State of Tennessee v. Nehad Sobhi Abdelnabi

The Knox County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant, Nehad Sobhi Abdelnabi, on two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of aggravated burglary. The Defendant’s first trial resulted in a mistrial. At the Defendant’s second trial, the jury convicted him of aggravated kidnapping in count one, especially aggravated kidnapping in count two, and aggravated assault in counts three and four. The jury acquitted the Defendant of aggravated burglary in count five. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve twelve years for count one, seventeen years for count two, and six years for counts three and four, respectively. The trial court merged the Defendant’s conviction in count one into count two and merged count four into count three and ordered that he serve the sentences concurrently, for a total effective sentence of seventeen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) at 100% release eligibility. On appeal, the Defendant argues the following: (1) the trial court erred in denying the Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment because the State violated the rule against double jeopardy by intentionally eliciting objectionable testimony from a State witness in the Defendant’s first trial; (2) the trial court erred by denying the Defendant’s motion for mistrial when the victim told the Defendant to “[b]e a man” and “[t]ake the stand” during the victim’s cross-examination; (3) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by allowing the victim’s objectionable testimony, which violated the Defendant’s right to not testify; (4) the victim’s objectionable testimony and “the subsequent denial of the motion for mistrial[] violated his constitutional right to a fair trial”; (5) the trial court erred by limiting the Defendant’s cross-examination of the co-defendant, Lowi Akila, which violated the Defendant’s right to confrontation; (6) the trial court erred by excluding testimony regarding the victim’s alleged bias; (7) the trial court erred under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 604 and Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 42 in denying the Defendant’s request to require witnesses to testify in the language that the testimony was originally given in; (8) the trial court violated the Defendant’s right to due process by allowing witnesses to testify in English about conversations that occurred in Arabic; (9) the trial court erred by admitting the victim’s medical records; (10) the State violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) by failing to disclose that the victim received compensation from the State of Tennessee; (11) the evidence was insufficient for a rational juror to have found the Defendant guilty of aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated assault beyond a reasonable doubt; (12) the trial court erred in its application of enhancement factors to the Defendant’s sentence; (13) the Defendant’s sentence contravenes the principles and purposes of the Tennessee Sentencing Act; and (14) the Defendant is entitled to cumulative error relief. After a thorough review of the facts and applicable case law, we affirm.