A federal appeals court has thrown out kidnapping convictions against three people tied to the 2017 death of a 3-year-old boy at a remote compound near the Colorado border, ruling that the child's own father had legal custody rights that made the kidnapping charges unenforceable. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also vacated terrorism-related convictions against two defendants, including Lucas Morton, opening the door to a possible retrial on those charges.
The panel reversed the kidnapping convictions of Hujrah Wahhaj, Subhanah Wahhaj and Lucas Allen Morton, according to Taos News. The court found that Siraj Wahhaj, the father of the boy who died, held inherent custody rights over his son, which meant the federal kidnapping statute did not apply to the case. As reported by The Denver Post, Siraj Wahhaj is the brother of both Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhanah Wahhaj, and the 10th Circuit panel separately found that no court order or state law made it illegal for him to take his son from Georgia to New Mexico.
The appellate court also vacated terrorism-related convictions against Lucas Morton and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, per the Taos News report. Both men can be retried on federal-officer conspiracy charges after the court found a Sixth Amendment violation: the trial judge had excluded the self-represented defendants from a jury-note conference during deliberations, a proceeding the court deemed tactically significant.
What Happened at the Amalia Compound
The case stems from events at a remote compound near Amalia in northern Taos County, not far from the Colorado state line. Prosecutors alleged that the boy, Abdul Ghani, died during religious rituals intended to exorcise evil spirits, with the boy's death coming after his father held him down with a hand on his neck, according to the Taos News account. At a 2023 trial, boys who had been held at the compound testified that Abdul's anti-seizure medication was withheld and that exorcisms were performed on him daily until he died, Courthouse News Service reported.
Jany Leveille, described in reporting as Siraj Wahhaj's religious second wife, had told the group that the child had been possessed by evil spirits and would be reincarnated as Isa, the Arabic name for Jesus, according to Courthouse News Service. Leveille accepted a plea deal and is now serving a 15-year federal prison sentence, the Taos News reported.
Authorities raided the compound on Aug. 3, 2018, arresting five adults and placing 11 children into protective custody, per the Taos News account. Courthouse News reported that Abdul's body had been hidden in an underground tunnel on the property, and that it wasn't until that August that local law enforcement discovered the child's remains.
Legal Fallout and What Comes Next
The 10th Circuit's ruling means the kidnapping convictions cannot be retried, since the panel found insufficient evidence supported them in the first place. The terrorism and conspiracy charges against Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton remain open, however, with the two men eligible for a new trial on those counts because of the jury-note procedural violation, the Courthouse News report states.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico said it is reviewing the case and assessing what further action may be appropriate, according to the same Courthouse News account. The office has not indicated what its next steps will be.
Federal kidnapping law is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1201. The court's reasoning centered on Siraj Wahhaj's inherent custody rights and the absence of a court order or state law barring him from taking his son from Georgia to New Mexico. That reasoning undercut the kidnapping convictions against Hujrah Wahhaj, Subhanah Wahhaj and Morton, even though all three had been part of the group authorities say fortified the compound from late 2017 through the August 2018 raid.
