United States v. Mohamed Said

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-4413

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellant,

v.

MOHAMED ALI SAID, a/k/a Mohammed Said, a/k/a Maxamad Cali
Saciid; MOHAMED ABDI JAMA, a/k/a Mohammed Abdi Jamah;
ABDICASIIS CABAASE; ABDI RAZAQ ABSHIR OSMAN, a/k/a
Abdirasaq Abshir; MOHAMED FARAH, a/k/a Mahamed Farraah
Hassan,

Defendants – Appellees.

No. 14-4420

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

MOHAMED ABDI JAMA, a/k/a Mohammed Abdi Jamah,

Defendant – Appellant.

No. 14-4421

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,
 v.

MOHAMED FARAH, a/k/a Mahamed Farraah Hassan,

Defendant – Appellant.

No. 14-4423

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

ABDI RAZAQ ABSHIR OSMAN, a/k/a Abdirasaq Abshir,

Defendant – Appellant.

No. 14-4424

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

MOHAMED ALI SAID, a/k/a Mohammed Said, a/k/a Maxamad Cali
Saciid,

Defendant – Appellant.

No. 14-4429

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

2
ABDICASIIS CABAASE,

Defendant – Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Raymond A. Jackson, District
Judge. (2:10-cr-00057-RAJ-DEM-1; 2:10-cr-00057-RAJ-DEM-2; 2:10-
cr-00057-RAJ-DEM-4; 2:10-cr-00057-RAJ-DEM-5; 2:10-cr-00057-RAJ-
DEM-6)

Argued: May 13, 2015 Decided: August 13, 2015

Before KING and KEENAN, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.

No. 14-4413 reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded;
Nos. 14-4420, 14-4421, 14-4423, 14-4424, and 14-4429 affirmed by
published opinion. Judge King wrote the opinion, in which Judge
Keenan and Senior Judge Davis joined. Senior Judge Davis wrote
a separate concurring opinion.

ARGUED: Benjamin L. Hatch, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY,
Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee. Geremy C.
Kamens, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Alexandria,
Virginia, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants. ON BRIEF: Dana J.
Boente, United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, Joseph E.
DePadilla, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia; Jerome J. Teresinski,
Trial Attorney, National Security Division, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellant/Cross-
Appellee. Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender,
Frances H. Pratt, Keith Loren Kimball, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL
PUBLIC DEFENDER, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee/Cross-
Appellant Mohamed Ali Said; Robert B. Rigney, PROTOGYROU &
RIGNEY, PLC, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant
Mohamed Abdi Jama; David M. Good, DAVID MICHAEL GOOD, PC,
Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant Mohamed
Farah; Trey R. Kelleter, VANDEVENTER BLACK LLP, Norfolk,
Virginia, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant Abdi Razaq Abshir Osman;
Bruce C. Sams, SAMS & GILCHRIST PLLC, Norfolk, Virginia, for
Appellee/Cross-Appellant Abdicasiis Cabaase.

3
KING, Circuit Judge:

In early 2010, a group of seven Somalis — including

defendants Mohamed Ali Said, Mohamed Abdi Jama, and Abdicasiis

Cabaase — boarded a small skiff and entered the Gulf of Aden (in

the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of

Africa), intending to seize a merchant ship at sea. Their

objective was foiled by the British warship HMS Chatham, which

was conducting a counter-piracy mission in the Gulf. Undeterred

by their initial lack of success, Said, Jama, and Cabaase joined

with defendants Abdi Razaq Abshir Osman and Mohamed Farah, plus

two others, and returned from Somalia to the Gulf in the skiff

in April 2010. During their April escapade, the defendants and

their accomplices launched an attack on the USS Ashland, a

United States Navy warship that they confused for a merchant

vessel. The Ashland responded by destroying the skiff and

killing one of the attackers.

After the defendants were apprehended and transported to

the Eastern District of Virginia, they were tried and convicted

of multiple offenses, including piracy as proscribed by 18

U.S.C. § 1651. At sentencing, the district court declined to

impose statutorily mandated life sentences on the defendants,

reasoning that such sentences would contravene the Eighth

Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

4
See United States v. Said, No. 2:10-cr-00057 (E.D. Va. Feb. 28,

2014), ECF No. 260 (the “Eighth Amendment Order”). 1

The government, in pursuing its appeal in No. 14-4413,

seeks relief from the district court’s decision not to impose

the life sentences required by § 1651. By their cross-appeals

in Nos. 14-4420, 14-4421, 14-4423, 14-4424, and 14-4429, the

defendants challenge the court’s failure to dismiss the § 1651

charge, the jury instructions with respect to the piracy

offense, and the sufficiency of the evidence supporting certain

of their convictions. As explained below, we reject each of the

defendants’ contentions and affirm their convictions. We deem

the government’s appeal to be meritorious, however, and reverse

the Eighth Amendment Order, vacate the defendants’ sentences,

and remand for resentencing.

I.

A.

1.

In approximately February 2010, defendants Said, Jama, and

Cabaase — along with Jama Idle Ibrahim and three others —

1 The Eighth Amendment Order is published at 3 F. Supp. 3d
515 and also found at J.A. 886-902. (Citations herein to “J.A.
__” refer to the contents of the Joint Appendix filed by the
parties in these appeals.)

5
acquired a small wooden skiff on the coast of Somalia and loaded

it with a hooked ladder and weapons, including AK-47 assault

rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher (an “RPG”), a

Singapore Assault Rifle 80 (an “SAR-80”), and a Tokarev 9-mm

pistol. 2 They also equipped the skiff with two motors, enabling

it to more swiftly traverse the sea. The group then left

Somalia and travelled into the Gulf of Aden searching for a

merchant ship to seize. The Gulf is one of the most heavily

trafficked shipping corridors in the world, making it a prime

location for piracy.

On the afternoon of February 27, 2010, the skiff was

intercepted in the Gulf of Aden by the HMS Chatham of the

British Royal Navy. Upon encountering the skiff, the Chatham

actioned a helicopter for a close investigation. The Somalis,

recognizing the Chatham as a warship, attempted to flee in the

skiff and threw weapons and their ladder overboard. Those

actions were witnessed by the helicopter pilots, who conveyed

information to a boarding team that had been dispatched in

smaller boats from the warship.

