United States v. Ceasar

388 F.Supp.3d 194

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Sinmyah Amera CEASAR, Defendant.

17-CR-48

19-CR-117

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

Signed July 30, 2019

For United States, Josh Hafetz, Ian C. Richardson, United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, 271 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY 11201

For Defendant, Deirdre D. von Dornum, Samuel I. Jacobson, Federal Defenders of New York, One Pierrepont Plaza, 16th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Statement of Reasons Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c)(2)

Jack B. Weinstein, Senior United States District Judge

Table of Contents

I. Introduction...195

II. Facts...196

A. Defendant's Background...196

B. Defendant's Health...196

C. Defendant's Involvement with ISIL...197

1. Brief Background of ISIL...198

2. Defendant's Conduct in Material Support of ISIL...200

3. Defendant's Plans To Travel to ISIL-Controlled Territory...202

D. Defendant's Arrest and Material Support Guilty Plea...202

E. Defendant's Obstruction of Official Proceeding...203

III. Sentencing Hearing...205

A. Expert Testimony...205

1. Dr. Lorenzo Vidino...205

2. Dr. Kostas Katsavdakis...208

3. Daisy Khan...212

4. Dr. Marc Sageman...213

5. Dr. Katherine Porterfield...214

B. Defendant's Testimony...217

C. Letter of Defendant's Half-Brother...217

IV. Offense Level, Criminal History Category, and Sentencing Guidelines Range...218

V. Law 41...218

VI. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) Considerations...219

A. Rehabilitation, Punishment, and Deterrence...220

B. Potential Harm of Long Incarceration...221

C. First Amendment Issues...222

VII. Sentence...223

VIII. Conclusion...225

I. Introduction

Sinmyah Amera Ceasar ("Ceasar" or "Defendant") pled guilty to (1) conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ("ISIL" or "ISIS"), designated by our government as a foreign terrorist organization, and (2) obstruction of an official proceeding.

Extensive sentencing hearings were conducted. The parties filed briefs and provided the court with more than 1,000 pages of exhibits. Over the course of three days, the court heard testimony from five experts. Defendant's half-brother submitted a letter in support of his sibling. She spoke at length on her own behalf.

Defendant had a traumatic life: Now 24 years old, she is a survivor of serious sexual, physical, and emotional trauma. Her father abused her sexually. Her mother's limiting physical conditions prevented her care of Ceasar, so Defendant was repeatedly shifted from foster care placement to foster care placement, and abused continuously along the way. Her three husbands were each physically and emotionally abusive.

Identifying as Muslim, as a young adult, Ceasar sought acceptance with an organization advocating violence and destruction in the United States and other parts of the world: ISIL. She connected individuals in the United States with individuals affiliated with ISIL and posted propaganda for ISIL online. She planned to travel to ISIL territory and to join the organization there. Subsequent to her guilty plea for conspiracy to provide material support, when on presentence release because of health problems, Ceasar engaged in similar conduct, lied to the government about it, and deleted records of her communications favoring ISIL.

Against this backdrop of aiding ISIL, under federal penal jurisprudence, the court considers general and specific deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and punishment. She is sentenced to a total of 48 months of incarceration—about 28 months already served while she awaited sentencing in jail. Incarceration is to be followed by eight years of supervised release.

The sentence is designed to ensure that (1) the public is adequately protected from ISIL and organizations like it, (2) Ceasar is punished for her dangerous criminal conduct, and (3) her rehabilitation to a productive, lawful citizen of the United States is encouraged.

It is apparent that this young woman is in need of long-term intensive educational, emotional, and economic support to address her traumas, which have, in part, motivated her actions to join a dangerous organization as a substitute for normal family life.

In Europe, countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands have designed and used intensive disengagement and deradicalization programs to assist prisoners charged and convicted of terrorism-related offenses. The United States has no such program. The Bureau of Prisons should seriously consider designing an appropriate program to deal with American terrorists like this one. Without access to treatment while incarcerated or on supervised release, Defendant will likely remain an unrehabilitated supporter of ISIL and a continuing danger to the United States. Ceasar's counsel and the Probation Department are developing a program of intensive treatment and support for the term of her supervision after her incarceration; the treatment should begin in prison and connect seamlessly with control and assistance by Probation.

