United States v. Ahmed

94 F. Supp. 3d 394, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36973, 2015 WL 1321612
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedMarch 24, 2015
DocketNo. 12-CR-661 (SLT)(S-2)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 94 F. Supp. 3d 394 (United States v. Ahmed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Ahmed, 94 F. Supp. 3d 394, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36973, 2015 WL 1321612 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

TOWNES, District Judge.

In a second superseding indictment filed on December 1, 2014, Ali Yasin Ahmed, Madhi Hashi, and Mohamed Yusuf (“Defendants”) have been charged with crimes relating to their alleged support of a foreign terrorist organization. Defendants are charged with conspiring to provide, providing, and attempting to provide “material support or resources to” and “receiving military-type training from” al-Shabaab, a “designated foreign terrorist organization,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339B and 2339D, and using, carrying, or possessing, including brandishing and discharging, firearms, including a machine gun, in relation to and in furtherance of a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). Trial in this case is scheduled to commence on May 18, 2015. Currently before the Court are Defendants’ omnibus motions to dismiss the indictment and for other relief. (EOF Nos. 99, 100, 101, 103, 129,130,131,147.)

LEGAL STANDARD FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS INDICTMENT

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b) provides that “[a] party may raise by pretrial motion any defense, objection, or request that the court can determine without a trial on the merits.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(1). In other words, Rule 12 authorizes defendants to challenge the lawfulness of a prosecution on purely legal, as opposed to' factual, grounds. See United States v. Aleynikov, 676 F.3d 71, 75-76 (2d Cir.2012) (“[A] federal indictment can be challenged on the ground that it fails to allege a crime within the terms of the applicable statute.”). “The sufficiency of an indictment and the interpretation of a federal statute are both matters of law” reviewable on a motion to dismiss an indictment. Id. at 76. However, “[u]nless the government has made what can fairly be described as a full proffer of the evidence it intends to present at trial[,] ... the sufficiency of the evidence is not appropriately addressed on a pretrial motion [405]*405to dismiss an indictment.” United States v. Alfonso, 143 F.3d 772, 777-78 (2d Cir.1998). In considering the sufficiency of an indictment, the indictment “must be read to include facts which are necessarily implied by the specific allegations made,” United States v. LaSpina, 299 F.3d 165, 177 (2d Cir.2002) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), and the Court must accept all pertinent allegations in the indictment as true, Boyce Motor Lines, Inc. v. United States, 342 U.S. 337, 343 n. 16, 72 S.Ct. 329, 96 L.Ed. 367 (1952). See also United States v. Heicklen, 858 F.Supp.2d 256, 261-63 (S.D.N.Y.2012).

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Arrest and Indictment

On August 5, 2012 Defendants were arrested by Djiboutian authorities after illegally crossing the border from Somalia into Djibouti on their way to Yemen, allegedly to join another designated foreign terrorist organization: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (ECF No. 153 at 17). Djiboutian authorities detained Defendants and Defendants allege that they were tortured by Djiboutian officials and subsequently questioned, while still in Djibou-tian custody, by two separate FBI teams. (ECF Nos. 99-2,100-1,101-1.)

On October 18, 2012, a grand jury empaneled in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment charging the defendants with crimes related to their provision of material assistance to al-Shabaab. (ECF No. 153 at 19.) In November 2012, Djiboutian officials turned Defendants over to the United States government, at which point they were brought to the United States for prosecution. (Id. at 17). On November 15, 2012, a grand jury returned a first superseding indictment. (ECF No. 15.) On December 1, 2014, a grand jury returned a five-count second superseding indictment against Defendants. (ECF No. 138.) Count One charges Defendants with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, to wit: al-Shabaab, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339B(a)(l) and 2339B(d). Count Two charges that Defendants, together with others, provided material support to al-Shabaab, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339B(a)(l) and 2339B(d). Count Three charges that Defendants, together with others, attempted to provide material support to al-Shabaab, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339B(a)(1) and 2339B(d). Count Four charges that Defendants Ahmed and Yusuf, together with others, received military-type training from al-Shabaab, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2339D(a) and 2339D(b). Finally, Count Five charges that Defendants, together with others, unlawfully used, carried, and possessed one or more firearms, including a machinegun, in relation to and in furtherance of the crimes of violence charged in Counts One through Four, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1)(A)(i)-(iii) and 924(c)(l)(B)(ii). The Government alleges that Defendants brandished and discharged one or more of these firearms.

Current Motions

Defendants filed the instant motions to dismiss the indictment, raising various constitutional challenges and challenging the sufficiency and timeliness of the operative indictment. Defendants also (1) move for a bill of particulars, (2) move in limine for an order directing the government not to use the terms: “terrorist,” “terrorist activity,” or “terrorism,” and (3) move for notice pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 404(b)(2) of uncharged crimes about which the Government intends to offer evidence at trial. [406]*406(ECF Nos. 129, 130, 131.)1 Defendants also renew their motions to suppress, for all purposes, statements made to FBI agents while in Djiboutian custody and related relief. (ECF Nos. 99, 100, 101, 103.)

While Defendants’ motions were pending, the Government filed a superseding indictment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 F. Supp. 3d 394, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36973, 2015 WL 1321612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ahmed-nyed-2015.