The HMS Chatham’s boarding team seized and searched the

skiff, where team members discovered the pistol and ammunition

2We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the
government, as the prevailing party at trial. See United States
v. Singh, 518 F.3d 236, 241 n.2 (4th Cir. 2008).

6
for that weapon and the AK-47s. The boarding team also

apprehended and questioned the Somalis. Ibrahim, speaking as

the group’s leader, asserted that the Somalis were smugglers who

had taken human cargo to Yemen and that one of their boats had

broken down along the way. 3 Personnel of the Chatham

photographed the Somalis, confiscated the pistol and ammunition,

disabled one of the skiff’s motors, spray-painted a red

identification number on the skiff, and ordered the Somalis to

return home.

2.

In April 2010, the five defendants in this case, along with

Ibrahim and another man called the “Engineer,” used the same

skiff to enter the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. So that the skiff

“would not be recognizable,” the Somalis had obliterated the

identification number spray-painted on it by Royal Navy

personnel. See J.A. 415. To accomplish their goal of seizing a

ship, the Somalis had obtained a replacement for the disabled

motor and loaded the skiff with a hooked ladder, three AK-47s,

and an RPG. Ibrahim and Jama led the new mission, and Said was

3Ibrahim later explained that the Somalis’ cover story had
to involve two boats to seem plausible, given that seven men
claiming to be smugglers were aboard the skiff. Those who
patrol the high seas and “see people smuggling people almost
every day” would know that only two or three smugglers — and
“not more than that” — generally carry out such missions. See
J.A. 389.

7
next in command. Farah drove the skiff, and Cabaase and Osman

supplied two of the weapons.

In the pre-dawn hours of April 10, 2010, the skiff swiftly

approached a large ship believed by the Somalis to be a “cargo

ship.” See J.A. 444. Nearing the ship’s aft on its port side,

Said and Cabaase held loaded AK-47s, while Jama attempted to

load the RPG with explosive rockets. 4 When the skiff was

approximately twenty-five yards from the “cargo ship,” Cabaase

began shooting at it with his AK-47. The Somalis intended to

“scare [the crew], and then after that[,] capture the ship.”

Id. The encounter took place about forty nautical miles off the

coast of Yemen in international waters.

The targeted ship was actually the USS Ashland, a dock

landing ship of the United States Navy, which was then

transiting the Gulf of Aden transporting Marines and military

equipment. 5 Several personnel aboard the Ashland — namely,

Marine Lance Corporal John Curtis, Damage Control Fireman James

4
Unable to render the RPG operational, Jama sought the
assistance of Ibrahim, who soon realized that the ammunition on
board the skiff did not fit the RPG.
5
As one of the Ashland’s personnel later testified, the
vessel “is one of the ships in the U.S. Navy inventory that
actually looks like a merchant ship.” See J.A. 203-04. With
military equipment on board, the Ashland “could be misconstrued
as . . . a merchant container vessel that isn’t fully loaded.”
Id. at 204.

8
Hendershot, Seaman Donald Lane, Lieutenant Junior Grade Benjamin

Towers, Lieutenant Brent Holloway, and Gunner’s Mate Justin

Myers — witnessed the Somalis’ attack from several vantage

points, including near the warship’s aft, its mid-ship, and the

bridge. Several of the witnesses saw Cabaase fire multiple

rounds at the Ashland and heard bullets striking the ship. See,

e.g., J.A. 153 (Curtis: “He was deliberately shooting . . . the

weapon towards the front right over the bridge of the USS

ASHLAND.”); id. at 186 (Hendershot: “I saw a man stand up and

bring a weapon up to his shoulder aiming at the ship . . . .”);

id. at 282 (Myers: “You saw a muzzle flash followed by the

sound of a weapon, and I also heard a couple of clangs that

sounded like ricochet on the side of the boat.”). Indeed,

Corporal Curtis witnessed Cabaase “load a magazine, rack it,

fire like two to three times, bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang. He

dropped the magazine, loads another one, racks it a couple of

times, keeps shooting, bang, bang, bang.” Id. at 153-54. The

multiple shots fired at the Ashland were so startling that the

warship’s helmsman had difficulty with the steering.

Gunner’s Mate Myers initially left his remote firing

station inside the USS Ashland to observe the skiff’s assault

from the warship’s deck. After watching Cabaase fire multiple

times at the Ashland, Myers ran back to his duty station, where

he controlled 25-mm machine guns loaded with armor-piercing

9
incendiary shells. The screen of the weapons system operated by

Myers displayed images from an infrared camera mounted outside

the ship. The camera zoomed in so closely on the skiff that it

seemed “[a]lmost as if you [were] standing next to some of the

people in the skiff.” See J.A. 213. Myers’s vantage point

enabled him to see that Cabaase was aiming directly at the

Ashland. After Cabaase began firing a second series of shots,

the Ashland’s Captain ordered Myers to return fire with a 25-mm

machine gun, and Myers promptly fired two shots. As a result of

those shots from the Ashland, a fire erupted on the skiff, the

Engineer died, and Farah lost a leg. 6

The defendants jumped off the burning skiff, and Ibrahim

followed suit after throwing the RPG and two of the AK-47s

overboard. While treading water, the Somalis agreed to tell the

crew of the USS Ashland a story similar to the one that had been

concocted for the personnel of the HMS Chatham — that the skiff

was returning from smuggling refugees to Yemen. To explain why

they were travelling on one small skiff, they would tell the

Ashland’s crew about transporting refugees on a second larger

boat that had broken down before their return trip. The Somalis

also agreed to explain that they were stranded without food or

6 The defendants each suffered burns as a result of trying
to put out the fire on the skiff, but Ibrahim was not injured.

10
fuel, and that the Engineer (who was then deceased) had fired on

the Ashland to alert the crew that they were in need of rescue.

The USS Ashland and its personnel apprehended the

defendants and Ibrahim, took pictures of the skiff’s remains,

and seized its contents, including the weapons and the hooked

ladder that were left aboard. The Somalis were subsequently

transported to Virginia, where this prosecution was initiated.

B.

1.

On April 21, 2010, the grand jury in the Eastern District

of Virginia at Norfolk returned an indictment against the

defendants and Ibrahim. Nearly three months later, on July 7,

2010, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment. Those

indictments — which dealt solely with the attack on the USS

Ashland — charged the defendants and Ibrahim with, inter alia,

piracy in contravention of 18 U.S.C. § 1651. That statute

provides in full:

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy
as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards
brought into or found in the United States, shall be
imprisoned for life.

