A Philadelphia man who is spending 30 years in prison for raping an Athens woman he met online filed an appeal brief yesterday.
Charles Nguyen, 32, was convicted of one count of rape, kidnapping, burglary and tampering with evidence after his trial in August 2010. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Nguyen filed his appeal that September. He filed a new appeal brief in the Fourth District Court of Appeals asking the court to reserve all four of his convictions.
The charges stemmed from an incident May 19, 2009, when Nguyen went to the victim’s apartment, restrained her and raped her.
Nguyen claims in his brief that testimony from the victim and Athens County Sheriff deputies was contradictory. He also claims that evidence against him was misused, since he and the victim were in a relationship at the time and had slept together a few days before the incident, according to court documents.
He claims that Captain Brian Cooper and Deputy Alan Flickenger, of the Sheriff’s Office, did not have a right to issue a warrant for his arrest, because they did not review any evidence or interview a witness, according to court documents.
Nguyen states that Flickenger did not gather evidence effectively at the victim’s apartment after the incident was reported, according to court documents.
He also disagreed with the credibility of many of the prosecutions expert witnesses, according to court documents.
Nguyen also claims that being convicted of kidnapping and rape is a violation of double jeopardy. He claims that the kidnapping was an action that led to the rape, but not its own action, according to court documents.
The court has yet to issue a response.
If Nguyen’s conviction stands, the earliest he could be released from prison is 2019.
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