Source: https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-mehanna
Timestamp: 2020-07-12 23:16:15
Document Index: 749529671

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 956', '§ 956', '§ 371', '§ 2339', '§ 2339', '§ 2339', '§ 2339', 'art, 590', '§ 956', '§ 2339', '§ 2339', '§ 956', '§ 2332', '§ 1001', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 9', '§ 1', '§ 2339']

United States v. Mehanna, 735 F.3d 32 | Casetext Search + Citator
Further, the First Circuit has explained that the "essential purpose" of a conspiracy may encompass different…
Phillipos first argues that the evidence at trial did not suffice to show that his statements were…
Full title:UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Tarek MEHANNA, Defendant, Appellant.
735 F.3d 32 (1st Cir. 2013)
holding that “[a]voiding contact with one's coconspirators, without more, is not in any way, shape, or form tantamount to abandoning the conspiracy”
Sabin Willett, with whom Susan Baker Manning, Julie Silva Palmer, Bingham McCutchen LLP, J.W. Carney, Jr., and Carney & Bassil were on brief, for appellant. Alex Abdo, Hina Shamsi, Matthew R. Segal, and Sarah R. Wunsch on brief for American Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, amici curiae.
Pardiss Kebriaei, Baher Azmy, and Amna Akbar on brief for Center for Constitutional Rights, amicus curiae.
Nancy Gertner, David M. Porter, and Steven R. Morrison on brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, amicus curiae.
E. Joshua Rosenkranz and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on brief for Scholars, Publishers, and Translators in the Fields of Islam and the Middle East, amici curiae.
Elizabeth D. Collery, Attorney, Appellate Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, with whom Mythili Raman, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Denis J. McInerney, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Carmen M. Ortiz, United States Attorney, John P. Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, and Joseph F. Palmer, Attorney, National Security Division, were on brief, for appellee.
The stage can be set quite simply. In the court below, the government aimed a barrage of terrorism-related charges at defendant-appellant Tarek Mehanna. Following a protracted trial, the jury convicted him on all counts. The defendant, ably represented and supported by a coterie of earnest amici, challenges not only these convictions but also his 210–month sentence. After careful consideration of the massive record, the defendant's prolific arguments,and the controlling law, we affirm.
This appeal has its genesis in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Massachusetts. In its final form, the indictment charged the defendant with four terrorism-related counts and three counts premised on allegedly false statements. The terrorism-related counts included one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qa'ida (count 1); one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists knowing or intending its use to be in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 956 and 2332 (count 2); one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, knowing and intending its use to be in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 956 and 2332 (count 3); and one count of conspiracy to kill persons in a foreign country (count 4). The remaining counts included one count of conspiracy to make false statements as part of a conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States (count 5) and two counts of knowingly and willfully making false statements to federal officers (counts 6 and 7). See18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001. For the reader's convenience, we have annexed to this opinion an appendix delineating the pertinent portions of the relevant statutes.
Counts 1 through 3 (the conspiracy and material support charges) were based on two separate clusters of activities. The first cluster centered on the defendant's travel to Yemen. We briefly describe that trip.
This cluster of activities also comprises the foundation for count 4.
In 2004, the defendant, an American citizen, was 21 years old and living with his parents in Sudbury, Massachusetts. On February 1, he flew from Boston to the United Arab Emirates with his associates, Kareem Abuzahra and Ahmad Abousamra. Abuzahra returned to the United States soon thereafter but the defendant and Abousamra continued on to Yemen in search of a terrorist training camp. They remained there for a week but were unable to locate a camp. The defendant then returned home, while Abousamra eventually reached Iraq.
Abousamra was charged as a defendant in this case but absconded in December of 2006. For aught that appears, he remains a fugitive.
The second cluster of activities was translation-centric. In 2005, the defendant began to translate Arab-language materials into English and post his translations on a website—at-Tibyan—that comprised an online community for those sympathetic to al-Qa'ida and Salafi–Jihadi perspectives. Website members shared opinions, videos, texts, and kindred materials in online forums. At least some offerings that the defendant translated constituted al-Qa'ida-generated media and materials supportive of al-Qa'ida and/or jihad.
While “jihad” is a linguistically protean term that may encompass both violent and nonviolent acts, the record makes clear that the defendant used the term to refer to violent jihad—and that is the meaning that we ascribe to it throughout this opinion.
This timely appeal ensued. In it, the defendant challenges his convictions, various evidentiary rulings, and his sentence. We address below the more substantial components of this asseverational array. A few points are not addressed at all because we have found them to be insufficiently developed, patently meritless, or both. In addition, the amici have attempted to raise some issues not preserved by the defendant. We disregard those attempts. The law is settled that amici cannot ordinarily introduce into a case issues not briefed and argued by the appellant. See United States v. Chiaradio, 684 F.3d 265, 284 n. 7 (1st Cir.) (“[W]e adhere to the established principle that an amicus may not ‘interject into a case issues which the litigants, whatever their reasons might be, have chosen to ignore.’ ” (quoting Lane v. First Nat'l Bank of Bos., 871 F.2d 166, 175 (1st Cir.1989))), cert. denied,––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 589, 184 L.Ed.2d 386 (2012). This case presents no occasion for departing from this general rule.
To put the defendant's sufficiency challenge into a workable perspective, it is helpful to trace the anatomy of the four terrorism charges. Count 1 charges the defendant with conspiring to violate 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, which proscribes “knowingly provid[ing] material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” Id. § 2339B(a)(1). To satisfy the intent requirement of section 2339B, a defendant must have “knowledge about the organization's connection to terrorism.” Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ( HLP ), 561 U.S. 1, 130 S.Ct. 2705, 2717, 177 L.Ed.2d 355 (2010). A specific intent to advance the organization's terrorist activities is not essential. See id.; see also United States v. Al Kassar, 660 F.3d 108, 129 (2d Cir.2011) (identifying “two express scienter requirements: that the aid be intentional and that the defendant know the organization he is aiding is a terrorist organization or engages in acts of terrorism”).
In this case, the defendant does not dispute that al-Qa'ida was and is a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Nor could he credibly do so. SeeRedesignation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, 68 Fed.Reg. 56,860, 56,862 (Oct. 2, 2003); Redesignation of Foreign Terrorist Organization, 66 Fed.Reg. 51,088, 51,089 (Oct. 5, 2001); see also United States v. Farhane, 634 F.3d 127, 135 n. 7 (2d Cir.2011). By like token, the record leaves no doubt that the defendant was aware of al-Qa'ida's status.
