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Judge throws out Lakireddy's plea bargain

Som Chivukula

The teen slave sex case of Berkeley landlord and restaurant owner Lakireddy Bali Reddy took a new twist on Tuesday morning when a tough-talking judge refused to accept his proposed plea bargain.

The stage is thus set for a trial, if not another plea bargain.

Reddy's attorneys asked for time to confer with their client and the judge gave them about four hours, ending the first phase of the proceedings at about 11.15 PDT.

Earlier, Federal Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong announced in a courtroom packed with more than 100 people, including women's groups, Reddy's relatives and reporters, that she was inclined to issue a longer sentence than the six-year term previously agreed to.

Part of the agreement was the $2 million restitution fee Reddy was to offer the family of a teenaged girl who died of an accidental carbon monoxide leak in an apartment he had provided for her, her sister and another teenager.

Reddy, who divorced his wife many years ago, had sex with the three teenagers.

Judge Armstrong said that after reading the pre-sentencing report she realised the plea bargain entered into in March did not address the psychological damage Reddy's sex victims had suffered.

Reddy had merely admitted to having imported the girls from India under a false pretext -- in some cases making them pose as children of H1B visa holders -- so that he could have sex with them.

Discussing at length the mental state of half-a-dozen victims, Judge Armstrong said some of them may need to continue therapy for many years and that at least one victim regresses into childhood while discussing how Reddy sexually abused her and how his relatives tried to suppress the evidence against him.

When an attorney for Reddy pleaded with the judge to sentence Reddy and not open the possibility of a prolonged trial, adding that Reddy's victims too want to put the past behind them and start a new life, the judge remarked: "Sometimes a trial can be therapeutic."

Reddy's attorney unsuccessfully sought to remind the judge that even the six-year-sentence agreed upon in the plea bargain was too harsh and that Reddy should not receive more stringent punishment. Reddy is 64 years old.

Judge Armstrong shot back: "The victims were 13 or 14."

None of the victims was named during the court proceedings, honouring a tradition of concealing the identity of rape victims. But when the case first became public the dead girl was identified as Sitha Vemireddy. Later she was identified as Chanti Pratipatti.

But even she was not mentioned by name any time during the hearing on Tuesday. Her sister was referred to as Victim Number 2 throughout.

Judge Armstrong, who would later acknowledge Reddy's philanthropy in his native village in Andhra Pradesh, started the proceedings explaining why she was not going to accept the plea bargain.

She said she was thinking of moving "two steps upward from the agreement" because of the "extreme psychological injury" suffered by the two victims.

She detailed, based on the report by American investigators, how Reddy's family members and agents had harassed the victims, who were hurriedly sent to India following his arrest, and put pressure on them and their family members not to co-operate with Indian and American investigating authorities.

She hailed the heroism of the victims who spurned the bribes Reddy's relatives and henchmen had offered them.

She said the pre-sentencing report by the federal probation officers says that one of the victims attempted suicide.

She also raised the issue of obstruction of justice. She read from government reports that Reddy had phoned three of the girls and told them to remain in India until he said they could return to the United States. A finding of such obstruction could lead to a heavier sentence, she said.

Reddy's lawyer said his memory was hazy, but he remembers calling one of the girls just to tell her that this "damn thing will go away in a year" and he will find a husband for her.

There were sneering sounds from some of the young women in the court.

Judge Armstrong wore a very perplexed expression -- refusing to accept the defence contention.

The Lakireddy Case: The complete coverage

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