Judge Eric Vitaliano
A jury convicted Shehadeh of three counts of making false statements to government agents. He lied about attempting to travel to Pakistan to join an Islamic terrorist group. The presentence report calculated his Guidelines sentence range at 63 to 78 months. The court declined to apply the terrorism enhancement as set out in U.S. Sentencing Guidelines §3A1.4—resulting in a range of 210 to 252 months—but found upward variance from the Guidelines range appropriate. It sentenced Shehadeh to concurrent and consecutive terms totalling 156 months. It rejected the government’s claim he intended to promote the federal crime of terrorism when he attempted to join the U.S. Army with the hope of waging jihad. Shehadeh’s attempt to join the Army was not a “substantial step” toward the commission of a homicide against U.S. national outside the United States as prohibited by 18 USC §2332, nor “promoted” that crime under Guidelines §3A1.4. The §3A1.4 enhancement was not mandated by the jury’s finding that Shehadeh’s lies involved terrorism—they were related to conduct by someone, not necessarily himself, that was intended to cause someone, not necessarily himself, to “experience or participate in” acts or attempted acts of terrorism.
