MEDFORD, Ore. — The lead defense lawyer for a Klamath Falls man now convicted of federal kidnapping, sex and weapons charges says his client Negasi Zuberi is appealing his conviction.
When NewsWatch 12 asked Medford lawyer Michael Bertholf about appealing Friday’s jury verdicts of “guilty” for convictions on seven federal criminal counts, the attorney said, “Oh, definitely. There were some pretrial issues that we litigated, and they need to be appealed and have the Ninth Circuit decide if Judge McShane made appropriate rulings.”
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane presided over 30-year-old Zuberi’s two week federal court trial in Medford as Zuberi and his defense counsel challenged accusations that Zuberi impersonated police when he kidnapped two women in 2023 on separate occasions and raped them, using a taser, handcuffs, leg irons and a gun, bringing federal kidnapping, sex, weapon and ammunition charges…