United States v. Van Haften
| Decision Date | 01 February 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 17-1508,17-1508 |
| Citation | 881 F.3d 543 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joshua VAN HAFTEN, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Madison, WI, Steven L. Lane, Attorney, Department of Justice, National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff–Appellee.
Joseph Aragorn Bugni, Attorney, Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, Inc., Madison, WI, for Defendant–Appellant.
Before Wood, Chief Judge, and Easterbrook and Sykes, Circuit Judges.
Joshua Van Haften is a Wisconsin native who was caught travelling to Turkey in an attempt to join ISIS, a designated terrorist organization. In some ways, Van Haften fits the typical profile of a terrorist: he believes that ISIS is fighting a holy war against America—a war that will culminate in the establishment of a global caliphate. But this view is just one strand in a web of bizarre, mystical beliefs Van Haften holds. He also believes, for example, that Britain’s Prince William is the Antichrist, that people can use numerology to predict the future, and that most Western political leaders are closet Satanists. And Van Haften has a personal vendetta against the United States government that has nothing to do with religion: when he was 18 years old, Van Haften was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with his 15-year-old high school classmate. Van Haften’s status as a sex offender made it difficult for him to live a normal life in America, and he greatly resents the "godless laws" that, in his view, destroyed his life.
After he was apprehended in Turkey, Van Haften pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. 18 U.S.C. § 2339B(a)(1). At the sentencing stage, the district court concluded that the terrorism enhancement, U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4, applies to Van Haften, because his crime was "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct." 18 U.S.C. § 2332b(g)(5)(A). The enhancement produced an advisory guidelines range of 292–365 months, capped at a 15-year statutory maximum. After hearing testimony about Van Haften’s delusional beliefs and his willingness to reform, the court gave Van Haften a below-guidelines sentence of ten years. Without the terrorism enhancement, Van Haften’s range would have been 57–71 months. The sole issue in this appeal is whether the district court clearly erred in applying the enhancement. We conclude that it did not.
The record contains overwhelming evidence that Van Haften sought revenge against the U.S. government. He wrote on Facebook and in various private notes that he despised America because the county "betrayed" him and Muslims everywhere by refusing to "follow divinely guided law, otherwise known as Shari'ah." He described Presidents Obama and Bush as "Kuffar disbelievers" and "defenders of the antichrist," and said that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight against them and their armies. On one occasion, Van Haften asserted that, once he arrived in the Middle East, he would help ISIS "enslave Americans and kill Bush and Obama, [whose] children and grandchildren will be sold as slaves at our markets." Van Haften also opined that, by placing him on the sex offender registry, the government had "fuck[ed] me for life from age 18." Because of this, Van Haften said that he wished "death to [Americans] and their little children" and proclaimed that he would "show [them] who [they're] really fuxkin wit [sic ]."
Van Haften’s writings establish a direct causal link between his hatred of the U.S. government and his desire to "join[ ] my brothers for the war against American liars" and "kill me some American soldier...
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