Count 2 charges the defendant with conspiring to violate 18 U.S.C. § 2339A, which proscribes “provid[ing] material support or resources ..., knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out,” certain other criminal activities. Id. § 2339A(a). The intent requirement under section 2339A differs somewhat from the intent requirement under section 2339B: to be guilty under section 2339A, the defendant must have “provide[d] support or resources with the knowledge or intent that such resources be used to commit specific violent crimes.” United States v. Stewart, 590 F.3d 93, 113 (2d Cir.2009) (emphasis in original). Thus, “the mental state in section 2339A extends both to the support itself, and to the underlying purposes for which the support is given.” Id. at 113 n. 18. As adapted to the circumstances of this case, the government had to prove that the defendant had the specific intent to provide material support, knowing or intending that it would be used in a conspiracy to kill persons abroad. See18 U.S.C. §§ 956, 2332.
Material support is defined identically for purposes of sections 2339A and 2339B. Such support may take various forms, including (as arguably pertinent here) the provision of “service[s]” or “personnel.” 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339A(b)(1), 2339B(g)(4). With respect to the Yemen trip, the government accused the defendant of conspiring to provide himself as an al-Qa'ida recruit (count 1); knowing or intending the use of this material support in a conspiracy to kill persons abroad (count 2); and attempting to provide this support, knowing or intending that it would be used in such a conspiracy (count 3).
The defendant asserts that this trip cannot bear the weight of his convictions on any of the four terrorism-related counts because the record shows nothing more than that he went to Yemen to pursue Islamic studies. The government counters that the evidence reflects a far more sinister purpose. The salient question—at least with respect to the first three terrorism-related counts—is whether the record, viewed in the light most agreeable to the verdict, supports a finding that the defendantconspired to provide or attempted to provide himself and others as recruits (and, thus, as material support) for al-Qa'ida's terrorist aims.
The government's evidence of the defendant's specific intent with respect to his Yemen trip included his own actions, discussions with others, coconspirator statements, and materials that the defendant either kept on his computer or shared on the Internet. The defendant contends that this evidence, in the aggregate, showed nothing more than his participation in activities protected by the First Amendment (e.g., discussing politics and religion, consuming media related to those topics, and associating with certain individuals and groups) and, thus, could not support a finding of guilt. See Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. 203, 229–30, 81 S.Ct. 1469, 6 L.Ed.2d 782 (1961); United States v. Spock, 416 F.2d 165, 169–74 (1st Cir.1969). But the defendant is looking at the evidence through rose-colored glasses. We think it virtually unarguable that rational jurors could find that the defendant and his associates went abroad to enlist in a terrorist training camp.
Coconspirator testimony shined a bright light on the defendant's intent. This testimony made pellucid that the defendant and his comrades traveled to Yemen “for the purpose of finding a terrorist training camp” and “[e]ventually ... get[ting] into Iraq.” The defendant's particular interest in Iraq was because it was “an area that was being attacked.” He took the position that “there was an obligation for Muslims to stand up and fight against invasion of Iraq and the U.S. forces in Iraq.”
The defendant attempts to characterize these remarks as mere political speech. The jury, however, was entitled to draw a different inference: that the defendant's comments were evidence of the formation and implementation of a scheme to go abroad, obtain training, join with al-Qa'ida, and wage war against American soldiers fighting in Iraq.
We note that the defendant and his associates purchased round-trip airline tickets. In the travelers' own words, however, the return portions were for use “[i]f things didn't work out,” as well as to avoid raising the sort of suspicion often associated with one-way ticketing. And Abuzahra testified at trial that, notwithstanding the return ticket, he did not expect to return to the United States because “[t]he purpose of ... going was to basically fight in a war.”
It is settled beyond hope of peradventure that evidence of participation in a coverup can be probative of elements of the underlying crime such as knowledge and intent. See United States v. Davis, 623 F.2d 188, 192 (1st Cir.1980) (citing Grunewald v. United States, 353 U.S. 391, 405, 77 S.Ct. 963, 1 L.Ed.2d 931 (1957)). This is a commonsense proposition, and “criminal juries are not expected to ignore what is perfectly obvious.” United States v. Echeverri, 982 F.2d 675, 679 (1st Cir.1993).
To begin, the defendant's desire to engage in jihad did not end with the failed Yemen trip. Early in 2006, the defendant told an associate, Ali Aboubakr, about how he had traveled to Yemen to engage in jihad. The defendant invited Aboubakr to join him if he elected to travel abroad for jihad again. He described “a camp” that they could attend in Yemen, where they would “live with like, 300 other brothers” who “all walk around ... with camo jackets and AK–47s.” The defendant urged Aboubakr, who was then a college student, not to tell his father about his plan.
The defendant's communication with his “best friend,” Daniel Maldonado, further evinced his determination to engage in jihad. In December of 2006, Maldonado telephoned the defendant from Somalia. During this call, the two discussed the logistics needed for the defendant to join Maldonado in Somalia, including transportation and travel documents. Maldonado said that he was “in a culinary school” and “mak[ing] peanut butter and jelly.” Maldonado testified that this was code language, familiar to the defendant, denoting that Maldonado was in a terrorist training camp and engaged in jihad.
At the time of trial, Maldonado was serving a ten-year sentence pursuant to his guilty plea for receiving military-type training from an FTO. See18 U.S.C. § 2339D(a).
Percipient witnesses testified that the defendant watched jihadi videos with his associates for the purpose of “gain[ing] inspiration from the[m]” and “becom[ing] like a mujahid.” These videos depicted events such as Marines being killed by explosives, suicide bombings, and combat scenes glorifying the mujahideen. The defendant was “jubilant” while watching them.
“Mujahideen” (singular: “mujahid”) is defined as “Muslim guerilla warriors engaged in a jihad.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1153 (4th ed.2000). At trial, Aboubakr described “mujahid” as meaning “somebody who partakes in fighting.”
In a similar vein, the record is shot through with evidence of the defendant's rabid support for al-Qa'ida, his “love” for Osama bin Laden, his admiration of the September 11 hijackers, and his conviction that the September 11 attacks were justified and a “happy” occasion.
