02/18/2022 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE November 16, 2021 Session NEHAD SOBHI ABDELNABI v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County No. 114708 Steven Wayne Sword, Judge ___________________________________ No. E2020-01270-CCA-R3-PC ___________________________________ Petitioner, Nehad Sobhi Abdelnabi, appeals the denial of his post-conviction petition, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in denying his claim that he was denied a trial by an impartial jury and in dismissing his second amended petition claiming that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to convey a plea offer. After hearing oral arguments and following a review of the entire record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed JILL BARTEE AYERS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JAMES CURWOOD WITT and D. KELLY THOMAS, JR., JJ., joined. Gregory P. Isaacs, J. Franklin Ammons, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Nehad Sobhi Abdelnabi. Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Garrett D. Ward, Assistant Attorney General; Charme P. Allen, District Attorney General; and Hector Sanchez, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION Factual and Procedural Background Petitioner was charged with two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of aggravated burglary. His first trial resulted in a mistrial when his co-defendant, Lowi Fathi Akila referred to a previous incident where Petitioner allegedly threatened another man with a gun. At the second trial, the jury convicted Petitioner of the lesser included offense of aggravated kidnapping in count one, especially aggravated kidnapping in count two, and aggravated assault in counts three and four. The jury found Petitioner not guilty of aggravated burglary as charged in count five. The trial court merged count one into count two and merged count four into count three and ran the sentences concurrently for a total effective sentence of seventeen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction at 100% by operation of law. This court affirmed Petitioner’s convictions, and the supreme court denied his application for permission to appeal. State v. Nehad Sobhi Abdelnabi, No. E2017-00237-CCA-R3-CD, 2018 WL 3148003 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Knoxville, June 26, 2018), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Nov. 15, 2018). The evidence presented at trial showed that Petitioner suspected Naser Ferwanah, who Petitioner knew from high school in Palestine, of having an affair with Petitioner’s wife.1 Mr. Ferwanah had visited Petitioner and his family and had visited Petitioner at his place of business, Electronics Tech about once per month. Petitioner at one point asked Mr. Ferwanah to swear on his Quran in the presence of his oldest son that he was not having an affair with Petitioner’s wife. He was suspicious based upon a pornographic video he had seen of two individuals he thought looked like his wife and Mr. Ferwanah. Petitioner and Mr. Ferwanah then began having dinner periodically with one of Petitioner’s …
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