A Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial
PARIS AP The robbery was over in minutes the fallout long Nearly a decade after robbers stormed Kim Kardashian s luxury residence and tied her up at gunpoint a Paris court will decide the verdict Friday in one of the the bulk audacious celebrity heists in modern French history Nine men and a woman stand accused of carrying out or aiding the crime during the Fashion Week when masked men dressed as police entered Kardashian s Paris residence bound her with zip-ties and vanished with million in jewels After delivering final statements in court the defendants were dismissed Friday morning with a verdict expected later in the day At the heart of the trial is -year-old Aomar A t Khedache the alleged ringleader and a veteran of Paris criminal underworld Prosecutors have urged for a -year sentence His DNA located on the zip-ties used to bind Kardashian cracked open the episode Wiretaps captured him giving orders recruiting accomplices and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium The loot was never ascertained Khedache maintains he was only a foot soldier He blamed a mysterious X or Ben someone prosecutors say never existed Khedache required for a thousand pardons communicated via a written note according to French media Other defendants also used their final words to express remorse The accused became known in France as les papys braqueurs the grandpa robbers Certain arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane Particular read the proceedings from a screen hard of hearing and nearly mute But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances The trial is being heard by a panel of three judges and six jurors who will need a majority vote to reach a decision The defendants face charges including armed robbery kidnapping and gang association If convicted several of them could face life in prison Kardashian s testimony earlier this month was the emotional high point In a packed courtroom she recounted how she was thrown onto a bed zip-tied and had a gun pressed to her on the night of Oct I absolutely did think I was going to die she reported I have babies I have to make it home They can take everything I just have to make it home She was dragged into a marble bathroom and recounted to stay silent When the robbers fled she freed herself by scraping the tape on her wrists off against the sink then hid with her friend shaking and barefoot She mentioned Paris had once been her sanctuary a city she would wander at a m window shopping stopping for hot chocolate That illusion was shattered The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light It forced a recalibration of celebrity behavior in the digital age For years Kardashian had curated her life like a showroom geo-tagged diamond-lit inhabitants by design But this was the moment the showroom turned into a crime scene In her words People were watching They knew where I was Afterward she stopped posting her location in real time She stripped her social media feed of lavish gifts and vanished from Paris for years Other stars followed suit Privacy became luxury Defense attorneys have petitioned the court for leniency citing the defendants age and wellness But prosecutors insist that criminal experience not frailty defined the gang Even for France s painstakingly thorough legal system observers commented about how long it took for the incident to be tried Kardashian who once revealed this experience really changed everything hopes the verdict will offer a measure of closure