The evidence we have summarized sufficed to ground a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant traveled to Yemen with the specific intent of providing material support to al-Qa'ida, knowing or intending that this support would be used in a conspiracy to kill persons abroad. It likewise sufficed to ground a finding that the defendant attempted to provide such material support, knowing or intending that it would be used in a conspiracy to kill persons abroad. Finally, it sufficed to ground a finding that the defendant, while in the United States, conspired with others in a plan to kill persons abroad. The evidence was, therefore, ample to convict on the four terrorism-related counts.
1. Scholarly Pursuits.
The defendant argues that the only reasonable interpretation of his Yemen trip and the activities surrounding it is an innocent one: he sojourned to Yemen solely for the purpose of studying there. He describes himself as a devoted scholar of Islam and asserts that he visited Yemen, specifically, because the purest form of Arabic is spoken there. In support, he reminds us that he toured a school while in the country.
Relatedly, the defendant suggests that, regardless of his associates' purpose and intent, he was far more moderate than they. This moderation allegedly included adherence to certain beliefs antithetic to al-Qa'ida canon. Among these beliefs was the doctrine of “aman,” which the defendant describes as “a covenant to obey the law within a country that permits practice of the faith.” As he would have it, his adherence to aman would prohibit him from targeting American troops.
2. The Alternative Theory of Guilt.
The defendant's second rejoinder represents an attempt to change the trajectory of the debate. He points out that the indictment identifies his translations as culpable activity; that the government introduced copious evidence in support of a theory of guilt based on the translations; that it argued this theory to the jury; and that the jury returned a general verdict. Building on this platform, he argues that even if the evidence of the Yemen trip is sufficient to ground his terrorism-related convictions, those convictions cannot stand because they may have been predicated on protected First Amendment speech.
When it comes to the argument that the defendant makes here—that one of two possible grounds for the general verdict is suspect—the classification of the specific error makes all the difference. If “a mistake about the law” underlies the argument, reversal may be necessary. Griffin v. United States, 502 U.S. 46, 59, 112 S.Ct. 466, 116 L.Ed.2d 371 (1991); see Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298, 312, 77 S.Ct. 1064, 1 L.Ed.2d 1356 (1957); Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 367–68, 51 S.Ct. 532, 75 L.Ed. 1117 (1931). Such a “legal error” occurs, for instance, when “jurors have been left the option of relying upon a legally inadequate theory” by the trial court's charge. Griffin, 502 U.S. at 59, 112 S.Ct. 466. If, however, “a mistake concerning the weight or the factual import of the evidence” underlies the argument, the verdict must be upheld as long as the evidence is adequate to support one of the government's alternative theories of guilt. Id.
Now, this is important. Persons who act independently of a foreign terrorist organization to advance its goals or objectives are not considered to be working under the organization's direction or control. A person cannot be convicted under this statute when he's acting entirely independently of a foreign terrorist organization. That is true even if the person is advancing the organization's goals or objectives. Rather, for a person to be guilty under this count, a person must be acting in coordination with or at the direction of a designated foreign terrorist organization, here, as alleged in Count 1, al Qa'ida.
The defendant assigns error to these instructions in three respects. He says that they (i) fail to define the term “coordination”; (ii) incorrectly direct the jury not to consider the First Amendment; and (iii) should have been replaced by a set of instructions that he unsuccessfully proffered to the district court.
The defendant makes a fleeting argument that the district court's “coordination” instruction was directed only to count 1 and that the district court failed to instruct on the coordination element with regard to counts 2 and 3. This argument is disingenuous: it is nose-on-the-face plain that the district court incorporated its “coordination” instruction by reference into its instructions on counts 2 and 3. No more was exigible.
In sum, the district court's instructions captured the essence of the controlling decision in HLP, where the Court determined that otherwise-protected speech rises to the level of criminal material support only if it is “in coordination with foreign groups that the speaker knows to be terrorist organizations.” Id. at 2723. If speech fits within this taxonomy, it is not protected. See id. at 2722–26. This means that “advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of,” an FTO is not shielded by the First Amendment. Id. at 2722. The district court's instructions tracked the contours of this legal framework. The court appropriately treated the question of whether enough coordination existed to criminalize the defendant's translations as factbound and left that question to the jury. See, e.g., Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 247 n. 8, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (1999). We discern no error.
In all events, it is a bedrock principle that “[t]he role of the jury in a federal criminal case is to decide only the issues of fact.” Berra v. United States, 351 U.S. 131, 134, 76 S.Ct. 685, 100 L.Ed. 1013 (1956). In line with this principle, the district court properly barred the jury from embarking on an independent evaluation of First Amendment protections. See United States v. Victoria–Peguero, 920 F.2d 77, 86 (1st Cir.1990); see also United States v. Fincher, 538 F.3d 868, 872 (8th Cir.2008).
The defendant's third assignment of instructional error calumnizes the district court for failing to give his proffered instructions on the interaction of the material support statutes and the prophylaxis afforded by the First Amendment. We will reverse a trial court's refusal to give a proffered jury instruction only if the proffered instruction is substantively correct, not otherwise covered in substance in the court's charge, and of sufficient import that its omission seriously affects the defendant's ability to present his defense. See Chiaradio, 684 F.3d at 281;United States v. Prigmore, 243 F.3d 1, 17 (1st Cir.2001); United States v. McGill, 953 F.2d 10, 13 (1st Cir.1992).
The proffered instructions stated: “[m]ere association with terrorists or a terrorist organization is not sufficient to meet the element of ‘in coordination with.’ ” What the district court told the jury is perfectly consistent with this language. That ends the matter: a defendant has a right to an instruction on his theory of the case, but he has no right to insist that the trial court parrot his preferred wording. See, e.g., United States v. DeStefano, 59 F.3d 1, 2–3 (1st Cir.1995); McGill, 953 F.2d at 12.
It makes no difference that the absence of facts showing coordination with al-Qa'ida might have resulted in constitutionally protected conduct. The dividing line that the Supreme Court drew in Griffin was based on the distinct roles of judge and jury in our system of justice, not the presence vel non of constitutional issues. We entrust trial judges with the grave responsibility of giving juries a proper view of the law, and when they fail to do so, reversal may be warranted because “there is no reason to think that [jurors'] own intelligence and expertise will save them from that error.” Griffin, 502 U.S. at 59, 112 S.Ct. 466.
