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Somali-Bantu man to get new trial in Vt

January 27, 2012

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that a Somali Bantu immigrant convicted of sexual assault on a child will get a new trial because a juror may have been influenced by information about the Somali culture that he found on the Internet.

The court said Friday that the Somali culture played a significant role in Ali M. Abdi's trial.

Abdi was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a 9-year-old girl after the elders in the Somali Bantu community in Burlington reported the alleged crime to police.

Abdi appealed based on the disclosure that one of the jurors had researched the Somali culture on the Internet and shared the information with other jurors.

The trial court ruled that the information didn't influence the verdict.

But the Supreme Court on Friday disagreed.

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