U.S. v. Al-Zubaidy, 00-2343.
| Decision Date | 21 March 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-2343.,00-2343. |
| Citation | 283 F.3d 804 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Emad AL-ZUBAIDY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Douglas R. Mullkoff (argued and briefed), Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellant.
David J. Debold (argued and briefed), Assistant United States Attorney, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before JONES and COLE, Circuit Judges; GWIN, District Judge.*
This action stems from an interstate stalking charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A brought against Defendant Appellant Emad Al-Zubaidy. Al-Zubaidy argues that his bench trial conviction was not supported by sufficient evidence that he had formed the requisite intent under the statute, and that 18 U.S.C. § 2261A is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power. Al-Zubaidy now appeals from the conviction and sentence imposed by the district court.
This appeal presents two issues for our review: (1) Whether the district court properly denied Defendant's Fed.R.Crim.P. 29(c) Motion for Judgment of Acquittal because there was sufficient evidence that Defendant crossed state lines with the intent to injure or harass his ex-wife; and (2) Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2261A exceeds Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. We conclude that the district court properly denied Defendant's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal and AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. We also conclude that 18 U.S.C. § 2261A does not exceed Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Defendant Al-Zubaidy and his wife Aathra Al-Shimary were married in Saudi Arabia in 1992. In 1994, Al-Zubaidy and Al-Shimary moved to Rockford, Illinois with their two children. Their marriage was pervaded with abuse, and the record indicates multiple instances of physical and emotional mistreatment of Al-Shimary. Al-Zubaidy also appears to have had trouble holding a job, drank heavily, and often would not come home until late at night.
The couple later spent time in Kansas City, Missouri, and Lincoln, Nebraska. In both locations, Al-Zubaidy continued his pattern of emotional and physical abuse against Al-Shimary. This pattern included severe blows, one of which caused Al-Shimary to fall down a flight of steps while pregnant with the couple's third child. A later assault nearly sent Al-Shimary into premature labor. While still in Nebraska, Al-Zubaidy spent time in jail for sexually assaulting another woman. After discovering that her husband was having sexual relations with another woman, Al-Shimary obtained a Nebraska divorce in 1997. Al-Shimary then moved back to Rockford, Illinois with her three children-in part because she feared possible repercussions from her ex-husband because of the divorce.
Al-Zubaidy followed Al-Shimary back to Rockford and maintained a separate residence. Soon thereafter, Al-Zubaidy began threatening Al-Shimary with physical harm if she did not reconcile their marriage. In particular, he would show up at her apartment and harass her, and threatened to burn down Al-Shimary's apartment. After several months of abuse, Al-Shimary decided to move to Detroit, Michigan to be near to her parents and younger brother and to escape from Al-Zubaidy.
Al-Shimary moved to Detroit in late October, 1997. The parties stipulate that Al-Zubaidy moved to Detroit on October 28 or 29, 1997, which the district court found to be a few days to a week after Al-Shimary's move. However, only three days after Al-Shimary's move, Al-Zubaidy began making threatening calls to Al-Shimary's father in Detroit. These threatening calls occurred on a daily basis, late at night, and involved death threats to the father concerning him, his wife, and Al-Shimary and her children. Al-Shimary's father testified that "many" calls occurred on any given day, and that these calls continued "day after day" for a period of months after they began. Al-Zubaidy also threatened to burn the father's house down, and allegedly set his car on fire and broke the window of his home. The threats were not limited to telephone calls-Al-Shimary's father noted that he also was threatened in person by Al Zubaidy. Once Al-Zubaidy stopped the father on the street, and made a motion to indicate he would slash the father's throat.
Although Al-Shimary did not live with her parents and brother in Detroit for the bulk of this harassment,1 she was aware of this harassment to her family, and would often have them spend the night with her and her children out of fear of Al-Zubaidy. The record does not state when Al-Zubaidy first learned Al-Shimary's new address in Detroit, but his direct harassment of her began in December, 1997—just two months after his arrival in Detroit. On one occasion, Al-Zubaidy allegedly assaulted Al-Shimary with a baseball bat outside of her apartment. Another time, Al-Zubaidy arrived at Al-Shimary's apartment with the stated intention to see his children, but quickly hit her in the head with a heavy toy truck. Al-Zubaidy and an accomplice also tried to force Al-Shimary into their car on a third occasion. In March, 1998, Al-Shimary's apartment was set on fire by an unknown arsonist, and Al-Zubaidy warned Al-Shimary's father that his house was "also going to burn down." These events were not isolated: Al-Shimary testified that Al-Zubaidy would come to her apartment every night, standing outside and screaming at her. Even after Al-Shimary had moved to a new apartment to escape Al-Zubaidy's constant harassment, she noticed him waiting outside her apartment late at night.
The district court made a number of factual findings at the conclusion of the bench trial:
First, ... Al-Zubaidy, has a history of threatening and carrying out violent behavior against his wife and ex-wife. This history is relevant both to defendant's intent and to whether the victim, Aathra Al-Shimary, had a reasonable fear of serious bodily injury to herself... or a member of her family.
....
In terms of time sequence, I believe it's quite clear that Aathra [Al-Shimary] moved first to Detroit and that the defendant, Emad Al-Zubaidy, followed her there.
After crossing state lines, after traveling from Rockford to Detroit, ... there were calls to [Al-Shimary's] parents' house in which the defendant expressed anger that [Al-Shimary] had moved, anger at her father for moving her, and in which he rejected any idea of reconciliation. He called her a whore, he called her mother a whore, he called her father a bastard, and there were a variety of other ugly names and threats made to her father directly, and indirectly to Aathra [Al-Shimary] and her mother. Her father testified that there were many calls in any given day, that the calls continued day after day once they began.
....
These ... incidents are particularly relevant because I believe they go to the defendant's intent, [that he] traveled from Rockford to Detroit with the intent to reconcile with his wife, that he wanted to get back with her and resurrect the marriage. There is simply no evidence at all that supports that.
....
In addition to these incidents of which Aathra [Al-Shimary] was aware, according to her own testimony and the testimony of her father, there were obviously many incidents involving her as well, and they appear to have escalated through the fall of 1997 and into the winter of 1998.
....
My conclusion concerning intent is that the entire course of conduct of the defendant reflects his anger and his assaultive, abusive behavior. I conclude that his intent was to inflict as much physical and psychological damage on Aathra [Al Shimary] as he could get away with, as is clearly reflected by the escalation of harassment after he came to Detroit.
The fact that there was a slight gap between the time that he moved from... Rockford to Detroit and when the worst of the harassment occurred is not significant to me. It is the harassment, the threats, the name calling, the phone calls [that] began three days after her move from Rockford, and he showed up within a week of her move here and ... there's nothing in the record that supports he had any intent other than to injure, harass, and abuse her as much as he could get away with, which goes to effect. Did she have a reasonable fear or apprehension of death or serious bodily injury to herself or her family, I don't think there can be any question about that.
....
So I don't think that there's really any question but that this, that as a result of this defendant's travel from ... Rockford to Detroit that [Al-Shimary] was placed in reasonable fear of death or serious injury to herself or others. She was afraid for her parents, she testified to that. She was afraid for herself. This fear was reasonable based on his assaultive and abusive history, and he expressly included death in his threats not only to her but to her father and mother, as well.
Al-Zubaidy was charged with one count of interstate stalking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. He waived a jury trial, and was found guilty by the district court on February 25, 2000. He was sentenced to a prison term of forty-six months on October 24, 2000. Defendant timely appealed this judgment on October 24, 2000.
1. Standard of Review
A denial of a Rule 29(c) Motion for Judgment of Acquittal is reviewed de novo. United States v. Canan, 48 F.3d 954, 962 (6th Cir.1995). However, the decision of the district court must be affirmed if the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the government, "would allow a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. (citing United States v. Montgomery, 980 F.2d 388, 393 (6th Cir.1992)...
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