UT in Dallas bans woman ahead of Vegas lawsuit

The University of Texas at Dallas has banned a student from attending classes on campus while she is under house arrest in Texas ahead of a trial for a stabbing case in the Las Vegas area that has attracted international attention, a campus spokesman said Wednesday.

Nevada authorities said Nika Nikubin, 22, attacked her girlfriend in a hotel room last year in retaliation for the 2020 death of an Iranian military leader in a US drone strike.

University spokesman Phil Roth confirmed that Nikubin was accepted for the spring 2023 semester before university officials knew she was charged with a crime and was under the jurisdiction of a Nevada court.

“Because the safety of our campus and our community is of paramount importance, we have removed her from campus,” Roth said in a statement. It states that campus police “will monitor student compliance with the expulsion order.”

In Las Vegas, Clark County Circuit Court Judge Carly Kearney said Wednesday she does not have the authority to make the campus ban part of the tight restrictions placed on Nikubin while she lives with her parents in Frisco, Texas.

But the judge still decided that Nikubin, an aspiring music video performer, could not book song and dance performances away from home.

“For now, we’ll just say no,” Kearney said of the speeches, adding that Nikubin could ask the officials overseeing her pre-trial release to seek prior court approval on a case-by-case basis.

Campus police detective Rod Bishop cited security concerns and Monday’s massive fatal shooting at Michigan State University when he asked a judge to issue a court order barring Nikubin from UT Dallas, where Nikoubin’s father is a professor.

Three university students were killed and five injured in East Lansing, Michigan, before the 43-year-old gunman shot himself when police confronted him after hours of hunting.

Authorities said the man had no known connection to the university and the motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

“After this week’s shooting,” Bishop said on a Las Vegas courtroom teleconference, “along with the ongoing violence on campus across the country, students and parents are even more concerned about security concerns.”

Bishop told Kearney Monday that Texas police only learned of Nikubin’s criminal charges in Nevada after a reporter tried to interview her about her music video posted online under the name Nika Borui, according to KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.

Bishop said earlier Wednesday that UT Dallas had reached an agreement with Nicoubin limiting her to online courses only, and that she “won’t be returning to the university (campus) while her legal matter is pending.”

“It is important that our 31,000 students, as well as our staff and faculty, know that their safety is our priority,” he said.

Kearney reiterated Nicoubin’s restrictions, including a GPS monitor, an evening curfew, and limited travel for certain purposes on a pre-approved schedule, including to school. The judge called it “a private matter whether she’s allowed on campus.”

“It’s up to you,” Kearney told Bishop.

Nikubin’s father, Turaj Nikoubin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university, declined to comment via email and phone on Wednesday.

Nika Nikubin has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial in July on charges of attempted murder and use of a weapon following her arrest in an alleged attack in March 2022.

Authorities said she told officers she met the unidentified victim on a dating app and then stabbed him in the Henderson hotel room while they were having sex. According to officials, the man was blindfolded at the time. He survived the attack.

Henderson police said Nikubin admitted to using the knife and told investigators it was an act of revenge for the death of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military leader killed in a US drone strike in January 2020.

“The US killed Soleimani… So I think it’s fair that American blood was shed,” Nikubin told the officer, based on body camera footage taken after the stabbing.

Nikubin underwent a court-ordered psychological evaluation in Nevada before she was found capable of facing criminal charges. In December, a grand jury indicted her.

Her attorney, Alanna Bondy, told Kearney on Wednesday that Nikubin makes the 40-minute commute from home to college in Dallas and instead of returning home, stays at his dad’s office on Tuesdays and Thursdays between morning classes that end before 10 a.m. . morning and evening classes starting at 18:00

Bondi said her client is a US permanent resident. She declined to comment on elements of the case.

Kearney set Nikubin’s next trial date for March 29.

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