On the other hand, jurors are endowed with expertise in factfinding. See id. That presumed expertise is not vitiated even when performing the factfinding task requires them to separate constitutionally protected conduct from illegal conduct. See, e.g., N.Y. Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 279–82, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Thus, Griffin wisely teaches that there is no need for courts to save jurors from themselves “when they have been left the option of relying upon a factually inadequate theory, since jurors are well equipped to analyze the evidence.” 502 U.S. at 59, 112 S.Ct. 466 (emphasis in original).
That brings down the final curtain. We have found the defendant's claims of legal error with respect to his translation activities wanting, and we have no occasion to examine the factual sufficiency of those activities as a basis for his terrorism-related convictions. Even if the government's translation-as-material-support theory were factually insufficient, we would not reverse: the defendant's convictions on the affected counts are independently supported by the mass of evidence surrounding the Yemen trip and, under Griffin, we need go no further.
Citing strong circumstantial evidence that the jury rested these convictions on the Yemen trip—for example, the conviction on count 4 was necessarily predicated on the Yemen trip (not the translations), making it highly likely that the convictions on counts 1, 2, and 3 shared the same provenance—the government argues strenuously that any instructional error would have been harmless. See Hedgpeth v. Pulido, 555 U.S. 57, 58, 129 S.Ct. 530, 172 L.Ed.2d 388 (2008) (per curiam) (holding that constitutionally or legally defective jury instruction becomes reversible error only if it “had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict” (quoting Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 623, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993))). Inasmuch as we discern no instructional error, we do not reach this argument.
The defendant perceives a fatal variance between the conspiracies charged in counts 1, 2, and 4 and what he visualizes as a hodge-podge of other conspiracies captured by the proof at trial. The accepted rule is that when the government's case at trial varies from the crime limned in the charging document and that variance is both material and prejudicial, an ensuing conviction must be set aside. See United States v. Boylan, 898 F.2d 230, 246–48 (1st Cir.1990).
2. Legal Impossibility.
The defendant argues that counts 2 and 3 must fail because they depend on a legal impossibility. See United States v. Dixon, 449 F.3d 194, 202 n. 2 (1st Cir.2006) (explaining that “legal impossibility exists when a defendant sets out to achieve an objective which, even if achieved as envisioned, will not constitute a crime”). Specifically, he maintains that he could not have had an intent to provide material support knowing or intending its use to violate either section 956 or section 2332. In terms of section 956, he envisions a legal impossibility because “[p]utative recipients of the ‘personnel’ could not ‘use’ that support, as section 2339A contemplates, to commit a predicate crime requiring conspiracy within the United States, because by definition, those recipients were contemplated to be abroad.” He further argues that legal impossibility results because the government's theory of the case fell short of making out a conspiracy to commit “an act that would constitute the offense of murder.” 18 U.S.C. § 956(a)(1).
3. Vagueness.
The defendant makes a cursory argument that the district court's “construction” of the material support laws was unconstitutionally vague. To the extent that this argument is preserved, it is foreclosed by HLP, 130 S.Ct. at 2718–22. Consequently, we reject it out of hand.
4. The Certification Requirement.
The defendant objects that his convictions on counts 2 and 3 are invalid because of the government's failure to comply with the certification requirement adumbrated in 18 U.S.C. § 2332(d). This requirement reads: “No prosecution for any offense described in this section shall be undertaken ... except on written certification ... that, in the judgment of the certifying official, such offense was intended to coerce, intimidate, or retaliate against a government or a civilian population.” Id.
At any rate, the defendant cannot vault the third hurdle erected by the plain error standard: on this record, he cannot show that his substantial rights were adversely affected by the absence of a certification. The defendant's convictions under section 2339A were premised on knowledge and intent that his material support would be used for violations of either section 2332orsection 956. On a separate count—count 4—the jury found that the defendant violated section 956. Thus, his section 2339A conviction was supported by an intent to violate section 956. This makes it highly unlikely that the inclusion of the reference to section 2332 had any substantial effect. See Turner v. United States, 396 U.S. 398, 420, 90 S.Ct. 642, 24 L.Ed.2d 610 (1970) (explaining “that when a jury returns a guilty verdict on an indictment charging several acts in the conjunctive, ... the verdict stands if the evidence is sufficient with respect to any one of the acts charged”).
5. Count 3.
The defendant mounts a singular attack on count 3, which charged him with attempted violation of section 2339A; that is, attempting to provide material support knowing or intending its use in a conspiracy to kill persons abroad. The defendant suggests that the government failed to prove that he engaged in the substantial step necessary to undergird an attempt conviction. This suggestion is plainly unavailing.
We agree with the defendant that a conviction for attempt necessitates proof that the defendant took at least one substantial step toward the actual commission of the charged crime. See, e.g., United States v. Pires, 642 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2011); Gobbi, 471 F.3d at 309. Here, however, the Yemen trip constituted a very substantial step toward the attempted commission of the crime. The defendant suspended his studies, instructed his brother to destroy a bag of his possessions, and flew to Yemen armed with the name of a possible al-Qa'ida liaison. The jury was fully entitled to find that these actions satisfied the “substantial step” requirement.
In an effort to efface this reasoning, the defendant posits that the Yemen trip could not have constituted a substantial step toward the commission of the crime because there was no al-Qa'ida presence in Yemen in February of 2004. Notwithstanding these importunings, we need not decide whether or when al-Qa'ida pulled up stakes and quit Yemen. Even if we assume arguendo that al-Qa'ida retreated before the defendant's trip, the existence of a substantial step would not be called into question. Such a departure would, at most, have created a factual impossibility; and as we previously have explained, “factual impossibility is not a defense to ... liability ... for inchoate offenses such as conspiracy or attempt.” Dixon, 449 F.3d at 202.
Count 6 charges a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), which criminalizes “knowingly and willfully ... mak[ing] any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” to federal officials. The statements on which this count depends pertain to the whereabouts and activities of the defendant's friend and compatriot, Maldonado. These utterances were made when FBI agents questioned the defendant in December of 2006. In response to direct queries, the defendant told the agents that he had last heard from Maldonado two weeks earlier and that Maldonado was living in Egypt, working as a website steward. These statements were unquestionably false: the defendant had spoken to Maldonado within the week and knew that Maldonado was in Somalia and training for jihad.