18 U.S.C. § 1651.

On June 9, 2010, the defendants and Ibrahim moved to

dismiss the piracy charge of the initial indictment, contending

that piracy under § 1651 requires a robbery at sea. Because

11
their effort to seize the Ashland was unsuccessful, the

defendants and Ibrahim argued that the § 1651 piracy charge

should be dismissed. The district court agreed with the

defendants and granted their motion on August 17, 2010,

dismissing the piracy charge from the superseding indictment.

On August 21, 2010, Ibrahim entered into a plea agreement

with the United States Attorney, by which he agreed to assist

the government in its prosecution of his cohorts. On August 27,

2010, Ibrahim pleaded guilty to three counts of the superseding

indictment: attack to plunder a vessel, in contravention of 18

U.S.C. § 1659; performing an act of violence against an

individual on a vessel, in contravention of 18 U.S.C.

§ 2291(a)(6); and using, carrying, and discharging a firearm

during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of

18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). On November 29, 2010, Ibrahim

was sentenced to 360 months in prison.

2.

After Ibrahim was sentenced, the government filed an appeal

contesting — as to the five defendants — the district court’s

dismissal of the § 1651 piracy charge. Following an oral

argument conducted in this Court on March 25, 2011, we placed

the government’s appeal in abeyance pending argument and

decision in United States v. Dire. The Dire appeals were

brought by a separate group of Somalis who had been convicted of

12
piracy for their attack on the USS Nicholas, another Navy

warship. The Dire defendants had intended to seize the Nicholas

in the Indian Ocean, but their plan was foiled by the Nicholas’s

crew.

Like the defendants here, the Dire defendants argued that

§ 1651 requires a robbery — i.e., seizing or otherwise robbing a

vessel. That contention is premised primarily on the Supreme

Court’s decision in United States v. Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.)

153, 162 (1820), where the Court indicated that it had “no

hesitation in declaring, that piracy, by the law of nations, is

robbery upon the sea.” As the argument goes, because “a court

must interpret a statute by its ordinary meaning at the time of

its enactment,” and because the language of § 1651 can be traced

to an 1819 act of Congress, the Smith decision of 1820

constitutes “the definitive authority on the meaning of piracy.”

See United States v. Dire, 680 F.3d 446, 452 (4th Cir. 2012)

(internal quotation marks omitted).

By our Dire decision, however, we rejected the theory that

the meaning of piracy for purposes of § 1651 “was fixed in the

early Nineteenth Century.” See 680 F.3d at 467. That is, we

excluded a static interpretation of § 1651 that would “render it

incongruous with the modern law of nations and prevent us from

exercising universal jurisdiction in piracy cases.” Id. at 468-

69. Rather, consistent with Congress’s intent “to define piracy

13
as a universal jurisdiction crime,” we concluded that “§ 1651

incorporates a definition of piracy that changes with

advancements in the law of nations.” Id. at 469. We recognized

in Dire that, for decades, piracy has been defined by the law of

nations to include:

(A) (1) any illegal act of violence or detention, or
any act of depredation; (2) committed for private
ends; (3) on the high seas or a place outside the
jurisdiction of any state; (4) by the crew or the
passengers of a private ship; (5) and directed
against another ship, or against persons or
property on board such ship; or

(B) (1) any act of voluntary participation in the
operation of a ship; (2) with knowledge of the
facts making it a pirate ship; or

(C) (1) any act of inciting or of intentionally
facilitating (2) an act described in subparagraph
(A) or (B).

Id. at 465 (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted)

(drawing definition from the substantively identical Geneva

Convention on the High Seas (the “High Seas Convention”) and

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the “UNCLOS”)).

Because the foregoing definition of piracy encompassed the

Dire defendants’ conduct, we affirmed their convictions under

§ 1651. The very day we decided Dire — that is, May 23, 2012 —

we vacated the district court’s dismissal of the § 1651 piracy

charge in this case and “remand[ed] for such other and further

proceedings as may be appropriate, consistent with our decision

14
in Dire.” See United States v. Said, 680 F.3d 374, 375 (4th

Cir. 2012). 7

3.

On August 8, 2012, after our remand to the district court,

the grand jury returned a second superseding indictment against

the defendants (the “operative indictment”), lodging additional

charges stemming from the February 2010 encounter with the

British warship HMS Chatham. As a result of Ibrahim’s

cooperation, the government investigators and the grand jury had

obtained evidence supporting those additional counts. The

operative indictment contained the following charges:

● Count One — Conspiracy to commit hostage taking
(18 U.S.C. § 1203(a));

● Count Two — Conspiracy to commit kidnapping (18
U.S.C. § 1201(c));

● Count Three — Conspiracy to perform an act of
violence against an individual on a vessel (18
U.S.C. § 2291(a)(9));

● Count Four — Conspiracy to use and carry a
firearm and a destructive device during and in
relation to, and possessing a firearm and a
destructive device in furtherance of, a crime of
violence, specifically the crimes charged in
Counts One through Three and Five through Eight
(18 U.S.C. § 924(o));

7 The Dire defendants and the defendants in this case filed
petitions for writs of certiorari in the Supreme Court, seeking
to have the Court reverse our ruling in Dire concerning the
ambit of § 1651. Those petitions were denied on January 22,
2013. See 133 S. Ct. 982 (2013).

15
 ● Count Five — Piracy as defined by the law of
nations (18 U.S.C. § 1651);

● Count Six — Attack to plunder a vessel (18 U.S.C.
§ 1659);

● Count Seven — Assault with a dangerous weapon on
a federal officer or employee (18 U.S.C.
§ 111(a)(1) and (b));

● Count Eight — Performing an act of violence
against an individual on a vessel (18 U.S.C.
§ 2291(a)(6));

● Count Nine — Using and carrying a firearm during
and in relation to, and possessing a firearm in
furtherance of, a crime of violence, specifically
the crimes charged in Counts One through Three
(18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)); and

● Count Ten — Using, carrying, and discharging a
firearm during and in relation to a crime of
violence, specifically the crimes charged in
Counts One through Three and Five through Eight
(18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii)).

Counts One through Four of the operative indictment encompass

the time period in which the encounters with the HMS Chatham and

the USS Ashland occurred. Counts Five through Eight, plus Ten,

deal solely with the attack on the Ashland, and Count Nine

relates only to the Chatham. Counts Five through Ten include

allegations of aiding and abetting, pursuant to 18 U.S.C.

