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Man goes on the lam during trial before learning days later that he was acquitted

Fearful of being sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison, Saladin Ghani told his lawyer he was headed to the restroom on Oct. 23. But instead he exited the Georgia courthouse where he was being tried in an identity fraud and theft case and never returned.

After 15 minutes, the judge overseeing the DeKalb County Superior Court case sent deputies to search for the defendant, to no avail. So she issued a bench warrant, continued with the trial and allowed the prosecution to use Ghani’s absence against him, recounts the Daily Report (sub. req.). A subsequent Daily Report (sub. req.) article provides more details.

Prosecutor Megan Matteucci told the legal publication she went to the defense table and spun Ghani’s empty chair during her closing argument, telling the jury “Where is Mr. Ghani? He’s gone. Perhaps he has a guilty conscience.”

But defense attorney W. Scott Smith did not give up, arguing at closing that he had somehow failed his client by being “selfish and egotistical” and not paying enough attention to the emotional stress Ghani was under.

The result was a swift jury verdict of not guilty, and the judge recalled the bench warrant. However, Ghani wasn’t there to hear about his acquittal and he wasn’t answering his lawyer’s phone calls.

It was days before the 50-year-old got the good news. Holed up at a friend’s home only a few miles from the courthouse, he found out he was a free man when his attention was captured by a television news report featuring his photo.

“I felt kind of stupid. I really did,” Ghani told the New York Daily News on Tuesday. “I panicked and then I started laughing. I couldn’t believe it. I just said, ‘There is a God. God is real.’ “