Opinion ID: 561243
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: indictment, trial, and issues on appeal

Text: 7 We set out the pertinent portions of the statutes of conviction, and related provisions, in the appendix. The grand jury indicted Mena on five counts: (1) committing an act of aircraft piracy in violation of 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1472(i)(1) (count one); (2) boarding an aircraft with an explosive or incendiary device in violation of 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1472(l )(1), (2) (count two); 2 (3) interfering with an aircraft's crew in violation of 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1472(j) (count three); (4) placing a destructive device aboard an aircraft in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 32(a)(2) (count four); and (5) transporting an explosive in interstate commerce with intent to intimidate in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 844(d) (count five). After a five-day trial, Mena was convicted on all charges except count three. 3 He was sentenced to a mandatory minimum twenty-year prison term on count one and to shorter, but concurrent, prison terms on each of the remaining three counts of conviction. 8 At trial, the appellant placed most of his chips behind an unsuccessful insanity defense. On appeal, he has jettisoned this approach, instead mounting a multifaceted offensive on a series of other fronts. His most powerful forays attack the propriety of the jury empanelment; the court's failure either to give a lesser included offense instruction linking counts one and two or to afford relief under the Double Jeopardy Clause; the sufficiency of the government's proof concerning the device that was carried on board; and the sufficiency of the proof anent aircraft piracy. We address these issues in inverse order.