Under this formulation, the knowledge of the interrogator is irrelevant to the materiality of the defendant's false statements. See United States v. Land, 877 F.2d 17, 20 (8th Cir.1989). With this in mind, courts have rejected variations of the metaphysical proposition advanced by the defendant with a regularity bordering on the monotonous. See, e.g., United States v. Lupton, 620 F.3d 790, 806–07 (7th Cir.2010); McBane, 433 F.3d at 350–52;Edgar, 82 F.3d at 510;Land, 877 F.2d at 20;see also Brogan v. United States, 522 U.S. 398, 399–400, 402, 118 S.Ct. 805, 139 L.Ed.2d 830 (1998) (finding defendant's false response to be material where agents knew correct answer at time of questioning, but not elaborating on this point).
The principles that govern the admission of coconspirator statements are old hat. Out-of-court statements offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted are generally regarded as hearsay and, thus, inadmissible. SeeFed.R.Evid. 801(c), 802. But there are exceptions. Pertinently for present purposes, when such a statement is offered against a party and is shown to have been “made by the party's coconspirator during and in furtherance of the conspiracy,” it is “not hearsay” and therefore admissible. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E).
In evaluating a trial court's refusal to sustain such a close-of-evidence objection, we ask whether the record adequatelyevinces “that a conspiracy embracing both the declarant and the defendant existed, and that the declarant uttered the statement during and in furtherance of the conspiracy.” United States v. Piper, 298 F.3d 47, 52 (1st Cir.2002) (internal quotation mark omitted). The party seeking the benefit of the hearsay exception (here, the government) must carry the devoir of persuasion on this inquiry and establish the necessary elements by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. “If these conditions are met, and if there is corroboration in the form of extrinsic evidence of the declarant's involvement in the conspiracy, then the hearsay barrier is avoided and the statement may be admitted.” United States v. Bradshaw, 281 F.3d 278, 283 (1st Cir.2002).
1. Pre–Yemen Statements.
With this framework in place, we turn first to certain statements that preceded the Yemen trip. The Yemen trip did not take place until February of 2004. Abousamra had sought to locate a terrorist training camp in 2002. At that time, Pakistan captured his fancy. He solicited assistance from Hassan Masood, a confederate who had particularized knowledge about that country.
To be sure, Abousamra's flirtation with Pakistan and his conversations with Masood occurred earlier. But even though these remarks came beforehand, the law is settled that a “statement made by a coconspirator, if in furtherance of the conspiracy, is ... admissible against the defendant even if made prior to the defendant's involvement in the conspiracy.” United States v. Masse, 816 F.2d 805, 811 (1st Cir.1987). Judge Aldrich graphically described the underlying rationale: “[A] conspiracy is like a train. When a party knowingly steps aboard, he is part of the crew, and assumes conspirator's responsibility for the existing freight....” United States v. Baines, 812 F.2d 41, 42 (1st Cir.1987).
2. Post–Yemen Statements.
After Abuzahra bailed out of the Yemen trip, he told Masood his reasons for doing so. For his part, Abousamra recounted his travels in Yemen and beyond to a number of witnesses. These post-Yemen oral histories were admitted at trial. The defendant maintains that by the time these statements were made, the conspiracy had ended as to the declarants: he says that Abuzahra abandoned the conspiracy by leaving Yemen early and that, by the time Abousamra spoke, there was no one left with whom he could have been conspiring. Because these fact-laden claims of error were preserved below, we review them for clear error. See Sepulveda, 15 F.3d at 1180.
3. At–Tibyan Statements.
We next consider the statements of more remote figures alleged to be among the defendant's coconspirators. Once again, we split the inquiry into two parts. We start with the defendant's challenge to the admission of instant messages from his at-Tibyan collaborators—messages that tended to show that al-Qa'ida solicited translations from the website's members.
In the defendant's view, the evidence showing a link between at-Tibyan and the charged conspiracy consisted of these messages alone—and more was needed in order to invoke the hearsay exception. See Bradshaw, 281 F.3d at 283 (requiring “corroboration in the form of extrinsic evidence”). We need not weigh the substance of this objection. Even if we assume for argument's sake that the district court erred in admitting the at-Tibyan messages, the error would be harmless. After all, a conviction will stand, notwithstanding a non-constitutional error, “as long as it can be said ‘with fair assurance, after pondering all that happened without stripping the erroneous action from the whole, that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error.’ ” Sasso, 695 F.3d at 29 (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946)).
Our conclusion about the harmlessness of any error is easily explained. In this case, the relevance of the at-Tibyan evidence is limited to the translation theory of guilt. But the Griffin Court's teachings, when applied here, render that theory of guilt academic. See supra Part II(B)(2) (explaining why the defendant's conviction would endure even if the evidence were insufficient to convict on the translation theory). And if we need not consider whether sufficient evidence exists to undergird the translation theory of guilt, it would be pointless to evaluate whether some of that evidence should have been excluded. It follows that any error in the admission of such evidence is perforce harmless. See, e.g., United States v. Mitchell, 85 F.3d 800, 812 n. 11 (1st Cir.1996).
Of course, it is possible that this evidence, even if harmless as to guilt, might have been so incendiary as to offend Federal Rule of Evidence 403. We consider this possibility infra.
4. Al–Qa'ida Statements.
The defendant's last challenge under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) implicates the district court's failure to exclude statements of high-level al-Qa'ida leaders. In support, the defendant asserts that any connection between those infamous figures and himself was too attenuated to warrant admission of the statements.
This might be a different case had the challenged statements been admitted for their truth. The government suggested below that these statements qualified for the Rule 801(d)(2)(E) exception because al-Qa'ida leaders “called for individuals to come join al Qa'ida” and the defendant “tried to respond to that call,” but the perimeter staked out by the government's rationale seems vast. Arguably, any pro-jihadi Muslim publicly announcing his opinions would come within its borders.
Here, however, we can leave the obvious concerns raised by this scenario for another day. It is virtually a tautology to say that in order to require a hearsay exception, a piece of evidence must otherwise satisfy the definition of hearsay. See United States v. Salameh, 152 F.3d 88, 112 (2d Cir.1998). To qualify as hearsay, a statement must be offered for its truth. SeeFed.R.Evid. 801(c)(2). The defendant directs us to no statements of al-Qa'ida leaders that were admitted to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
5. Recapitulation.
The short of it is that the defendant's objections to the admission of coconspirator statements are unavailing. Collectively, those objections take too crabbed a view of the relevant conspiracy, joust with harmlessly admitted evidence, and tilt with windmills by addressing statements that do not meet the definition of hearsay. When all is said and done, the objections afford no basis for tampering with the jury's verdict.