§ 2(a).

Defendants Said, Jama, and Cabaase were named in all ten

counts of the operative indictment. Defendants Osman and Farah

were named in all counts except Count Nine. Prior to trial, the

16
defendants again moved to dismiss the § 1651 piracy charge

(Count Five of the operative indictment), which the district

court denied on the basis of the Dire decision.

4.

The defendants’ trial began in Norfolk on February 19,

2013, and concluded on February 27, 2013. The trial featured

extensive testimony from personnel aboard the USS Ashland and

the HMS Chatham during their encounters in 2010 with the

defendants. Ibrahim was called to the stand by the government,

and the prosecutors used his testimony to establish several

details underlying their case.

Ibrahim began by explaining how he became involved in

piracy activities. For example, after seeing “a lot of people

in [his] neighborhood making a lot of money [and] buying houses

and nice cars” from acts of piracy, he decided to “jump on that,

too.” J.A. 360. Thus, in November 2008, Ibrahim joined a group

of Somali pirates — none of whom are involved in this case — on

a mission to seize merchant ships near the coast of Yemen. That

group forcibly seized a Danish ship called the CEC Future, using

assault weapons and a ladder. The pirates removed the Future to

Somalia and held it “until [they] got a ransom” in January 2009.

Id. at 363. Ibrahim was paid $17,000 for that piracy mission.

In early 2010, Ibrahim sought out another piracy mission in

order to “get more money.” J.A. 365. In February 2010, he

17
joined Said, Jama, Cabaase, and three others on the mission to

“seize a ship” that was thwarted by the HMS Chatham. Id. at

383. Thereafter, in April 2010, Ibrahim and the defendants set

out with another plan to “seize a ship” and “make money.” Id.

at 403. Ibrahim described his and the defendants’ subsequent

attack on the USS Ashland and their apprehension by its

personnel. After being indicted for the Ashland attack, Ibrahim

explained, he decided to plead guilty and cooperate with the

federal prosecutors, seeking a less severe sentence. 8

At the close of the prosecution’s case, on February 25,

2013, the defendants moved for judgments of acquittal. The

trial court denied the motions. The defendants rested without

calling witnesses. The defendants objected to the court’s

proposed instructions on piracy under § 1651, which adopted the

legal principles recognized and applied in Dire. The court

overruled the defendants’ objections and instructed the jury in

a manner consistent with Dire. At the conclusion of the six-day

trial, on February 27, 2013, the jury convicted the defendants

on all counts. The defendants jointly filed a renewed motion

8
After entering his guilty pleas in this case, Ibrahim
pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to charges relating
to the 2008 seizure of the CEC Future. He was subsequently
sentenced in that prosecution to twenty-five years in prison, to
run concurrently with his sentence here.

18
for judgments of acquittal on May 13, 2013, which the court

denied on August 1, 2013.

5.

On October 4, 2013, prior to their sentencing hearings, the

defendants filed a motion to invalidate § 1651’s mandatory life

sentence on Eighth Amendment grounds. By its Eighth Amendment

Order of February 28, 2014, the district court granted the

motion.

The Eighth Amendment Order concluded that life sentences in

the circumstances of this prosecution would contravene the

defendants’ Eighth Amendment rights. The district court began

its analysis by recognizing the Supreme Court’s two-prong

framework for assessing as-applied Eighth Amendment challenges

to non-capital sentences, as spelled out in Graham v. Florida,

560 U.S. 48 (2010). The district court explained that, under

prong one, a court must “compare the gravity of the offense and

the severity of the sentence,” and determine “if that comparison

yields ‘an inference of gross disproportionality,’ which should

be a ‘rare’ result.” See Eighth Amendment Order 6 (quoting

Graham, 560 U.S. at 60). Upon ascertaining an inference of

gross disproportionality, the court moves to prong two, which

requires it to “compare the sentence with sentences received

with other offenders in the same jurisdiction and with sentences

imposed for the same crime in other jurisdictions.” Id. “If

19
that analysis confirms that the sentence is grossly

disproportionate,” the district court explained, “then to impose

the sentence would violate the Eighth Amendment.” Id.

At prong one of the Eighth Amendment analysis, the district

court assessed whether an inference of gross disproportionality

arose upon comparing the proposed life sentences with the

gravity of the defendants’ § 1651 piracy offenses. The court

reasoned that, although piracy is generally a serious offense,

“this was not a run-of-the-mill case of modern piracy.” See

Eighth Amendment Order 11. Indeed, the court explained that the

defendants’ offenses were more properly characterized as

attempted piracy, in that “[n]o victims were caused any physical

harm, and it is unclear whether there was even any property

damage.” Id. The court concluded that the defendants had

satisfied prong one of the Eighth Amendment analysis by

establishing the inference that life sentences would be grossly

disproportionate to their piracy offenses. Id. at 12.

The district court then turned to prong two of the Eighth

Amendment analysis, comparing the proposed life sentences with

sentences imposed on other offenders in the same jurisdiction

and with sentences imposed for piracy in other jurisdictions.

The court observed that, with the exception of statutes

punishing recidivist offenders, almost all of the “federal

criminal statutes carrying a mandatory minimum life sentence

20
. . . involve the death of another person.” See Eighth

Amendment Order 13. The court also perceived that imposing “a

life sentence for the conduct in this case [would be] unique

internationally,” on the premise that the “global average

sentence for piracy is just over 14 years.” Id. at 16.

Accordingly, the court concluded that the “statutorily-mandated

sentence violates the Eighth Amendment and cannot be imposed.”

Id.

By its Eighth Amendment Order, the district court directed

the parties to submit supplemental briefing on the appropriate

sentences for the defendants’ piracy convictions, in view of the

court’s invalidation of the mandatory life sentence. In his

supplemental brief, the United States Attorney urged the court

to impose a life sentence on each of the defendants, asserting

that such sentences were legally mandated. The defendants, by

contrast, made recommendations of various non-life sentences.

The defendants’ sentencing hearings were conducted on May

14 and 15, 2014. Said was sentenced to an aggregate of 500

months (140 months for his § 1651 piracy offense), Jama to 500

months (140 months for piracy), Cabaase to 510 months (150

months for piracy), Osman to 360 months (240 months for piracy),

and Farah to 384 months (264 months for piracy). The government

and the defendants timely noted their respective appeals, and we

21
possess jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C.

