United States v. Medunjanin

Citation752 F.3d 576
Decision Date20 May 2014
Docket NumberDocket No. 12–4724.
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Adis MEDUNJANIN, aka Muhammad, Defendant–Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

David Bitkower, Assistant United States Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Peter A. Norling, James P. Loonam, Berit W. Berger, Assistant United States Attorneys, Brooklyn, NY, on the brief), for Appellee.

Robert C. Gottlieb, New York, N.Y. (Justin Heinrich, Gottlieb & Gordon, New York, New York; Stephanie M. Carvlin, New York, NY, on the brief), for DefendantAppellant.

Before: KEARSE, WESLEY, and DRONEY, Circuit Judges.

KEARSE, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Adis Medunjanin appeals from a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York following a jury trial on a superseding indictment before John Gleeson, Judge, convicting him on all nine of the counts against him, to wit: conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2332a(a)(2) (Count 1); conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, in violation of id. § 956(a)(1) (Count 2); providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiring to do so, in violation of id. § 2339B(a)(1) (Counts 3 and 4); receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, in violation of id. § 2339D(a) (Count 5); conspiring and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, in violation of id. §§ 2332b(a)(1)(A), (a)(2), and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts 7 and 8); and possessing a destructive device in furtherance of crimes of violence, in violation of id. §§ 924(c)(1)(A)(i), (c)(1)(A)(iii), (c)(1)(B)(ii), and (c)(1)(C) (Counts 9 and 11). Medunjanin was sentenced principally to life plus 95 years' imprisonment. On appeal, he contends principally that the district court, Raymond J. Dearie, Judge, erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress certain of his postarrest statements on the grounds that questioning by the government violated his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, and his Fifth Amendment right to substantive due process. Finding no merit in his contentions, we affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

The present prosecution grew out of an investigation by a Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”) comprising agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and detectives from the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) (collectively the “agents”). Medunjanin came to the attention of the task force after he traveled from his home in New York City with Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay to Pakistan in August 2008, intending to fight with the Taliban against American forces in Afghanistan, and instead was persuaded to receive training from al-Qaeda and return to the United States to participate in coordinated suicide bombings in the New York City subway system. These events culminated in Medunjanin's arrest in January 2010 after he, fearing he was about to face charges that included conspiracy to commit murder, drove to the Whitestone Expressway in Queens, New York, and deliberately caused a high-speed collision with another car, attempting to trigger an explosion that would kill himself and others.

After his arrest, Medunjanin made certain incriminating statements to law enforcement officers. He moved to suppress those statements on the grounds that the questioning by the agents, who knew he had an attorney, violated his rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution. Following a hearing at which the district court heard testimony from a dozen witnesses, including eight law enforcement officers and two members of Medunjanin's family (but not Medunjanin himself), the court denied the motion. The following description of the events is taken largely from the decision of the district court, which found the testimony of the government witnesses credible, convincing, and for the most part uncontroverted.Few of the court's factual findings are disputed.

A. The Events in September 2009

On September 14, 2009, JTTF agents, in pursuit of materials and plans for making improvised explosive devices, executed a search warrant for the Queens, New York apartment where Medunjanin lived with his parents and his sister. While the search was going on, Medunjanin agreed to speak with FBI Special Agent Farbod Azad and NYPD Detective Angel Maysonet. To avoid the distraction of the search, the agents interviewed Medunjanin on the street a short distance from his home. They told him the interview was entirely voluntary and that he was not under arrest. Medunjanin could easily have left; he instead stayed and talked, calmly, with Azad and Maysonet for about two-and-a-half hours.

Medunjanin spoke about Islam, American–Israeli and American–Islamic relations, and the 9/11 attacks on New York City. He said he had traveled to Pakistan with Zazi and Ahmedzay seeking a wife but had found the requested “dowry” too high. Medunjanin vouched for Zazi's character; he said he and Zazi were close friends and conversed about once a month. When the agents said they could check telephone records, Medunjanin admitted that he and Zazi spoke about 15 times a month.

On September 17, 2009, Medunjanin agreed to accompany the same agents to the United States Attorney's Office in Brooklyn to be interviewed again. He went voluntarily and was not restrained at any time. This interview lasted approximately 10 hours, with breaks for Medunjanin to eat, use the bathroom, and pray. He was again cooperative and spoke freely about religion, Islam, his background, and how he had become more religious; but he was evasive about his trip to Pakistan with Zazi and Ahmedzay. Medunjanin denied that he had engaged in any kind of weapons training there and again said he had gone to Pakistan on a failed mission to get married. He signed a consent-to-search form for a DNA swab, fingerprints, a voice exemplar, and shoe prints; when the interview ended, he agreed to speak with the agents again.

