United States of America v. Ullah
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Reversed in Part
The Second Circuit reversed Akayed Ullah’s conviction for providing material support to ISIS, ruling that his lone-wolf bombing did not satisfy § 2339B because he acted independently of the organization. It upheld his convictions for bombing a mass-transit system and for using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, and it affirmed (except for Count One) his life sentence, remanding only to vacate the material-support count.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether a ‘lone-wolf’ bomb attack carried out after watching ISIS propaganda constitutes providing or attempting to provide “material support or resources” in the form of “personnel” or a “service” under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B when the attacker had no bilateral contact with the terrorist organization.
Circuit Positions
Independent attacks inspired by a terrorist group’s public propaganda do NOT constitute providing “personnel” or a “service” because the attacker is not working under the group’s direction or control.
An attacker who pledges to act for ISIS or attempts to do so after consuming its propaganda DOES provide or attempt to provide personnel/service even without direct two-way contact with the group.
Conflict Summary
The Second Circuit held that acting on ISIS’s publicly-broadcast exhortations is NOT enough to satisfy § 2339B because the attacker acted ‘entirely independently’ and therefore did not work ‘under [ISIS’s] direction or control.’ The First, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits have sustained convictions where defendants attempted to join or act for ISIS on the basis of open-source propaganda without bilateral coordination, concluding that such conduct is sufficient material support.