Under threat of force, Alahverdian finally appears before Utah judge. Here's what happened.
Under the threat of physical force, Nicholas Alahverdian faced a Utah judge Tuesday and heard the court grant a prosecutor’s motion to dismiss the least of the three sex-related charges against the captured fugitive.
The former Rhode Islander, who insists authorities have the wrong man, also heard his potential defense lawyer echo an issue raised by lawyers in Scotland, where Alahverdian was nabbed in December 2021 and then went through several attorneys prior to his extradition last month.
“To be clear,” Lance Bastian explained to the Utah judge, Alahverdian “anticipates retaining me, but he has not formally done so. We're still working sort of through the financial side of that.”
Alahverdian faces multiple charges in Utah
Alahverdian, once a State House advocate for child-welfare reform who faked his death four years ago, was the subject of two extradition warrants.
One warrant charges he raped a woman in Salt Lake County in December 2008.
The other warrant charges he raped a woman in Orem in September 2008 and committed sexual battery, a misdemeanor, against another woman that same fall in his Orem apartment.
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Misdemeanor charge dismissed
On Tuesday deputy Utah County Attorney Stephen Jones moved to dismiss the misdemeanor sexual battery charge without explanation, and Fourth District Court Judge Derek Pullan granted the motion.
A spokesman for the Utah County Attorney’s office told The Journal last week that the federal Justice Department informed prosecutors that because Alahverdian “was not extradited on the sexual battery charge, we are prohibited from proceeding on that charge.”
That explanation seems to contradict what’s in Scottish court documents and written decisions.
In describing the second extradition warrant in its decision rejecting Alahverdian’s extradition appeal, the Scottish High Court said it “relates to two charges, namely the rape and sexual battery of two separate complainers in November and December 2008 respectively.”
The unexplained reason may involve the sexual battery charge being a misdemeanor.
In his August 2023 decision to allow extradition to move forward, Sheriff Norman McFadyen referred to another misdemeanor assault claim Alahverdian faced out of Winthrop, Massachusetts, which never moved forward.
The case “looked like a simple assault, a misdemeanor,” McFadyen wrote. “Such a crime would not be extraditable."
Alahverdian, 36, appeared Tuesday remotely from the Utah County Jail, using an oxygen mask and sitting in a wheelchair. He refused to appear for his last two initial court appearances, prompting two judges to issue orders for “reasonable force” to compel his appearances.
He's expected back in court for scheduling conferences next month.
Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Misdemeanor charge against Nicholas Alahverdian dropped after he appears