§ 3742(b).

II.

Although the defendants are cross-appellants in these

proceedings, we will review their contentions in the first

instance, as our dispositions of their appeals could render moot

the government’s challenge to the defendants’ non-life sentences

for their 18 U.S.C. § 1651 piracy offenses. By their appeals,

the defendants contend that the district court erred in denying

their motion to dismiss the piracy charge and in instructing the

jury on the elements of piracy under § 1651. The defendants

also maintain that the court erroneously denied their motions

for judgments of acquittal, arguing that the evidence was

insufficient to prove piracy and certain other offenses.

A.

In contending that the district court erred with respect to

the § 1651 piracy offense by declining to dismiss that charge

and by erroneously instructing the jury, the defendants contest

the court’s reliance on United States v. Dire, 680 F.3d 446 (4th

Cir. 2012). We review de novo a district court’s denial of a

motion to dismiss an indictment where the denial depends solely

on questions of law. See United States v. Hatcher, 560 F.3d

222, 224 (4th Cir. 2009). We also review de novo the claim that

22
a jury instruction failed to correctly state the applicable law.

See United States v. Jefferson, 674 F.3d 332, 351 (4th Cir.

2012).

The defendants again advance the contention — considered

and rejected in Dire — that the definition of piracy under

§ 1651 is limited to robbery at sea. Nevertheless, the

defendants concede that we are obliged to adhere to Dire, as one

panel of this Court is not entitled to overrule another panel.

See McMellon v. United States, 387 F.3d 329, 333-34 (4th Cir.

2004) (en banc). Furthermore, the defendants do not dispute

that the district court faithfully applied the Dire principles.

We thus have no trouble concluding that the court did not err in

declining to dismiss the piracy charge or in instructing the

jury on the elements of the § 1651 offense. 9

B.

Turning to the evidentiary issues, each defendant

challenges the sufficiency of the evidence as to the § 1651

piracy offense. Additionally, the defendants, except for Said,

challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on the offenses

9 Notably, we are not alone in our interpretation of § 1651.
Other courts, including two courts of appeals, have adopted the
definition of piracy announced in Dire. See United States v.
Ali, 718 F.3d 929, 936-37 (D.C. Cir. 2013); Inst. of Cetacean
Research v. Sea Shepherd Conservation Soc’y, 725 F.3d 940, 943
(9th Cir. 2013).

23
charged in Count One (conspiracy to commit hostage taking),

Count Two (conspiracy to commit kidnapping), and Count Three

(conspiracy to perform an act of violence against an individual

on a vessel). Because Counts One through Three served as the

predicate offenses for Count Nine (using and carrying a firearm

during and in relation to, and possessing a firearm in

furtherance of, a crime of violence), defendants Jama and

Cabaase also seek vacatur of their Count Nine convictions. 10

We review de novo a trial court’s denial of a motion for

judgment of acquittal. See United States v. Reed, 780 F.3d 260,

269 (4th Cir. 2015). In reviewing evidence sufficiency

contentions, we are obliged to “view the evidence in the light

most favorable to the government and sustain the jury’s verdict

if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential

elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.”

United States v. Barefoot, 754 F.3d 226, 233 (4th Cir. 2014)

(emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted). A defendant

10
None of the defendants challenge their convictions of the
offenses charged in Count Four (conspiracy to use and carry a
firearm and a destructive device during and in relation to, and
possessing a firearm and a destructive device in furtherance of,
a crime of violence); Count Six (attack to plunder a vessel);
Count Seven (assault with a dangerous weapon on a federal
officer or employee); Count Eight (performing an act of violence
against an individual on a vessel); and Count Ten (using,
carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a
crime of violence).

24
challenging the sufficiency of the evidence faces a heavy

burden, as “[r]eversal for insufficient evidence is reserved for

the rare case where the prosecution’s failure is clear.” United

States v. Ashley, 606 F.3d 135, 138 (4th Cir. 2010) (internal

quotation marks omitted).

1.

The defendants first challenge the sufficiency of the

evidence on the § 1651 offense, which relates solely to their

attack on the USS Ashland. In support of their sufficiency

contention, the defendants reiterate the argument that piracy

requires a robbery at sea. As we have explained, however, their

position is foreclosed by Dire.

Furthermore, the government presented sufficient evidence

to prove that the defendants’ conduct constituted piracy under

the Dire principles. The evidence established, inter alia, the

following:

● The defendants set out from Somalia in their
skiff with the intent to seize a merchant ship
and tools to do so, including a hooked ladder,
three AK-47s, and an RPG;

● Seeking to capture the USS Ashland in
international waters, Cabaase fired multiple AK-
47 rounds at the Ashland from the skiff. See
Dire, 680 F.3d at 465 (explaining that piracy
includes “(A)(1) any illegal act of violence
. . . ; (2) committed for private ends; (3) on
the high seas . . . ; (4) by the crew or the
passengers of a private ship; (5) and directed
against another ship, or against persons or

25
 property on board such ship” (alterations and
internal quotation marks omitted));

● Farah drove the skiff as the defendants hunted a
ship to seize and then targeted the Ashland. See
id. (further defining piracy as “(B)(1) any act
of voluntary participation in the operation of a
ship; (2) with knowledge of the facts making it a
pirate ship” (alterations and internal quotation
marks omitted); and

● Osman, along with Cabaase, had supplied two of
the weapons, and Jama and Said, a leader and next
in command for the mission, carried an RPG and an
AK-47 during the Ashland attack. See id. (lastly
defining piracy as “(C)(1) any act of inciting or
of intentionally facilitating (2) an act
described in subparagraph (A) or (B) (internal
quotation marks omitted)); see also United States
v. Shibin, 722 F.3d 233, 240 (4th Cir. 2013)
(recognizing “that the facilitating conduct of
[subparagraph (C)] is ‘functionally equivalent’
to aiding and abetting criminal conduct, as
proscribed by 18 U.S.C. § 2”).

Accordingly, we are well satisfied that, on the evidence

presented, a reasonable jury was entitled to conclude beyond a

reasonable doubt that each of the defendants committed the

§ 1651 piracy offense.

2.