The sentence is sufficient, but not greater than necessary. The Bureau of Prisons and other relevant federal agencies should design and use disengagement and deradicalization programs to help ensure that people in similar circumstances have a reasonable chance at rehabilitation. See United States v. Doe , 323 F. Supp. 3d 368 (E.D.N.Y. 2018) (explaining the non-incarceration sentence of a young person who had broken from ISIL and was on the path to reintegration into lawful society).

II. Facts

A. Defendant's Background

Ceasar had a difficult childhood: She was born in New Jersey in 1994. Revised Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR") ¶ 81. She is the only child born to her parents, who divorced when she was three years old following her father's physical abuse of her mother. Id. Ceasar's mother had custody of her during the week, and her father had custody on weekends. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 3, No. 17-cr-48, ECF No. 102. Defendant has four paternal half-siblings, but has a passing relationship with only her oldest half-brother. PSR ¶ 82. He is now supportive, intending to help her live a lawful way of life. Id. ; Def. Ex. XX (letter of Defendant's half-brother in support of Defendant).

Ceasar's father sexually abused her from the age of four to 11. PSR ¶ 81. Defendant's mother reported the abuse. Id. A restraining order was issued against him. Id. Though out of contact with him for many years, she saw him most recently in 2017, when he criticized her for her involvement in the instant offenses and for bringing dishonor on her family. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 6. She has been ostracized by all in the family but the half-brother.

Ceasar's mother was gravely ill for most of Defendant's life, suffering from diabetes and kidney failure. PSR ¶¶ 81, 83. Her mother was unable to work as a result of her physical maladies; the two suffered financially. PSR ¶ 83. When Ceasar was seven, her mother became blind because of diabetes-related complications. PSR ¶ 81; Def.'s Sent. Mem. 3. By the time Ceasar was ten, she was her mother's primary caregiver. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 3–4. Defendant was responsible for grocery shopping, cooking meals, cleaning their apartment, and monitoring her mother's medication and medical appointments. Id. The mother's medical complications became so serious that when Ceasar was 13, her mother was admitted to a nursing home, where she remained until her death from a heart attack in 2017 at the age of 49. PSR ¶¶ 81, 83.

Defendant was placed in foster care and lived with three families in four years. PSR ¶ 83. Her first foster parent locked her in a room for one month and fed her only peanut butter. Id. This foster parent would not allow Ceasar to speak to her mother. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 4. Ceasar told her teachers about this and she was removed from this foster placement. Id. Defendant's next foster placement was with a paternal aunt and her paternal grandparents, who pressured Ceasar to forgive her father for abusing her. PSR ¶ 83; Def.'s Sent. Mem. 4–5. She was hurt that they supported him over herself and requested a transfer to a new home. Id. The final foster placement was with a family that had previously served as a foster placement for Ceasar's mother. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 5. It lasted two years, but Ceasar reports that the family refused to spend the foster care maintenance payments it received from the state on her care. Id. ; PSR ¶ 83. She signed herself out of foster care when she was 17. PSR ¶ 83.

Ceasar's living and family situations became increasingly unstable. From 2011 until her arrest in 2017, she lived with friends, romantic partners, and in homeless shelters. PSR ¶¶ 83–85.

Seeking a stable family, between 2011 and 2013, she entered into successive religious marriages with three older men. PSR ¶ 84; Def.'s Sent. Mem. 5. Each of the relationships ended quickly. PSR ¶ 84. Defendant's first marriage in 2011 to a 25-year-old man ended because he physically abused her; he was using drugs. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 2, 5. Her next marriage in 2012 was to a 39-year-old man who frequently punched and choked her. PSR ¶ 84; Def.'s Sent. Mem. 2, 5. Ceasar's final marriage, in 2013, was to a 42-year-old man who was possessive and controlling. Id. Their relationship ended shortly after Defendant had a miscarriage. PSR ¶ 84.

At the time of her arrest, Ceasar contends that she was en route to Sweden to marry a fourth man, whom she met online. Def.'s Sent. Mem. 6, 18. The government suspected her real reason for wanting to go abroad was to join ISIL. See Sent. Hr'g Tr. 149:22–150:12.

Throughout her life, Defendant struggled in school and shifted from one educational institution to another. PSR ¶ 91; Def.'s Sent. Mem. 4–5. When she was in the fourth grade, she was placed in special education classes under the classification "communication impaired." Def.'s Sent. Mem. 4. She attended five high schools before dropping out during her senior year. PSR ¶ 91. Ceasar went on to hold different temporary jobs—as a childcare provider, grocery store clerk, and line cook. PSR...