United States v. Salameh

16 F. App'x 73
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided August 6, 2001·No. Nos. 99-1619(L), 99-1620(CON), 99-1621(CON) and 99-1623(CON)·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of record from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and was argued.

ON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, it is hereby ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the decision of the district court be and it hereby is AFFIRMED.

In 1994, after a lengthy jury trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Duffy, J.), defendants-appellants Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmoud Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj were convicted on all counts of a criminal indictment arising out of their participation in the plot to bomb the World Trade Center. Each was sentenced principally to 240 years’ imprisonment. In August 1998, this Court affirmed the district court’s judgment of conviction, but vacated defendants’ sentences and remanded the case for resentencing. United States v. Salameh, 152 F.3d 88, 161 (2d Cir.1998) (per curiam), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1112, 119 S.Ct. 885, 142 L.Ed.2d 785 (1999) (“Salameh I”). Additionally, this Court declined to exercise appellate jurisdiction over defendants’ claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and remanded those claims, along with defendants’ post-trial motions for a new trial pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, to the district court for its consideration. Id. at 160-61.

[75]*75Thereafter, and subsequent to hearings on defendants’ post-trial motions, the district court denied defendants’ post-trial motions for a new trial in their entirety, resentenced each defendant to a lengthy prison term and imposed on each defendant a fine and restitution. In a separate per curiam opinion filed today, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court, as modified therein. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the district court’s denial of defendants’ post-trial motions.

We review a district court’s denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. United States v. Torres, 128 F.3d 38, 48 (2d Cir.1997). Any findings of fact made by the district court in resolving the motions are to be accepted unless shown to be clearly erroneous. United States v. Gallego, 191 F.3d 156, 161 (2d Cir.1999), cert. denied, 530 U.S. 1216, 120 S.Ct. 2220, 147 L.Ed.2d 252 (2000).

1. Defendants assert that they are entitled to a new trial based on, inter alia, supposed newly discovered evidence that Federal Bureau of Investigations (“FBI”) Supervisory Special Agent David Williams gave perjured testimony at their trial. We disagree.

Defendants’ allegations of perjury by Agent Williams rest foursquare on a report issued after defendants’ trial by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Justice (the “Inspector General’s Office”). See Michael R. Bromwich, Inspector General, The FBI Laboratory: An Investigation into Laboratory Practices and Alleged Misconduct in Explosives Related and Other Cases (April 1997) (the “Inspector General’s Report” or the “Report”). The Inspector General’s Report, inter alia, criticized several aspects of Agent Williams’s trial testimony, all of which supported the government’s theory that urea nitrate was the main charge used in the bomb that exploded under the World Trade Center. This included his testimony about: (1) the defendants’ capacity to manufacture a bomb composed of urea nitrate; (2) the size and composition of the bomb that exploded under the World Trade Center; (3) disputes he had with FBI Special Supervisory Agent Dr. Frederic Whitehurst concerning the substance of the FBI’s reports detailing the findings of its investigation; and (4) the FBI’s attempts to manufacture a bomb composed primarily of urea nitrate and his role in such attempts. Although we accept the Inspector General’s Report that Agent Williams, at times, offered “inaccurate and incomplete testimony,” Inspector General’s Report at 83, we conclude that a new trial is not warranted.

“[Rjelief is justified under Rule 33 only if the newly-discovered evidence”: (1) “could not have been discovered, exercising due diligence, before or during trial”; (2) is “material”; (3) is “non-cumulative”; and (4) if admitted at trial, would probably have led to an acquittal. Gallego, 191 F.3d at 161 (internal quotation marks omitted). In addition to these four requirements, when perjury is alleged as the newly discovered evidence, a defendant must prove that the witness, in fact, offered perjured testimony. United States v. Diaz, 176 F.3d 52, 106 (2d Cir.) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 957, 120 S.Ct. 386, 145 L.Ed.2d 301 (1999). Perjury requires more than just showing a witness’s testimony was false — it must have been intentionally false as to a material matter. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1621, 1623; United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 94, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1993).

If the witness perjured himself, but the government was unaware of the perjury during trial, “a new trial is warranted only if the testimony was material and the court [is left] with a firm belief that but for the perjured testimony, the defendant would most likely not have been convict[76]*76ed.” United States v. Moreno, 181 F.3d 206, 213 (2d Cir.) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 977, 120 S.Ct. 427, 145 L.Ed.2d 334 (1999). If, on the other hand, “the prosecution knew or should have known of the perjury, a new trial is warranted if ‘there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury.’ ” United States v. Wong, 78 F.3d 73, 81 (2d Cir.1996) (quoting United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 103, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976)).

Even if we agreed that Agent Williams’s inaccurate testimony amounted to perjury, the defendants have failed to produce any evidence that the United States Attorney’s Office was aware of this perjury. Moreover, we are not left “with a firm belief that but for the perjured testimony, the defendants would most likely not have been convicted.” Moreno, 181 F.3d at 213 (citation omitted). To the contrary, independent of Williams’s testimony, there is a surfeit of evidence of defendants’ guilt and, specifically, of their manufacture of a bomb, the main charge of which was composed of urea nitrate, and detonation thereof under the World Trade Center. See Salameh I, 152 F.3d at 107-09, 151-57.

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United States v. Salameh, 16 F. App'x 73 (2d Cir. 2001).

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