Federal Rule of Evidence 403 governs this challenge. That rule permits a court to “exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of” certain pitfalls, including “unfair prejudice” or “needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.” Fed.R.Evid. 403. Within this rubric, the term “unfair prejudice” denotes “an undue tendency to suggest decision on an improper basis, commonly, though not necessarily, an emotional one.” Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 180, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The role of an appellate court in conducting the triage that Rule 403 contemplates is narrowly circumscribed. “With respect to evidentiary questions in general and Rule 403 in particular, a district court virtually always is in the better position to assess the admissibility of the evidence in the context of the particular case before it.” Sprint/United Mgmt. Co. v. Mendelsohn, 552 U.S. 379, 387, 128 S.Ct. 1140, 170 L.Ed.2d 1 (2008). As a natural corollary of the district court's superior coign of vantage, that court's striking of the Rule 403 balance between probative value and prejudicial effect should not be disturbed unless an abuse of discretion looms. See id. at 384, 128 S.Ct. 1140. In undertaking such review, we afford the district court “especially wide latitude.” United States v. Candelaria–Silva, 162 F.3d 698, 705 (1st Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Only rarely—and in extraordinarily compelling circumstances—will we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, reverse a district court's on-the-spot judgment concerning the relative weighing of probative value and unfair effect.” Pires, 642 F.3d at 12 (quoting Freeman v. Package Mach. Co., 865 F.2d 1331, 1340 (1st Cir.1988)).
With this deferential standard in mind, we turn to the defendant's contention that terrorist media admitted at trial incited the jury to irrational decisionmaking. We begin with a frank acknowledgment that the collection of terrorist-related media introduced into evidence was extensive. According to the defendant, the “most disturbing” items referenced beheadings. For example, one witness testified about portions of a video in which Abu Musab al-Zarqawi extolled the decapitation of American businessman Nicholas Berg while images of deceased American soldiers were displayed on screen. Other testimony indicated that the defendant circulated a video depicting the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
While this evidence was terrifying, we think that the district court's handling of it was emblematic of the court's measured approach: the court allowed descriptive testimony but did not permit the video itself to be shown to the jury.
Of course, the defendant's Rule 403 challenge goes well beyond evidence of beheadings. He also assails the government's introduction of more than thirty propaganda video clips, such as al-Qa'ida's State of the Ummah; statements of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in book and interview form; and dozens of images portraying gripping scenes, such as the World Trade Center engulfed in flames and al-Qa'ida leaders exhorting their followers.
In this instance, the first half of the probative value/prejudicial effect dichotomy is easily satisfied. Evidence is relevant if it tends to make a material fact more or less likely. SeeFed.R.Evid. 401. The persuasiveness of the evidence with respect to such a fact is an appropriate proxy for its probative force. See United States v. Lachman, 48 F.3d 586, 591 (1st Cir.1995).
We have much less difficulty with the government's second (more traditional) reason for urging a finding of relevance. The government argues convincingly that the defendant's motive and intent are material facts and that the disputed media have probative value with respect to those facts. Specifically, the government posits that the defendant, inspired by terrorist rants, developed an anti-American animus, which culminated in his decision to travel to Yemen to join in al-Qa'ida's struggle. The pictures, videos, and literature that he absorbed and endorsed during that evolutionary process, as well as the materials that he used to recruit others to follow a similar path, doubtless bear on his motive and intent. See, e.g., United States v. El–Mezain, 664 F.3d 467, 509–10 (5th Cir.2011) (holding that material seized from the defendant, “including images of violence and videos glorifying Hamas and depicting Hamas leaders, was probative of the motive or intent of the [defendant] to support Hamas”), cert. denied,––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 525, ––– L.Ed.2d –––– (2012); United States v. Jayyousi, 657 F.3d 1085, 1108 (11th Cir.2011) (holding that televised interview with Osama bin Laden was properly admitted as “state of mind evidence”); United States v. Abu–Jihaad, 630 F.3d 102, 133–34 (2d Cir.2010) (affirming conclusion that “pro-jihadist contents of the videos were relevant to understanding [the defendant's] motive and intent”). While no picture, video, book, or tract spoke directly to the defendant's purpose in going to Yemen, evidence need not achieve the conspicuousness of a smoking gun in order to have probative value.
To prove his point, the defendant argues long and loud that the situation here reprises the situation in United States v. Al–Moayad, 545 F.3d 139 (2d Cir.2008). The defendants there were convicted of, among other things, conspiring and attempting to provide material support to Hamas. Id. at 145. On appeal, they complained about the admission of the testimony of Gideon Black, who gave a graphic, first-hand account concerning a suicide bombing aboard a bus in Tel Aviv. Id. at 152–53. They likewise complained about the testimony of Yahya Goba, who told the jury about an al-Qa'ida training camp that he attended, recounting Osama bin Laden's visit there and commenting on a video documenting that visit. Id. at 156–57.
The Second Circuit concluded that this testimony had been improvidently admitted. In reaching this conclusion, the court found the probative value of Black's testimony infinitesimal: although the government offered the testimony to establish the defendants' knowledge of Hamas's violent activities, the “bombing was almost entirely unrelated to the elements of the charges,” id. at 161, and in all events the defendants had offered to stipulate unqualifiedly to their knowledge that Hamas engaged in violent activities, id. at 160–61. Thus, Black's “extended account of the tragedy could not reasonably be considered part of” the government's narrative. Id. at 161.
The court offered much the same critique with respect to Goba. A “mujahidin form” required for entry into al-Qa'ida camps mentioned one defendant, and the ostensible purpose of Goba's testimony was to explain that form's significance. Id. at 156. Despite the tenuous nature of this link to the case, the district court “never appear[ed] to have assessed the probative value” of the testimony. Id. at 163. Without some “assurance that the court conscientiously balanced the probative value of the testimony against its prejudicial effect,” the “highly inflammatory and irrelevant” testimony and accompanying bin Laden video should have been excluded. Id.
