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Jury Selection Begins in Second Utah Rape Trial of Nicholas Alahverdian

The proceeding follows a separate 2008 rape conviction last month, with sentencing set for October 20.

Nicholas Alahverdian is shown at his rape trial in Salt Lake County, Utah, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.{ } (Pool)
Nicholas Alahverdian is shown at his sexaual assault trial in Salt Lake County, Utah, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Pool)
In this image made from pool video footage, Nicholas Rossi accused of faking his death and fleeing to Europe to avoid rape charges, appears at a jury trial in Salt Lake City, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
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Overview

  • Prospective jurors were called Monday in Utah County for a trial over an alleged Sept. 13, 2008 assault of an ex‑girlfriend in Orem.
  • Nicholas Alahverdian, also known as Nicholas Rossi, has pleaded not guilty in the Utah County case.
  • A Salt Lake County jury found him guilty in August in a separate December 2008 rape, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 20.
  • Investigators say the Utah County accuser’s sexual assault kit was tested years later, and a backlog delayed identifying Alahverdian for about a decade.
  • Authorities say he was the subject of a 2020 online obituary, later located in a Glasgow hospital using the name Arthur Knight, and extradited to the U.S. in January 2024.