United States v. Yousef

927 F. Supp. 673, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7369, 1996 WL 284939
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 29, 1996
DocketS12 93 Cr. 180 (KTD)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 927 F. Supp. 673 (United States v. Yousef) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.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. Yousef, 927 F. Supp. 673, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7369, 1996 WL 284939 (S.D.N.Y. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

KEVIN THOMAS DUFFY, District Judge:

Defendants, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, (‘Yousef’), Abdul Hakim Murad (“Murad”), and Wali Khan Amin Shah, (“Shah”), are charged with conspiring and attempting to damage, destroy and bomb numerous United States commercial airliners operating in East Asia routes, all but one of which had some United States city as a scheduled stop. Defendants are also alleged to have been responsible for the detonation of a bomb in the Greenbelt Theater in Manila, Philippines, on or about December 1, 1994. Defendant Yousef is charged with the detonation of another bomb on December 11,1994, aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 bound for Tokyo, Japan, which exploded while the airplane was in flight, causing the death of one passenger, Haruki Ikegami, and injuring several others. Both of these explosions are included as overt acts in the conspiracy to blow up the United States airliners, and the explosion aboard the Philippines airliner is charged as a separate count in the indictment.

The specific violations with which these Defendants are charged include: conspiring and attempting to destroy aircraft in foreign air commerce within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 32(a)(1), (2), (7), and 371 (Counts Twelve, Thirteen and Fourteen); conspiring to kill a national of the United States with malice aforethought, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2332(b) and (d) (Count Fifteen); conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in relation to the conspiracy *676 charged in Count Fifteen of the indictment in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2332a (Count Sixteen); using and carrying an improvised explosive device in relation to the conspiracy charged in Counts Twelve and Fifteen, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) and 2 (Counts Seventeen and Eighteen); Defendant Yousef is charged with placing and causing the detonation of a bomb aboard a Philippines airliner, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 32(b) (Count Nineteen); and finally, Defendant Shah is charged with attempting to escape from the custody of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a) (Count Twenty).

All three Defendants have made various pretrial motions. Yousef moves for (1) dismissal of the indictment because of the alleged mistreatment he suffered while in the custody of unidentified individuals in Pakistan and Pakistani law enforcement agents; (2) dismissal of Count Nineteen of the Indictment, which charges the unlawful placing of a bomb aboard a Philippines airliner, based on jurisdictional “principles of both domestic and international law.”

Defendant Murad also moves for dismissal of the indictment for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the charged offenses did not occur in the “special aircraft jurisdiction” of the United States and that the indictment does not specify the particular United States citizens or property which were the target of the alleged conspiracy.

Defendant Shah moves for dismissal of the indictment alleging that the prosecution of a non-citizen for these extraterritorial crimes in the United States violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the United States Constitution, federal statutory law, and provisions of international law and extradition treaties to which the United States is a party-

For the following reasons, Defendants’ motions are denied.

Yousefs Motion to Dismiss the Indictment

Yousef argues that his abduction in Pakistan and the United States’ direction of or acquiescence in his alleged torture and interrogation warrant dismissal of the indictment based on the Second Circuit decision in United States v. Toscanino, 500 F.2d 267 (2d Cir.1974). Yousef argues that under the holding in Toscanino, jurisdiction over him was acquired as a result of a deliberate, unnecessary and unreasonable invasion of his rights. However, contrary to Yousefs arguments, Toscanino does not stand for the proposition that such allegations must result in dismissal of an indictment. See United States ex rel. Lujan v. Gengler, 510 F.2d 62, 66 (2d Cir.1975) (absent a set of incidents like that posited by the Court of Appeals as being present in Toscanino, not every violation by prosecution or police is so egregious that it requires nullification of the indictment).

The court in Toscanino merely remanded to the District Court for an evidentiary hearing to be held only if the defendant “offers some credible supporting evidence, including specifically evidence that the action was taken by or at the direction of United States officials.” Id. at 281. On remand, Toscanino’s only evidence of his torture and coercive interrogation was his own affidavit, which failed to show participation by United States officials. The trial court, therefore refused to hold an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion to vacate the conviction and dismiss the indictment. See United States v. Toscanino, 398 F.Supp. 916, 917 (E.D.N.Y.1975).

Like the trial court in the original case, subsequent courts have interpreted the Second Circuit decision in Toscanino narrowly, and generally have refused to dismiss indictments either because of the defendant’s failure to establish abusive activity or the defendant’s failure to establish United States involvement in the offensive conduct. See United States v. Yunis, 681 F.Supp. 909, 919 (D.D.C.1988) (“Although most circuits have acknowledged the exception carved out by Toscanino, it is highly significant that no court has ever applied it to dismiss an indictment.”) (emphasis in original). 1

*677 Yousef has failed to meet the requirements of Toscanino. Yousefs affidavit does not sufficiently allege that United States agents participated in his alleged abduction and torture in Pakistan. In his affidavit in support of this motion, Yousef alleges that he was subject to months of torture at the hands of unidentified individuals in Pakistan who were somehow under the direction of United States officials. Yousef maintains that he was abducted from his relatives’ home in Pakistan sometime at the end of November 1994, and remained in the custody of these original abductors and other Pakistan officials until he was surrendered to United States law enforcement agents on February 8, 1995. It was during these months that Yousef allegedly suffered the torture.

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Bluebook (online)
927 F. Supp. 673, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7369, 1996 WL 284939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-yousef-nysd-1996.