Posted on: Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Judge in retrial finds two guilty of raping girl

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Two men were sentenced to prison yesterday after being convicted of raping a 17-year-old O'ahu girl in 1998.

Habib Shabazz, 25, who also went by the name T-bone, and Marlo Crawley, 31, were convicted and sentenced to 10-year terms by Circuit Judge Sandra Simms, who presided over a jury-waived trial.

In March 2000, a jury found the two men guilty, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

In their second trial, Simms yesterday found each guilty of second-degree sexual assault. Crawley was also found guilty of attempted second-degree sexual assault.

The two men admitted to being members of the "Abyss" gang. The girl was picked up at Ala Moana and lured to a Waikiki hotel room where six men planned to rape her, prosecutors said.

Crawley and Shabazz had sex with her before the attack was interrupted when a neighbor pounded on the wall, according to testimony in the first trial. Both men were on probation for felony convictions when the rape took place.