Next, defendants Jama, Cabaase, Osman, and Farah challenge

the sufficiency of the evidence on the conspiracy offenses

charged in Counts One through Three, encompassing the time

period in which the encounters with the HMS Chatham and the USS

Ashland occurred. As for Counts One and Two, the operative

indictment alleged that the defendants conspired to commit

26
hostage taking and kidnapping, in that they went to sea with the

intent to hijack a ship and hold the vessel and its crew for

ransom. See 18 U.S.C. § 1203(a) (proscribing conspiracy to

commit hostage taking); id. § 1201(c) (same for conspiracy to

commit kidnapping). These four defendants contend that there

was insufficient evidence to prove that they conspired to kidnap

or hold any person hostage for ransom. They assert that the

evidence showed merely that they intended to seize a ship to

make money.

Upon seizing a ship, however, the defendants would have had

to either detain the crew members and personnel on board or

throw them off the vessel. A reasonable jury could conclude

that the defendants intended to pursue the former option — that

is, detain the crew and other personnel — given that their

shared goal was to “make money,” and that they could do so by

ransoming captives. See, e.g., J.A. 403 (Ibrahim’s testimony

that the defendants’ mutual objective at the time of the USS

Ashland attack was “[t]o seize a ship so we can make money”).

That evidence, illustrating the defendants’ thirst for funds,

was sufficient to prove that the defendants conspired to profit

by kidnapping and holding crew members and personnel hostage in

exchange for ransom. Tellingly, there was no commonsense

alternative offered to the jury. Although these defendants now

contend that they might have intended to make money by, for

27
example, selling the seized ship, they did not argue such a

theory, or present any evidence supporting it, at trial.

Indeed, the defense focused on convincing the jury that the

defendants were smugglers rather than pirates.

Turning to Count Three, the operative indictment alleged

that the defendants conspired to perform an act of violence

against an individual on a vessel, and that such act of violence

was likely to endanger the safety of those on board. See 18

U.S.C. § 2291(a)(9) (criminalizing conspiracy to “do anything

prohibited under paragraphs (1) through (8),” including

performing act of violence against individual on vessel, as

proscribed by paragraph (6)). Jama, Cabaase, Osman, and Farah

contend that their mere intent to seize a ship does not also

prove an intention to perform an act of violence against the

ship’s crew or other personnel. Rather, according to these

defendants, “[o]ne might seize a vessel by surprise or

acquiescence.” See Br. of Cross-Appellants 59.

The trial evidence, however, was more than sufficient to

prove that, at the time of the encounters with the HMS Chatham

and the USS Ashland, the defendants were equipped and ready to

commit violence against individuals on board in furtherance of

their goal of seizing a ship. During the Ashland attack, they

carried an RPG and three AK-47s — two provided by Cabaase and

Osman — in their small, open skiff. While Farah drove the skiff

28
into position, Jama attempted to load the RPG, and Cabaase fired

multiple rounds from his AK-47 at the Ashland in order “to

capture the ship.” See J.A. 444. From that evidence, a

reasonable jury could conclude that these defendants conspired

to perform an act of violence against an individual on a vessel,

as part of their plan to forcibly seize a ship.

In these circumstances, the guilty verdicts on Count Three,

as well as Counts One and Two, were adequately supported by the

evidence. Because we therefore must affirm the convictions of

Jama, Cabaase, Osman, and Farah on Counts One through Three, we

also uphold Jama’s and Cabaase’s convictions on Count Nine.

III.

Having resolved each defendant’s appeal against him, we

turn to the government’s appeal from the district court’s Eighth

Amendment Order. The government contends that the court

erroneously determined that 18 U.S.C. § 1651’s mandatory life

sentence, as applied to the defendants, contravenes the Eighth

Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The defendants, by contrast, maintain that the court properly

imposed non-life sentences for their piracy offenses. We review

de novo the question of whether a sentence runs afoul of the

Eighth Amendment. See United States v. Cobler, 748 F.3d 570,

574 (4th Cir. 2014).

29
 A.

We begin our consideration of the government’s appeal by

identifying the controlling legal framework. The Eighth

Amendment provides that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required,

nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments

inflicted.” U.S. Const. amend. VIII. In deciding whether a

punishment is cruel and unusual, we must examine the “evolving

standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing

society.” Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 58 (2010) (internal

quotation marks omitted). A punishment is cruel and unusual not

only when it is “inherently barbaric,” but also when it is

“disproportionate to the crime.” Id. at 59. Indeed, “[t]he

concept of proportionality is central to the Eighth Amendment.”

Id.

Here, the defendants pursued as-applied challenges to

§ 1651’s mandatory life sentence. See Cobler, 748 F.3d at 575

(“Under an as-applied challenge, a defendant contests the length

of a certain [non-capital] sentence as being disproportionate

given all the circumstances in a particular case.” (internal

quotation marks omitted)). As the district court recognized in

its Eighth Amendment Order, the Supreme Court has adopted a two-

prong test for assessing an as-applied challenge to the

proportionality of a sentence. Under prong one, a court must

determine whether a threshold comparison of “the gravity of the

30
offense and the severity of the sentence” produces “an inference

of gross disproportionality.” See Graham, 560 U.S. at 60

(internal quotation marks omitted) (relying on principles set

forth in Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983)). If prong one is

satisfied, the court moves to an analysis of prong two. Under

that prong, the court must “compare the defendant’s sentence

with the sentences received by other offenders in the same

jurisdiction and with the sentences imposed for the same crime

in other jurisdictions.” Id. If that comparison “validates an

initial judgment that the sentence is grossly disproportionate,

the sentence is cruel and unusual.” Id. (alterations and

internal quotation marks omitted).

The Supreme Court has on one occasion — in its Solem

decision of 1983 — identified a non-capital sentence as being

grossly disproportionate. There, the recidivist defendant

(Helm) was sentenced to life without parole for uttering a $100

bad check. The Court observed that the matter involved “one of

the most passive felonies a person could commit,” in that the

offense “involved neither violence nor threat of violence to any

person”; Helm’s prior offenses “were all relatively minor”; and

life imprisonment was “the most severe punishment that the State

could have imposed on any criminal for any crime.” See Solem,

463 U.S. at 296-97 (internal quotation marks omitted). The

Court further determined that “Helm has been treated in the same

31
manner as, or more severely than, criminals [in the same

jurisdiction] who have committed far more serious crimes,” and

that “Helm was treated more severely than he would have been in

any other State” except possibly one. See id. at 299-300. In

those circumstances, the Court concluded that Helm’s life

sentence was “significantly disproportionate to his crime” and

“therefore prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.” Id. at 303.

