The U.S. District Courthouse building in Medford, July 8, 2024
Roman Battaglia / Jefferson Public Radio
Negasi Zuberi stood trial for kidnapping and raping two women within the span of months.
On Friday, the jury at a federal courthouse in Medford found Negasi Zuberi, 30, guilty of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity and possessing a firearm as a felon.
During the two-week trial, jurors heard witness testimony from two of Zuberi’s victims. One woman recalled Zuberi taking her from Seattle in July of last year, sexually assaulting her and driving her to his Klamath Falls home where she was locked in a cinder-block cell. That witness, 21 years old at the time, escaped the cell when left alone and flagged down a passing driver to call police.
The Seattle kidnapping happened less than three months after a Klamath Falls woman reported to local police her kidnapping and sexual assault by Zuberi, a report which she said fell on deaf ears. Also 21 at the time, the woman testified to being beaten repeatedly and tased. She said she was let go by Zuberi, but not before he recorded a video of her rape, in an effort to make the act look consensual, and threatened to kill her family and friends if she went to police.
Zuberi was arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Reno, Nevada soon after the escape of his Seattle victim last summer. Police body-cam footage of that arrest showed a standoff between Zuberi, who initially refused to leave his car which had his child inside. An officer testified that Zuberi had cut his leg in an attempt to kill himself before finally exiting the vehicle.
According to The Oregonian, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane denied Zuberi’s request to take the stand in his defense on Friday after he had initially waived that right. Zuberi’s lawyers called no witnesses.
The kidnapping charges could put Zuberi away for life in federal prison. The sexual assault charge is punishable by up to 10 years and the firearms charge carries a maximum sentence of 15.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
