EX-WRESTLER GUILTY OF KIDNAPPING ASSOCIATE
San Francisco Chronicle
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May 10 2010
A former Armenia wrestling champion was convicted Monday of kidnapping
a business associate, beating him and demanding a $1 million ransom.
A federal jury found Vagan Adzhemyan, 42, guilty in his second trial.
His first trial ended with a mistrial last year after the jury
deadlocked 6-6.
Galvin Gibson, a friend of Adzhemyan’s who also took part in the plot,
was convicted as well.
Adzhemyan admitted kidnapping Sandro Karmryan in July 2009, beating
him, shocking him with a stun gun, holding him captive at various
locations across Southern California and demanding a $1 million ransom
from his family.
Adzhemyan argued his actions were necessary because Karmryan was
plotting to have him killed because he knew about an alleged loan
scam. Karmryan had paid a Russian mafia boss $27,000 to kill him after
a complicated financial deal between the men went sour, his attorney
Harland Braun said.
After five days, a SWAT team rescued Karmyan, who was near-death
because he suffered a ruptured bowel while trying to fend off his
attackers. Infections from the wound almost killed Karmyan, but he
recovered after weeks in the hospital and several surgeries.
Braun said his client kidnapped Karmryan because he wanted to get proof
that Karmryan had paid someone to kill him. Many of the interrogations
that took place were captured on cell phone or audio recordings,
and Braun said Karmryan admitted more than 100 times to paying a
killer. Prosecutors said the confession was forced.
The tapes were played for jurors during the first trial.
At the retrial, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Nguyen barred Braun
from presenting evidence to explain why Adzhemyan committed the crime
because she found it irrelevant to his guilt or innocence.
A judge must determine that the defendant faced imminent danger of
serious harm or death and there was no reasonable legal alternative
to his actions before he can present such an argument, which is known
as a justification defense.
Braun said Nguyen’s decision left his client with virtually no defense.
"The jury did not hear the most important evidence in the case,"
he said. "They really had no choice, given the evidence they heard."
Prosecutor Robert E. Dugdale called the kidnapping a "savage" crime.
The Armenian-born Adzhemyan was a champion wrestler in Armenia and
the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Braun has said. He faces up to life
in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 2.