It is hen's-teeth rare that two cases involving different parties, different facts, and different scenarios will be of much assistance through a comparative analysis of Rule 403 determinations. These determinations are case-specific and it is readily apparent that Al–Moayad and the case at hand are not fair congeners. Although the defendant's counsel in this case stated at one point that he could “virtually stipulate to the defendant's state of mind,” no actual stipulation was ever proffered or made.
We do not mean to imply that a stipulation would necessarily have dictated the result of a Rule 403 analysis. To the contrary, “the prosecutor's choice [not to accept a defendant's stipulation] will generally survive a Rule 403 analysis when a defendant seeks to force the substitution of an admission for evidence creating a coherent narrative of his thoughts and actions in perpetrating the offense for which he is being tried.” United States v. Balsam, 203 F.3d 72, 84 (1st Cir.2000) (alteration in original) (quoting Old Chief, 519 U.S. at 192, 117 S.Ct. 644);see United States v. Hammoud, 381 F.3d 316, 342 n. 12 (4th Cir.2004) (en banc) (explaining that where proffered stipulation “would not relieve the Government of the burden of demonstrating that [the defendant] knew that Hizballah engaged in terrorist activity,” it did not have to be accepted), vacated on other grounds,543 U.S. 1097, 125 S.Ct. 1051, 160 L.Ed.2d 997 (2005).
Perhaps more important, the evidence of which the defendant complains was (unlike the evidence challenged in Al–Moayad ) central to the government's narrative: the government's case depended on proving that the defendant's actions emanated from views that, over time, had aligned with al-Qa'ida's. The media that he consumed en route to forming those views is a salient part of the story.
Moreover, that part of the story was fiercely contested. Although the defendant indicated a willingness to admit that he admired al-Qa'ida's ideals, he steadfastly disassociated himself from any anti-American actions involving violence. As he put it, his beliefs “would prevent [him] from attacking fellow Americans within the United States or outside of it.” In the same vein, his counsel cast Yemen as nothing more than a “free trip” for the defendant to “do what he wanted to do”—seek out a scholarly community. The challenged evidence helped to tell a different tale—and it tended to make the defendant's account less believable.
The Fifth Circuit wisely observed, in analogous circumstances, that in a terrorism case, “it is inescapable ... that there would be some evidence about violence and terrorist activity.” Id. So it is here.
We cannot say that the district court's Rule 403 determinations offended this principle. For the most part, the evidence of which the defendant complains served to discredit his claim that his purpose in Yemen was innocuous. This is significant because “[e]vidence which tends to rebut a defendant's claim of innocent action is unlikely to be unduly prejudicial.” El–Mezain, 664 F.3d at 509. The court below carefully superintended the ebb and flow of the evidence, displayed a high degree of sensitivity in regard to Rule 403 concerns, took pains to minimize the impact of potentially inflammatory bits of evidence, and gave the jury suitably prophylactic instructions. There is no reason to believe, on this record, that the verdict was the result of passion or prejudice.
The defendant couches this argument in the idiom of Rule 403—but this may not be a Rule 403 objection at all. Instead, it may properly be viewed either as an objection to the relevance of the evidence, seeFed.R.Evid. 401, or as an objection to the lack of a proper foundation, seeFed.R.Evid. 901.
The next disputed evidentiary ruling is of a different genre. In a criminal case, the Fifth Amendment imposes certain disclosure obligations on the government. These disclosure obligations were most famously articulated in the Supreme Court's watershed decision in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).
The Brady Court held that “the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process.” Id. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194. This “no-fault disclosure obligation,” Haley v. City of Boston, 657 F.3d 39, 48 (1st Cir.2011), applies “irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution,” Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194.
It is important to remember that in Brady, the Court “wielded a scalpel, not a meat-axe.” Haley, 657 F.3d at 48. “The Justices made it transparently clear that the newly announced no-fault disclosure obligation does not cover all evidence but, rather, only ‘evidence [that] is material either to guilt or to punishment.’ ” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194). This taxonomy includes any evidence that fairly tends to negate guilt, mitigate punishment, or undermine the credibility of government witnesses, including evidence known only to police investigators and not to the prosecutor. See Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281–82, 119 S.Ct. 1936, 144 L.Ed.2d 286 (1999). Reversal is warranted if the government improperly withholds Brady material and prejudice results. See id.
The defendant's position can be stated without much ceremony. He suggests that evidence of his refusal to commit a crime would have reinforced a central theme of the defense: that although he may have sympathized with al-Qa'ida and spoken glowingly of the virtues of jihad, he nonetheless avoided crossing the line into criminal activity. The defendant further suggests that such evidence would have impeached Abuzahra's testimony that the defendant was ready and willing to commit terrorist acts.
We have inspected the government's in camera submission. Due to the confidential nature of this submission, we think it prudent to refrain from any detaileddescription. For present purposes, it suffices to say that both the content and the timing of the contact disclosed in the government's in camera submission militate against a finding that the conversation in question constituted Brady material. First, the transcript of that conversation does not show any solicitation of the defendant's participation in further terrorist acts. Second, given the timing of the contact, even a rebuffed solicitation would have had no real probative value.
The last group of contested evidentiary rulings deals with expert witnesses. The defendant sought to present no fewer than eight experts at trial. The district court allowed six of these experts to testify, but excluded the remaining two. The defendant complains about the dual exclusion. We review orders excluding expert witnesses for abuse of discretion. See Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 141–42, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999); United States v. Hoffman, 832 F.2d 1299, 1310 (1st Cir.1987).
The first excluded expert was Dr. Steven Durlauf. The defendant sought to have him present mathematical formulae for the purpose of undermining the opinion of one of the government's experts, Evan Kohlmann, with respect to the latter's method of defining who was an al-Qa'ida adherent. The district court rejected this proffered testimony on the primary ground that Kohlmann never claimed that his conclusions comported with, or were based upon, scientific standards. We discern no abuse of discretion.
As an alternative ground for exclusion, the district court pointed out that the defendant had not given the government proper notice of the substance of Dr. Durlauf's proposed testimony. SeeFed.R.Crim.P. 16(b)(1)(C). There is no need for us to address this alternative ground.
Under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, a district court pondering whether to admit expert testimony must determine, among other things, whether the proffered testimony is tied closely enough to the facts to “assist the trier of fact.” Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 591–93, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993); see United States v. Shay, 57 F.3d 126, 132–33 (1st Cir.1995). To forge this link, there must be “a valid connection ... between the expert's testimony and a disputed issue.” Shay, 57 F.3d at 133 n. 5.
