United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's convictions and sentence for conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country, and conspiracy to launch a weapon of mass destruction outside the U.S., arising from his conspiring, while in the United States, to lead a private army against the government of Cambodia and to overthrow its Prime Minister, are affirmed, where: 1) 18 U.S.C. section 956(a) is not ambiguous, and defendant was correctly convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country under it; 2) there was sufficient evidence for a fact-finder to conclude that defendant had the intent to committee murder; 3) the "at peace" element of sections 956(b) and 960 was correctly submitted to the jury, and the district court did not plainly err in its jury instruction defining that element; 4) the district court's failure to instruct the jury to find an overt act that occurred within the five-year limitations period did not affect the defendant’s substantial rights; and 5) the district court did not commit plain error in sentencing the defendant to life in prison, and the sentence was not substantively unreasonable.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/11/2014
• Published 03/11/2014

Judges

• BEA

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel