United States v. Rayyan

• Decision Date: 19 March 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-1447,17-1447
• Citation: 885 F.3d 436
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Khalil Abu RAYYAN, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

885 F.3d 436

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Khalil Abu RAYYAN, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 17-1447

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: March 15, 2018

Decided and Filed: March 19, 2018

Rehearing Denied April 17, 2018

ARGUED: Jessica LeFort, FEDERAL DEFENDER OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Andrew Goetz, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Jessica LeFort, Todd Shanker, FEDERAL DEFENDER OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Andrew Goetz, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: MERRITT and SUTTON, Circuit Judges; CLELAND, District Judge.^*

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

Khalil Abu Rayyan pleaded guilty to federal gun charges. The Sentencing Guidelines recommended a sentence between 15 and 21 months. The government asked for a sentence of 96 months on the ground (among others) that Rayyan at one point had planned to attack a local church. After a three-day hearing, the district court imposed a sentence of 60 months, all explained in a 33–page opinion. Although Rayyan's challenge to that sentence raises not-inconsequential considerations—a substantial upward variance based in part on uncharged conduct and a defendant's online viewing habits and online communications—Judge Steeh's careful handling of this case does not exceed the discretion that sentencing law delegates to the district courts. We affirm.

I.

Rayyan had an affinity for the Islamic State (sometimes known as ISIS or ISIL) and showed it by watching online content that glorified its exploits. He watched one video entitled "Kill them wherever you find them" five times, and he called it "the best one yet." R. 107-2 at 2–3. He featured a photo depicting a jihad-inspired execution on his Twitter account. And he requested links to videos depicting Islamic State fighters throwing prisoners from the tops of buildings. Watching them "made [his] day." R. 107-1 at 3.

Over time, his apparent sympathy for Islamic State propaganda ran the risk of inspiring real-world action. On one occasion, Rayyan posted a photo online showing him brandishing a pistol in one hand while making a pro-Islamic State hand gesture with the other.

The FBI noticed. In May 2015, it began monitoring Rayyan's activities. In October of that year, they noticed that Rayyan had purchased a .22 caliber revolver at a sporting goods store. In doing so, he filled out a federal form declaring that he did not use illegal drugs. Two days later, Detroit police officers pulled him over for speeding. They found the revolver on the floor and marijuana hidden under the dash. Rayyan did not have a concealed pistol license or a medical marijuana card. The officers arrested him. He admitted that he had smoked marijuana regularly for years. After the arrest, he bought a new cell phone and downloaded more Islamic State propaganda.

Rayyan tried to buy another firearm a month later. Again he declared he was not a habitual drug user when filling out the federal form. This time, the store would not sell him the gun due to his previous arrest. Unable to buy a gun, Rayyan and a friend went to a firing range, rented an AR-15 and an AK-47, and used them both at the range. Rayyan posted a photo of himself online holding the AK-47 and making a pro-Islamic State hand gesture. He captioned the photo "Sahwat hunting," Arabic (and English) for hunting Iraqis unsympathetic to the Islamic State. R. 88-4.

In December, a young woman from Cleveland contacted the FBI about some online conversations she had with Rayyan through his Twitter account, which included the photos and videos described above. After she passed along the Twitter account to the FBI, the Bureau told her to cut off communications with Rayyan.

Soon after, an undercover FBI employee posing as a 19-year-old woman who sympathized with the Islamic State messaged him. Rayyan told the agent a number of disturbing things. He claimed that he had "planned out" an attack on a large church near where he worked and described making preparations. R. 107-3 at 3. He thought the church would make a good target because "people are not allowed to carry guns in church," and "it would make the news." Id. at 6. He never carried out his plan. But he "regret[ted] not doing it." If he could not "do jihad [in] the midd[le] east," he wanted to "do ... jihad over here." Id. at 7. He claimed he "would[']ve killed every last one of them[.] Especially the wom[e]n and children." Id. at 14.

Later that month, he told the undercover agent that he wanted to murder one of the officers who arrested him.

