United States v. Anjum

961 F. Supp. 883, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5398, 1997 WL 196956
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedApril 18, 1997
DocketCivil No. HNM-95-3288; Criminal No. K-92-096
StatusPublished

This text of 961 F. Supp. 883 (United States v. Anjum) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Anjum, 961 F. Supp. 883, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5398, 1997 WL 196956 (D. Md. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MALETZ, Senior Judge.1

Currently pending before the court is the motion of Fayaz Anjum to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (1994), amended by Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214.2 Anjum contends: (1) that the court erred in determining his sentence; (2) that he was denied effective assistance of counsel; (3) that the court erred in instructing the jury; and (4) that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s finding of guilt. For the reasons that follow the motion is denied.

I.

On August 22, 1991, Khalid Khan told Af-sar Khan, a government informant, that approximately 1.235 kilograms of heroin had been imported into the United States and that the first kilogram of this amount would sell for $100,000. Khalid Khan instructed Afsar Khan to contact Khalid Khan’s courier and to pay him $15,000 on receiving the heroin. Afsar Khan was to pay the remaining $85,000 to Khawaja Arshad in New York, to whom he was to identify himself as “Mr. Durrani’s man; care of Tariq Saraf Peshawar.”

On August 26, 1991, Afsar Khan and Special Agent Dennis Bass, acting in an undercover capacity, met with two couriers in Baltimore. The couriers delivered more than a kilogram of heroin, and informed Special Agent Bass that they had personally imported it from Pakistan. Special Agent Bass then delivered the $15,000 to the couriers.

Following that meeting, Afsar Khan and Special Agent Bass contacted Khawaja Ar-shad to arrange for payment of the remaining $85,000. Khawaja Arshad, however, refused to come to Baltimore to pick up the money.

On September 4, 1991, Afsar Khan received a telephone message from Fayaz An-jum, who subsequently stated that he was in Los Angeles and would travel to Baltimore to pick up the $85,000 for Khalid Khan. Anjum requested that payment be made in “big bills.” Afsar Khan later telephoned Anjum and stated that he would await Khalid Khan’s instructions. Afsar Khan also stated that the money was “drug money.” When Afsar Khan called Khalid Khan in Pakistan, Khalid Khan instructed him to pay the money to Anjum.

On September 5, 1991, Anjum traveled to Baltimore and met with Afsar Khan. Afsar Khan delivered the $85,000 to Anjum, who [886]*886counted the money and complained that it was not in large bills. Anjum wrote out and signed a receipt for Afsar Khan. As part of a pre-arranged ruse, however, — a Baltimore City police officer drove up to the scene and asked for permission to search the car. Af-sar Khan granted the permission, the money was discovered, and both men denied any knowledge of the money. Police confiscated the $85,000 after dogs detected the presence of drugs on the bills, but neither man was arrested. After the police left, Afsar Khan returned the receipt to Anjum.

In the days after this incident, Khalid Khan again contacted Afsar Khan and asserted that Afsar Khan still owed him $85,-000. Khalid Khan directed Afsar Khan to contact Anjum so they could arrange to recover the money from the police. When Afsar Khan called Anjum, Anjum stated that he had spoken with people in Pakistan and that they must go to the police to seek a return of the money. Afsar Khan, however, refused to do so.

In the following months, conversations between the numerous participants continued. During this time, Special Agent Bass received a sample of heroin from Pakistan in an envelope marked “Tariq Ahmad,” bearing a return address of Peshawar, Pakistan. In November 1991, Anjum stated to Afsar Khan that his contact in Pakistan was a man named Tariq, Khalid Khan’s neighbor.

A federal grand jury indicted Anjum on two counts of conspiracy. The first count charged Anjum with conspiracy to import heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963; the second with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. A jury convicted Anjum on both counts. The court sentenced Anjum to concurrent terms of 124 months imprisonment on each count, five years of supervised release on each count, also to run concurrently, and a special assessment of $100. Anjum appealed his conviction, but raised no objection to his sentence, and the Fourth Circuit affirmed. United States v. Anjum, No. 93-5537, 1994 WL 416422 (4th Cir. Aug.10, 1994) (unpublished). The Supreme Court denied certiorari. Anjum v. United States, 513 U.S. 1051, 115 S.Ct. 653, 130 L.Ed.2d 557 (1994).

II.

Anjum first challenges the legality of his sentence. He contends that the court erred in imposing a mandatory minimum sentence under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b) without a determination of the quantity of narcotics reasonably foreseeable to him as required by United States v. Irvin 2 F.3d 72 (4th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1125, 114 S.Ct. 1086, 127 L.Ed.2d 401 (1994), a ease decided during the pendency of Anjum’s direct appeal. Anjum alleges that, had a reasonable foreseeability determination been made at his sentencing as required by Irvin, less than 1 kilogram of heroin would have been attributable to him and a mandatory minimum sentence would not have been imposed.

Because Anjum failed to challenge the quantity of narcotics for which he was responsible at his sentencing or on direct appeal, the government argues that this claim is procedurally defaulted. A claim raised for the first time in a § 2255 motion generally is not reviewable unless the defendant demonstrates “both (1) ‘cause’ excusing his ... procedural default, and (2) ‘actual prejudice’ resulting from the errors of which he complains.” United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 167-68, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1594, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982).

The court need not consider the issue of “cause” because Anjum has failed to show any “actual prejudice.” Even assuming Irvin applies retroactively, that case does not establish any error in Anjum’s sentence because, first, the court did not impose a statutory mandatory minimum sentence on An-jum, and, second, the record supports the court’s conclusion that Anjum was aware, or should have been aware, of 1.235 kilograms of heroin, the amount of drugs involved in the August 1991 transaction.

Irvin held that a district court must apply the principles set forth in the relevant conduct guideline to determine the quantity of drugs reasonably foreseeable to a defendant before applying the mandatory minimum sentence provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 841. [887]*887Here, the court did not impose the mandatory minimum sentence because a higher sentencing range resulted from application of the sentencing guidelines. Bather, the court imposed a guideline sentence of 124 months. By contrast, in Irvin,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Frady
456 U.S. 152 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Herbert W. Boeckenhaupt v. United States
537 F.2d 1182 (Fourth Circuit, 1976)
United States v. Paul v. Oates
560 F.2d 45 (Second Circuit, 1977)
United States v. Joe Dee Hicks
945 F.2d 107 (Fifth Circuit, 1991)
United States v. Irvin
2 F.3d 72 (Fourth Circuit, 1993)
Roach v. Martin
757 F.2d 1463 (Fourth Circuit, 1985)
Washington v. Murray
952 F.2d 1472 (Fourth Circuit, 1991)
Rodriguez-Roncancio v. United States
513 U.S. 1051 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Anjum v. United States
513 U.S. 1051 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Anjum v. United States
513 U.S. 1051 (Supreme Court, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
961 F. Supp. 883, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5398, 1997 WL 196956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-anjum-mdd-1997.