The second excluded expert witness was Dr. Brian Glyn Williams. The defendant tendered this witness in a professed effort to rebut Kohlmann's testimony about both the efficacy of jihadi videos in generating recruits for al-Qa'ida and the purpose behind the production of those videos. The district court determined that this testimony would not be helpful to the jury. This ruling, too, was within the compass of the district court's discretion.
It is common ground that a trial court may bar expert testimony if that testimony will not assist the jury to sort out contested issues. SeeFed.R.Evid. 702; see also Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592–93, 113 S.Ct. 2786;United States v. Tetioukhine, 725 F.3d 1, 6–8 (1st Cir.2013). In this case, whether the jihadi videos discussed by Kohlmann were effective as a recruiting tool was a non-issue. Rather, the relevant issue was whether the defendant intended to provide material support by helping al-Qa'ida to produce the videos. See, e.g., Al Kassar, 660 F.3d at 129;Jayyousi, 657 F.3d at 1105. Even if the videos were not an effective recruiting tool, this lack of efficacy would not dissipate the defendant's criminal intent. Seen in this light, Dr. Williams's proffered testimony had no bearing on the relevant issue and perforce would not have helped the jury to resolve it.
Much the same can be said about Dr. Williams's proffered testimony about al-Qa'ida's purpose in making the videos. Within the margins of this prosecution, it was immaterial whether al-Qa'ida's purpose was for recruiting (as Kohlmann indicated) or to boost morale (as Dr. Williams would have testified). Either way, the videos would constitute material support. Paving the way for the jury to choose between the witnesses' competing assessments of al-Qa'ida's aims would, therefore, have been an empty exercise. See, e.g., United States v. Maxwell, 254 F.3d 21, 25–26 (1st Cir.2001).
We add a coda. The proffered testimony of Drs. Durlauf and Williams was cumulative. One of the expert witnesses who was allowed to testify on the defendant's behalf, Dr. Marc Sageman, made essentially the same points that the defendant sought to pursue through the two excluded experts. The cumulative nature of the excluded testimony, in itself, adequately underpinned the district court's exclusionary rulings. See Bobby v. Van Hook, 558 U.S. 4, 12, 130 S.Ct. 13, 175 L.Ed.2d 255 (2009) (per curiam); LaPlace–Bayard v. Batlle, 295 F.3d 157, 163–64 (1st Cir.2002).
This bevue is material, the defendant says, because of a key difference between the two editions of the guidelines. That difference came about when the Sentencing Commission amended the guidelines in November of 2004. SeeUSSG § 2A1.5(a) (Nov.2004). The amendment, which remained in place through ensuing editions of the guidelines (up to and including the November 2011 edition), had the effect of boosting the defendant's base offense level (BOL) by five levels for one of the linchpin counts of conviction. Compare id.§ 2A1.5(a) (Nov.2003), with id.§ 2A1.5(a) (Nov.2011).
The seven counts of conviction were grouped for sentencing purposes. SeeUSSG § 3D1.2. The amendment in question affected count 2, which was one of the counts that had the highest BOL and, thus, figured prominently in the overall sentencing calculus.
As a general rule, a sentencing court should use the version of the guidelines in effect at the time of the disposition hearing. See United States v. Harotunian, 920 F.2d 1040, 1041–42 (1st Cir.1990). But this rule, like every other general rule, admits of exceptions. One such exception obtains when the Ex Post Facto Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3, is implicated. The application of a particular version of the guidelines raises ex post facto concerns if that version increases the level of punishment for a crime above that in place when the crime was committed. See Peugh v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 2072, 2078, 186 L.Ed.2d 84 (2013).
We acknowledge that the defendant's premise is largely correct: if all of the culpable criminal activity were completed before the relevant guidelines were made more stringent, then the district court would in all probability have had to apply the earlier version of the guidelines. See, e.g., United States v. Bennett, 37 F.3d 687, 698–700 (1st Cir.1994); Harotunian, 920 F.2d at 1042. But the conclusion that the defendant draws from this premise is wrong. The sentencing court determined as a matter of fact, at least impliedly, that the charged conspiracies continued well into 2006. The court similarly determined that the defendant's culpable conduct continued for that same period of time. These determinations are not clearly erroneous; indeed, they are consistent with the heavy weight of the evidence adduced at trial. See supra Part II(A).
We hedge this statement because, as an alternative ground in support of the sentencing court's use of the 2011 version of the guidelines, the government asks us to apply the so-called “one book” rule. SeeUSSG § 1B1.11(b)(2); Goergen, 683 F.3d at 3. Inasmuch as we conclude that the charged conspiracies extended beyond the effective date of the 2004 amendment, we do not reach this issue.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully
(b) Attempt or conspiracy with respect to homicide.—Whoever outside the United States attempts to kill, or engages in a conspiracy to kill, a national of the United States shall
(b) Definitions.—As used in this section
(1) Unlawful conduct.—Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. To violate this paragraph, a person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization (as defined in subsection (g)(6)), that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as defined in section 140(d)(2)) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989
(h) Provision of personnel.—No person may be prosecuted under this section in connection with the term “personnel” unless that person has knowingly provided, attempted to provide, or conspired to provide a foreign terrorist organization with 1 or more individuals (who may be or include himself) to work under that terrorist organization'sdirection or control or to organize, manage, supervise, or otherwise direct the operation of that organization. Individuals who act entirely independently of the foreign terrorist organization to advance its goals or objectives shall not be considered to be working under the foreign terrorist organization's direction and control.
finding no reason to think “that the verdict was the result of passion or prejudice,” given how the judge (among other things) “gave the jury suitably prophylactic instructions”
finding terrorist media admissible in material-support trial because it was highly probative to state of mind
concluding that a conspiracy's shift in focus "from Pakistan to domestic attacks and then to Yemen did not rob it of its essential purpose: waging jihad against the United States"
upholding the judge's ruling, highlighting his limiting instruction
affirming § 2339B convictions, among others, over the defendant's First Amendment challenge, observing that "jurors are endowed with expertise in factfinding," and that "[t]hat presumed expertise is not vitiated even when performing the factfinding task requires them to separate constitutionally protected conduct from illegal conduct"
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