The FBI arrested him in February of 2016. A search of his phone revealed more pro-Islamic State materials. A grand jury indicted him for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6), which prohibits making a false statement while purchasing a firearm, and § 922(g)(3), which prohibits a person who regularly uses an unlawful controlled substance from possessing a firearm.

Rayyan pleaded guilty. The probation office calculated the guidelines range and recommended a 15 to 21 month sentence. The government urged an upward variance to 96 months. The district court sentenced him to 60 months due to the risk he posed to the public, the need to deter others from engaging in similar conduct, and the severity of his crime. Rayyan appealed, challenging the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence.

II.

Procedural Reasonableness . The first requirement of a legitimate criminal sentence is a process-driven one. The court must properly calculate the guidelines range, treat that range as advisory, consider the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), refrain from considering impermissible factors, select the sentence based on facts that are not clearly erroneous, and adequately explain why it chose the sentence. See Gall v. United States , 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). We review a district court's efforts to touch each of these bases for abuse of discretion, keeping in mind that factual findings will stand unless clearly erroneous and legal conclusions will stand unless our fresh review leads to a contrary conclusion. United States v. Bolds , 511 F.3d 568, 579 (6th Cir. 2007).

No reversible error occurred. The district court calculated the correct guidelines range. The court showed that it did not consider the range mandatory by varying upwards. It discussed the sentencing factors found in 18 U.S.C. § 3553 with both parties at length and walked through each of them in its sentencing opinion. And it did not use erroneous facts: The evidence shows that Rayyan took an interest in a terrorist organization, lied to obtain a firearm, lied again while trying to buy another firearm, rented rifles for target practice while under investigation for firearms-related crimes, and discussed carrying out his own attacks with a woman he met online. The district court reasonably found that the comments Rayyan made were more than just youthful bluster meant to woo a like-minded woman; he did, after all, send similar messages to his brother describing the "perfect time" to carry out a martyrdom operation. R. 88-5 at 2. The top, middle, and bottom line is that Rayyan exhibited characteristics that the district court needed to take seriously: an affinity for terrorism, a history of thinking through how he would conduct his own attacks, and a willingness to flout the law to obtain firearms. Having found all three traits in the same person, the district court had a permissible basis for varying from the recommended guidelines range and gave legitimate explanations for doing so: to protect the public from Rayyan, to deter others from following his path, and to reflect how serious the conduct was. This was a procedurally sound sentence.

Rayyan resists this conclusion on several grounds. He argues that the district court, in calculating his guidelines range, erred by refusing to grant him a one-point reduction under § 3E1.1(b) for cooperation. "[U]pon motion of the government," § 3E1.1(b) permits the district court to grant a one-point reduction if the defendant spares the government from "preparing for trial" by "timely notifying" it of his intention to plead guilty. U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(b). The government has control over whether to ask for the reduction because it occupies the "best position" from which to observe whether the defendant assisted in a way that preserves trial resources. Id. § 3E1.1 cmt. 6. The guidelines commentary clarifies that "[t]he government should not withhold such a motion based on interests not identified in § 3E1.1, such as whether the defendant agrees to waive his or her right to appeal." Id. § 3E1.1(b) cmt. 6.

The court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the government to withhold a recommendation that Rayyan receive a one-point reduction. We trust that the government prepared for trial during the six months before Rayyan's notification because it told the district court (and us) as much. As proof, the government points to a detailed motion in limine that it filed to foreclose an entrapment defense at trial. The government filed it the same day that Rayyan notified them that he intended to plead guilty. All of this meant that prosecutors expended resources researching and drafting a motion that they would not have drafted had Rayyan notified them of his intent to plead guilty earlier.

Rayyan counters that the government filed frivolous motions in order to show that it had prepared for trial. But the government's motion in limine was not remotely frivolous. In his pleadings, Rayyan presented himself as a wayward youth whose incriminating statements "were prompted by the manipulation" of an undercover agent. R. 51 at 2. That sounds like a defendant who claims he lacked a predisposition to commit the crime and was induced to commit it by the government—the two elements of an entrapment defense. See United States v. Khalil , 279 F.3d 358, 364 (6th Cir. 2002).

Rayyan argues...