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Court upholds Internet stalking conviction of Kenyan national Thursday, May 1, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the Internet stalking conviction of a Kenyan national living in Arkansas. The Court of Appeals rejected Kanai Gikonyo's argument that his conviction in Saline County Circuit Court should be overturned because authorities did not advise him of his rights as a foreign national. Gikonyo was sentenced in February 2007 to eight years in prison and ordered to pay a $7,000 fine and register as a sex offender. Prosecutors said Gikonyo used the Internet to attempt to arrange a sexual encounter with a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl but was in fact a Saline County sheriff's deputy assigned to Internet crime investigations. Gikonyo, 32, argued on appeal that statements he made to officers should not have been admitted at his trial because the officers did not advise him of his rights as a foreign national under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. He claimed he had the right to contact the Kenyan embassy before being questioned because he was raised in Kenya, English was not his first language and he had no experience with legal and police jargon. The Court of Appeals said in its ruling Wednesday the Vienna Convention is "not domestically enforceable" and that at the time of his arrest Gikonyo had been in the U.S. for 12 years. He obtained bachelor's and master's degrees while here, suggesting his English skills were satisfactory, the court noted. The court also rejected arguments by Gikonyo that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction and that a witness for the state who examined his computer was not qualified to testify as an expert. |
