Arraignment was postponed Thursday in downtown Los Angeles for a 37-year-old man who faces federal charges for allegedly trafficking a 17-year-old runaway.
Xavier Washington refused to come out of his cell at a federal lockup for the arraignment, so a new date of May 28 was scheduled, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Washington was previously found guilty in state court of trafficking the girl but had the conviction overturned based on trial error.
He currently faces two federal counts of sex trafficking of a minor in a case that mirrors the previous prosecution.
In the state case, when Washington was facing sentencing in March 2025, an Orange County Superior Court judge approved a motion for a new trial based on the Racial Justice Act, which prohibits prosecutors from seeking or obtaining criminal convictions or imposing sentences based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, and allows defendants to challenge such bias in their cases.
The motion was based on evidence included in the trial in which the defendant said he wasn’t a “gorilla pimp,” a common phrase referring to an aggressive or abusive pimp.
The judge allowed the evidence into the trial, but later said he reconsidered and decided he had erred and granted a new trial, overturning the conviction.
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles picked up the case in August 2025.