Opinion ID: 4563581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jabateh’s Conviction

Text: For those who suffered under Jabateh’s command, the two-week jury trial provided a vivid public rebuke from seventeen Liberian eyewitnesses whose “demeanor and bearing . . . underscored the almost inconceivable horrors and indignities they had endured.” (App. at 14.) The District Court observed that “[i]t is difficult to convey the force of the prosecution’s trial evidence” (App. at 14), which established that Jabateh was a rebel commander during the Liberian civil war known as “Jungle Jabbah.” And that evidence also demonstrated that, as a rebel commander, Jabateh personally committed or ordered his troops to commit murder, enslavement, rape, and torture “because of race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or political opinion.” (PSR ¶ 7.) Following deliberations, the jury convicted Jabateh on all four counts. The District Court later imposed a sentence of 360 months’ imprisonment, the maximum permitted, along with three years’ supervised release, and a special assessment of $400.9 Jabateh timely appealed. The District Court had subject matter jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231, and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a).