The Solem decision emphasized, however, that “outside the

context of capital punishment, successful challenges to the

proportionality of particular sentences will be exceedingly

rare.” Id. at 289-90 (alteration, emphasis, and internal

quotation marks omitted).

Since Solem was decided, not a single “defendant before the

Supreme Court has been successful in establishing even a

threshold inference of gross disproportionality” in a non-

capital case. See Cobler, 748 F.3d at 576. For example, in

Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991), the Court rejected an

as-applied Eighth Amendment challenge to a mandatory life

sentence in a cocaine possession case. Justice Kennedy

distinguished the “passive” check fraud crime in Solem from the

“pernicious” drug offense at issue in Harmelin, observing that

the latter crime “threatened to cause grave harm to society.”

See Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 1002 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part

and concurring in the judgment) (internal quotation marks

32
omitted). 11 In rejecting Harmelin’s Eighth Amendment challenge,

Justice Kennedy also stressed the proposition that courts should

give “substantial deference” to legislatures in determining the

severity of punishments. See id. at 998-99 (internal quotation

marks omitted).

The Supreme Court has more recently rejected an as-applied

Eighth Amendment challenge for lack of an inference of gross

disproportionality in Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003).

Ewing received a sentence of twenty-five years to life under

California’s “three strikes” law for stealing $1,200 worth of

golf clubs. Distinguishing his crime from that in Solem, the

Court observed that the theft offense “was certainly not one of

the most passive felonies a person could commit.” See Ewing,

538 U.S. at 28 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court

then explained that, although Ewing’s sentence was “a long

one[,] . . . it reflect[ed] a rational legislative judgment,

11Although a majority failed to coalesce in Harmelin
concerning the scope of the Eighth Amendment’s proportionality
guarantee, Justice Kennedy’s opinion, which was joined by two of
his colleagues, has been recognized by the Supreme Court as the
controlling decision on that issue. See Graham, 560 U.S. at 59-
60. It is thereby established that “the Eighth Amendment
contains a ‘narrow proportionality principle,’ that ‘does not
require strict proportionality between crime and sentence’ but
rather ‘forbids only extreme sentences that are “grossly
disproportionate” to the crime.’” Id. (quoting Harmelin, 501
U.S. at 997, 1000-01 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and
concurring in the judgment)).

33
entitled to deference, that offenders who have committed serious

or violent felonies and who continue to commit felonies must be

incapacitated.” Id. at 30.

By our subsequent Cobler decision, we upheld a 120-year

sentence imposed on a defendant who not only “possess[ed] large

quantities of child pornography that he downloaded and shared on

the Internet,” but “also created depictions of his own sexual

exploitation, molestation, and abuse of a four-year-old child.”

See 748 F.3d at 580. Applying the Supreme Court’s two-prong

test for an as-applied Eighth Amendment challenge, Cobler failed

at prong one. We explained:

Given the shocking and vile conduct underlying these
criminal convictions, we hold that Cobler has failed
to substantiate the required threshold inference of
gross disproportionality. Even assuming, without
deciding, that Cobler’s 120-year term of imprisonment
is functionally equivalent to a sentence of life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole, we
conclude that Cobler’s multiple child pornography
crimes are at least as grave as the drug offense in
Harmelin, which the Supreme Court deemed sufficiently
egregious to justify a similar sentence.

Id. (footnote omitted). Judge Keenan emphasized the rarity of

cases in which an inference of gross disproportionality may be

drawn, noting the singularity of the Supreme Court’s Solem

decision and distinguishing the check fraud offense there from

the crimes perpetrated by Cobler. See id. (“Far from being ‘one

of the most passive felonies a person could commit,’ Cobler’s

34
heinous acts exploited, injured, and inflicted great harm on a

most vulnerable victim.” (quoting Solem, 463 U.S. at 296)).

On the issue of gross disproportionality, Cobler is typical

of this Court’s decisions. 12 Significantly, we have not

identified a grossly disproportionate life sentence or putative

life sentence in the wake of Solem. See, e.g., United States v.

Dowell, 771 F.3d 162, 167-69 (4th Cir. 2014) (eighty-year

sentence for child pornography); United States v. Myers, 280

F.3d 407, 415-16 (4th Cir. 2002) (life sentence imposed under

Armed Career Criminal Act for being felon in possession of

firearm); United States v. Kratsas, 45 F.3d 63, 68-69 (4th Cir.

1995) (repeat drug offender’s life sentence for conspiracy to

distribute cocaine); United States v. D’Anjou, 16 F.3d 604, 612-

14 (4th Cir. 1994) (life sentence for conspiracy to distribute

cocaine base).

12 Our Cobler decision was rendered in April 2014 — nearly
two months after the district court had entered its Eighth
Amendment Order in this case. The district court, upon being
presented with Cobler, responded at defendant Said’s sentencing
hearing on May 14, 2014, that it

read [Cobler and] understands that there has not been
any precedent that would appear favorable to what the
[Eighth Amendment Order] has ruled, but the precedent
is usually the precedent until the precedent changes.

J.A. 1104.

35
 B.

With the foregoing legal framework in mind, we assess the

government’s challenge to the defendants’ non-life sentences for

their § 1651 piracy offenses. Prong one of the applicable

analysis requires that we decide whether a threshold comparison

of the gravity of the defendants’ offenses and the severity of

the proposed life sentences leads to an inference of gross

disproportionality. See Graham, 560 U.S. at 60. The defendants

contend that life sentences would be grossly disproportionate to

their conduct, which, echoing the district court, they describe

as mere “attempted robbery on the high seas” that “resulted in

no property damage to the USS Ashland and no physical harm to

any of its occupants.” Br. of Cross-Appellants 39.

As discussed above, however, the defendants’ § 1651 piracy

offenses included committing illegal acts of violence for

private ends (Cabaase), operating a pirate ship (Farah), and

otherwise facilitating the violent acts (Said, Jama, and Osman).

