psychological battery, was a two-way thing in their marriage."
Elpaso Times
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