## Facts

- In 1998, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani participated in an al-Qaeda conspiracy that culminated in near-simultaneous truck bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people.
- A federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Ghailani in 1998 on numerous counts related to the bombings, but he was not apprehended for several years.
- Ghailani was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and held abroad by the CIA, then transferred to Department of Defense custody at Guantánamo Bay, where he was designated an enemy combatant and held while the government pursued military-commission proceedings.
- In 2009, the government transferred Ghailani to New York for prosecution on the pending indictment.
- Ghailani moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the approximately five-year delay between capture and federal arraignment violated the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.
- The district court denied the motion; a jury convicted Ghailani of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property and buildings, and the court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

## Issues

1. Whether the nearly five-year post-capture delay before federal arraignment, during national-security detention and military-commission efforts, violated the Sixth Amendment Speedy Trial Clause.
2. Whether the district court erred by giving a conscious-avoidance (willful blindness) instruction on the knowledge element of the charged conspiracy.
3. Whether the life sentence was procedurally or substantively unreasonable.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction and life sentence.
- Applying the Barker v. Wingo factors, the court held the substantial delay triggered review but was justified by national-security reasons, was not undertaken in bad faith to gain trial advantage, and did not cause constitutionally cognizable prejudice to the defense.
- The court held the conscious-avoidance instruction was permissible because Ghailani contested knowledge and the evidence supported a finding he was aware of a high probability of the conspiracy and deliberately avoided confirmation.
- The court held the sentence was procedurally sound (Guidelines calculation and consideration of § 3553(a) factors) and substantively reasonable given the offense’s mass-casualty consequences.

## Legal Principles

- Speedy-trial claims are evaluated under Barker v. Wingo: (1) length of delay, (2) reason for delay, (3) defendant’s assertion of the right, and (4) prejudice.
- A lengthy delay may be constitutionally permissible when supported by legitimate national-security objectives and not motivated by an effort to obtain a tactical advantage at trial.
- For Sixth Amendment purposes, prejudice focuses on impairment of the defense (such as loss of evidence or witnesses); harsh detention conditions alone do not establish the required trial prejudice absent a showing tied to the defense.
- A conscious-avoidance instruction is proper when the defendant claims lack of knowledge and the evidence permits a finding that the defendant recognized a high probability of the fact and deliberately avoided confirming it.
- Appellate review of sentencing considers procedural reasonableness (including Guidelines and § 3553(a) analysis) and substantive reasonableness under an abuse-of-discretion standard.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that Ghailani’s pre-arraignment delay during national-security detention did not violate the Sixth Amendment under Barker because the government’s reasons were justified and the defense showed no trial prejudice, and it further upheld both the conscious-avoidance instruction and the life sentence as legally proper and reasonable.


United States v. Ghailani, 733 F.3d 29 (2d Cir. 2013)