When the defendants engaged in that conduct, their piracy

offenses were complete. Those offenses were hardly “passive”;

rather, they involved “violence []or threat[s] of violence to

[m]any person[s].” See Solem, 463 U.S. at 296. Indeed, the

defendants’ violent conduct was at least as severe as the

cocaine possession in Harmelin. It is of no moment that no one

aboard the USS Ashland was harmed before the defendants’ attack

36
was thwarted. Cf. Dowell, 771 F.3d at 169 (“We reject out of

hand the notion that the sexual abuse of a child can be

considered nonviolent merely because it does not lead to

physical or life-threatening injuries.”). That is, “[t]he mere

fact that [the defendants’] acts of [violence] did not inflict

. . . physical injury [to the Ashland’s personnel] does not

render [life sentences] disproportionate.” See id. 13

Furthermore, § 1651’s mandatory life sentence “reflects a

rational legislative judgment, entitled to deference,” that

piracy in international waters is a crime deserving of one of

the harshest of penalties. See Ewing, 538 U.S. at 30. The

government has helpfully and cogently detailed why such an

offense is sufficiently grave to merit life imprisonment. Above

all, “for centuries, pirates have been universally condemned as

hostis humani generis — enemies of all mankind — because they

attack vessels on the high seas, and thus outside of any

nation’s territorial jurisdiction, with devastating effect to

global commerce and navigation.” United States v. Dire, 680

F.3d 446, 454 (4th Cir. 2012) (alterations and internal

quotation marks omitted). Piracy was of such significance to

the Framers that they expressly accorded Congress, in what is

13
Of course, the defendants’ attack on the USS Ashland was
not casualty-free. The Engineer was killed and the defendants
suffered burns when the Ashland returned fire.

37
known as the Define and Punish Clause, the power “[t]o define

and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and

Offences against the Law of Nations.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 8,

cl. 10. In 1790, the First Congress created a series of crimes

related to piracy, many of which were punishable by death. The

piracy offense proscribed by § 1651 carried a mandatory death

sentence from the offense’s inception in 1819 until 1909, when

Congress reduced the penalty to mandatory life.

The prevailing definition of piracy, “spelled out in the

UNCLOS, as well as the High Seas Convention before it, has only

been reaffirmed in recent years as nations around the world have

banded together to combat the escalating scourge of piracy.”

Dire, 680 F.3d at 469. From 2005 to the fall of 2010, for

example, Somali pirates hijacked approximately 170 vessels and

fired upon some 280 more. See J.A. 952-53 (expert testimony at

November 2010 trial of Dire defendants). Then, “[i]n 2011,

armed Somali pirates attacked an estimated 3,863 seafarers and

took some 555 individuals hostage.” See United States v. Beyle,

782 F.3d 159, 162 (4th Cir. 2015). As Judge Wilkinson aptly

explained in the Beyle decision,

[t]he United States and its allies are engaged in a
multinational battle against piracy in the waters off
the Horn of Africa. Through the Gulf of Aden and much
of the Indian Ocean, Somalia-based pirates have
launched attacks against commercial and recreational
vessels, from large freighters to personal yachts.
Piracy poses a threat not only to the free flow of

38
 global commerce, but also to the individuals who
navigate the seas.

Id. (citation omitted). Victims of piracy are robbed of their

vessels, kidnapped, held hostage, and even tortured and

murdered, while pirates are often able to find safe refuge in

the territorial waters off Somalia and collect multi-million-

dollar ransom payments. In these circumstances, we agree with

the government “that Congress could with reason conclude [that

piracy] calls for the strong medicine of a life sentence for

those who are apprehended.” See Br. of Appellant 39. 14

We are satisfied that “the relationship between the gravity

of [the defendants’] offenses and the severity of [their

proposed] punishment fails to create the threshold inference of

gross disproportionality that is required” to satisfy prong one

of the Eighth Amendment analysis. See Cobler, 748 F.3d at 580.

14 The defendants contend on appeal that we should not
afford deference to Congress’s judgment that piracy should be
punished by life imprisonment, because when that penalty was
fixed in 1909, the definition of piracy was limited to robbery
at sea and did not include their violent conduct. For that same
reason, the defendants also assert that imposing life sentences
on them would violate the Define and Punish Clause. We must
reject the defendants’ theory, however, because Congress clearly
meant to attach the mandatory life sentence to piracy, however
defined by the law of nations at the relevant time. See Dire,
680 F.3d at 468-69 (recognizing that Ҥ 1651 incorporates a
definition of piracy that changes with advancements in the law
of nations,” and that, in enacting § 1651, “Congress properly
made an act a crime, affixed a punishment to it, and declared
the court that shall have jurisdiction of the [offense]”
(alterations and internal quotation marks omitted)).

39
Thus, without moving to prong two, we rule that the district

court erred in invalidating § 1651’s mandatory life sentence as

to these defendants and is obliged to impose such sentences on

remand.

IV.

Pursuant to the foregoing, we affirm the various

convictions of the defendants. We, however, reverse the Eighth

Amendment Order, vacate the defendants’ sentences, and remand

for resentencing.

No. 14-4413 REVERSED IN PART,
VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED

Nos. 14-4420, 14-4421, 14-4423,
14-4424, and 14-4429 AFFIRMED

40
DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge, concurring:

I join in full Judge King’s excellent opinion. I write to

express my agreement with one thoughtfully-expressed and

eminently correct observation by the district court: Although

modern piracy is a genuine, life-threatening scourge, not all

piracy offenses are equal in severity, in heinousness, and in

the dire consequences visited on innocent seafarers. Nor are all

those who participate in such offenses deserving of life in

prison as the sole conceivable “rational” punishment. * The

civilized world knows this. The United States of America knows

this too, but has not yet elected to act on that knowledge.

Accordingly, because we are not legislators, and as Judge King

demonstrates, because the Constitution has remarkably little to

say about severe, but non-capital, criminal punishments, our

hands are tied.

Perhaps, in the fullness of time, Congress will act on the

certain knowledge we all share about criminal offenses and their

punishments, and thereby empower federal district judges (and

*Indeed, in this case, Mr. Ibrahim, who was “the group’s
leader” and who “led the new mission,” ante at 7, would seem to
have earned a life sentence. But he avoided that fate through
the magic of “substantial assistance” and the fiction of
“acceptance of responsibility,” the coins of the federal
prosecutorial realm. The inference is unavoidable that it is not
really those who participate in piracy who receive a life
sentence upon conviction (as we imagine Congress might believe),
but rather those who are convicted after electing to go to
trial.

41
not simply federal prosecutors) with discretion to fashion more

individualized punishments in this small corner of federal

criminal justice.

42