United States v. Harun

Summary

The Second Circuit affirmed the denial of a Faretta waiver where the defendant, a member of al-Qaeda, obstructed the district court's attempts to conduct a colloquy by refusing to answer questions, cursing at the judge, and threatening violence, thereby preventing the court from ensuring the waiver was knowing and intelligent. The court also held that a defendant's deliberate and serious obstructionist misconduct independent supports denying self-representation. On statutory grounds, the circuit ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 2332(b)(2) criminalizes conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals "outside the United States" and does not require the offense to occur within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction, as the statute's plain language applies extraterritorially.

Holdings

1. The district court did not err in denying the waiver because the defendant prevented the court from assessing a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to counsel, and alternatively, the defendant's obstructionist misconduct independently supported denial of self-representation.
2. The argument is meritless because the plain language of 18 U.S.C. § 2332(b) criminalizes conspiracies to kill U.S. nationals committed 'outside the United States,' and therefore section 1111(b) is not a jurisdictional requirement for subsection (2).

Questions Presented

1. Whether Hausa was denied his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation when the district court denied his request to waive counsel.
2. Whether the government failed to prove that Count One, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Disposition

affirmed