On September 19, 2009, Zazi was arrested. Medunjanin thereafter met with attorney Robert Gottlieb, and on September 28, 2009, retained Gottlieb to act as his attorney in connection with the JTTF investigation. Gottlieb notified Agent Azad and Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Jeffrey Knox that Gottlieb was representing Medunjanin and asked that Medunjanin not be interviewed unless Gottlieb was present. The agents made no further attempts to question Medunjanin in 2009. Medunjanin remained, however, under surveillance.

B. The Arrest and Questioning of Medunjanin in January 2010

On January 7, 2010, between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m., Azad and Maysonet executed a new search warrant at Medunjanin's home, this one for his United States and Bosnian passports. Medunjanin asked whether his attorney had been contacted; Azad said he had not but that Medunjanin could contact the attorney if he wished. Medunjanin did not do so while the agents were there. After the passports were produced, Maysonet asked Medunjanin whether he had signed his name as “Muhammad,” which law enforcement agents had learned was Medunjanin's al-Qaeda alias or kunya. Medunjanin did not answer and was visibly shaken by the question.

As soon as the agents left, Medunjanin did an internet search with respect to the criminal code sections cited in the search warrant; upon seeing that one section referred to homicide, he tried to reach Gottlieb. When Gottlieb returned Medunjanin's call, he said, inter alia, that he would call Azad.

Gottlieb spoke to Azad, who confirmed that Medunjanin's passports had been seized pursuant to the search warrant. Azad referred Gottlieb to AUSA Knox for further information about the investigation. Gottlieb was unable to reach Knox by telephone but left a message for him. Knox did not return Gottlieb's telephone call until the next day.

In the meantime, Medunjanin remained upset by Maysonet's use of his al-Qaeda kunya and by the seriousness of the charges listed in the search warrant. Between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m., Medunjanin left home and drove from his building onto the Whitestone Expressway, driving at some 90 m.p.h. He wove in and out of traffic, crossing several lanes, planning to cause an explosive collision. In order to make clear that this would not be viewed as an ordinary rush hour accident, Medunjanin called 911, identified himself, and proclaimed we love death more than you love life” (Hearing Transcript (“Tr.”) at 102; see id. at 287) and, as translated from Arabic, “there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger,” repeating the latter several times. Medunjanin then turned and sped directly into another car.

Immediately after the crash, Medunjanin attempted to run from the scene but was stopped and handcuffed by one of the agents who had followed him from his home. Medunjanin was shaken and complained of elbow, shoulder, and neck pain, but was not seriously injured. When first asked how he was, his reaction was to ask whether the inquiring agent was Jewish and then to lecture the agent calmly about problems with Judaism as a religion. Medunjanin was taken to a Queens hospital, where he was examined by a triage nurse and physicians. CT scans of his head and neck were negative, and no medication was administered or prescribed.

While Medunjanin was at the hospital, he was questioned by several agents. Azad arrived first with NYPD Detectives Michael Carney and Robert Murphy, members of the JTTF, and they confirmed with hospital staff that Medunjanin was alert and had not been medicated. They removed Medunjanin's handcuffs; Azad introduced the detectives; and they all shook hands with Medunjanin. Azad acknowledged that Medunjanin had an attorney but said that, even so, the agents...

To continue reading

Request your trial
61 cases
  • United States v. O'Brien
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • 7 Junio 2019
    ...the district court's conclusions of law de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. See , e.g. , United States v. Medunjanin , 752 F.3d 576, 584 (2d Cir.) (" Medunjanin "), cert. denied , ––– U.S. ––––, 135 S. Ct. 301, 190 L.Ed.2d 219 (2014). In conducting clear-error review, "[w]e ar......
  • United States v. Roberson
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • 15 Noviembre 2021
    ...only certain questions, in which case there would have been nothing incorrect about Abruzzese's statement. See United States v. Medunjanin, 752 F.3d 576, 587 (2d Cir. 2014) ("[A] person who wishes to enjoy his constitutional protection against self-incrimination must invoke the privilege—ei......
  • United States v. Delva
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • 1 Junio 2017
    ...ruling on a motion to suppress, we review its conclusions of law de novo and its factual findings for clear error." United States v. Medunjanin , 752 F.3d 576, 584 (2d Cir.), cert. denied , ––– U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 301, 190 L.Ed.2d 219 (2014) ; see generally Ornelas v. United States , 517 U......
  • United States v. Sun
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of New York
    • 22 Noviembre 2021
    ...of the right to have an attorney present at questioning ‘requir[es] a clear assertion of the right to counsel.’ " United States v. Medunjanin , 752 F.3d 576, 586 (2d Cir. 2014) (second alteration in original) (quoting Davis v. United States , 512 U.S. 452, 460, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 3......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT