PER CURIAM:
A jury convicted Abdallah Hussein Fakih of bank robbery and aiding and abetting the same, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(a) and 2, and of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting the same, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(d) and 2. The district court sentenced Fakih to a 235-month term of imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release. Fakih appeals, challenging both his convictions and sentence. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
On September 26, 2007, Demond Dixon ("Demond"), William Donald Dixon ("Donnie"), and Anthony Fleetwood robbed the Bank of America in Denver, North Carolina. Each man, armed with a gun, entered the premises, held the tellers and customers at gunpoint, threatened to kill them, robbed the bank, and left. The police spotted the robbers, who in response ditched the money and some belongings (including a pair of gloves), and fled. The three robbers subsequently broke into the house of Jimmy Woods, forced him at gunpoint into his van, and attempted to escape. After Mr. Woods somehow jumped out of the van, the robbers crashed and the police then apprehended them.
All three robbers testified to Fakih's substantial involvement in the crime. Indeed, all three testified that the robbery was Fakih's idea. According to them, Fakih, who in 2007 worked with Demond at a Fuel Pizza Café, proposed to Demond and his brother, Donnie, that they all rob a bank. Fakih held himself out as having particularized knowledge of banks, explaining that his father had worked at a bank.
On the day prior to the robbery, Fakih picked Donnie up at a Charlotte bus terminal after Donnie rode down from Philadelphia. Fakih put Donnie up in a hotel room for the night. At approximately the same time, Demond and his girlfriend, Eurania Young, picked Fleetwood up in Georgia and they drove together to North Carolina to join the others. Fleetwood's girlfriend, Valnissi Jackson, also met up with the group.
Shortly before the robbery, Fakih, the Dixon brothers, Fleetwood, Young, and Jackson met at a BP Mini Mart in Denver, North Carolina. The Government introduced surveillance video showing Fakih's BMW and Jackson's gray PT Cruiser parked at the gas station. While there, anticipating the eventual bank robbery, Fakih said to the group: "Are y'all ready to do this?"
Then, Fakih left the group and went to case the bank. He entered the bank at 10:51 a.m., fumbled with his wallet for less than a minute, and then left. The bank tellers, who testified at trial, did not recognize Fakih as a regular customer and did not speak to him. They viewed his behavior as odd, but did not regard it as presaging a bank robbery.
After casing the bank, Fakih returned to the group waiting at the BP Mini Mart and gave the men the "green light" to proceed with the robbery, specifically noting the lack of a security guard on the bank's premises. The plan was for Young and Jackson to drop off the Dixon brothers and Fleetwood at the bank, and, after they robbed it, Fakih would pick them up. The robbery occurred ten minutes after Fakih cased the bank.
As the designated getaway driver, Fakih waited in his car behind the bank. There, he encountered a police officer who asked if Fakih had seen anything suspicious; Fakih answered no. Fakih then drove away and never picked up the robbers, leaving them without a getaway driver. The three robbers were thus forced to run away from the bank; after they did so, they broke into Mr. Woods's house, Demond then called Fakih, but Fakih purported to renounce his involvement in the enterprise ("I don't know what you're talking about") and hung up on Demond.
When the police arrested Fakih, he waived his
Fakih raises two challenges to his convictions. We reject both.
First, Fakih contends that the district court should have granted his motion for a mistrial after the prosecutor drew the jury's attention to Fakih's pre-trial detention.
Fakih premises this challenge on the following questions that the prosecutor asked Demond Dixon on redirect examination:
At this point, defense counsel objected and moved for a mistrial, which the court denied. Instead, the court offered the defense a curative instruction, which defense counsel declined, fearing that it would draw undue attention to Fakih's pre-trial custody. Ultimately, the prosecutor promised to avoid this line of questioning in the future and, in fact, did so. Fakih now seeks reversal on the ground that the district court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial.
We review the denial of a motion for mistrial for abuse of discretion.
In assessing prejudice, we look to: "(1) the degree to which the prosecutor's remarks have a tendency to mislead the jury and to prejudice the accused; (2) whether the remarks were isolated or extensive; (3) absent the remarks, the strength of competent proof introduced to established the guilt of the accused; and (4) whether the comments were deliberately placed before the jury to divert attention to extraneous matters."
As to the first prong, the degree of prejudice resulting from a single remark about a defendant's custody is "minimal."
With respect to the second prong, Fakih concedes that the improper remarks were not "extensive," but still contends they were not isolated.
As to the third prong, the Government offered overwhelming evidence to support the charges against Fakih. Specifically, it offered the following evidence: (1) four witnesses (Demond, Donnie, Fleetwood, and Young) testified to Fakih's substantial involvement in the crime; (2) surveillance footage showed Fakih at the bank and showed his car at the BP Mini Mart with the car that dropped the robbers off; (3) phone records showed that Fakih called Jackson about 50 times; (4) a pair of gloves found in Fleetwood's pants matched gloves found in a box in Fakih's car; (5) a police officer testified as to his encounter with Fakih near the bank's premises at the time of the robbery; and (6) Fakih himself admitted to authorities his presence at the scene of the robbery at the time it occurred and his meeting with the Dixon brothers at the BP Mini Mart.
Finally, as to the fourth prong, the prosecutor did not deliberately attempt to divert attention to extraneous matters. Rather, the prosecutor sought to rebut the defense's cross-examination by suggesting that Demond may have fabricated his story together with Fleetwood and his brother Donnie. Thus, this prong also weighs in favor of the Government.
Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Fakih's motion for a mistrial.
Fakih's second challenge to his conviction rests on the contention that the district court plainly erred in permitting the prosecutor to mention the box of gloves found in Fakih's car without admitting the box into evidence.
At oral argument, however, the Government alerted us to an exhibit list showing that the prosecutor had admitted as exhibit nine a "box of blue latex gloves" found in Fakih's car on the second day of trial. Thus, Fakih's argument rests on a factual premise — that the prosecutor failed to admit the box of gloves into evidence — that was proven false.
Moreover, even if the prosecution had failed to introduce the box of gloves into evidence, Fakih's argument would fail. The officer who searched Fakih's car testified that he found a box of rubber gloves in the trunk, and Fleetwood testified that he obtained the gloves from the inside of Fakih's car. It is not error for a prosecutor to refer to evidence (including a box of gloves) in closing argument where witnesses have testified as to its existence and location.
Fakih next contends that the district court procedurally erred in sentencing him. He argues that the court erred in two respects.
The Presentence Report (PSR) states that Donnie Dixon told authorities "Fakih had two guns, a 9 mm and a .45 Ruger, and that he gave them to Demond" Dixon before the robbery. At sentencing, the district court relied on this fact, as supported by the PSR, to find that it was reasonably foreseeable to Fakih that the robbers, in attempting to escape, would injure, abduct, and carjack Mr. Woods.
Fakih now asserts that the district court procedurally erred by crediting the finding that Fakih "armed" the robbers in the PSR. He cites our holding in
Fakih did not offer any evidence to rebut the finding in the PSR. Instead, he objected, in very general terms, to "those paragraphs that do not comport with the evidence at trial." A "mere objection to the finding in a presentence report is not sufficient."
Here, Fakih lodged a "mere objection" and failed to rebut this finding at sentencing with evidence of its unreliability or inaccuracy. Accordingly, we cannot conclude that the sentencing court's finding is clearly erroneous. Moreover, even though evidence at trial did not show that Fakih armed the robbers, the absence of evidence at trial does not in itself establish that Fakih did
Finally, Fakih contends that the district court procedurally erred by enhancing his sentence by two points for the carjacking of Mr. Woods.
Of course, the sentencing judge may enhance a defendant's sentence for "all reasonably foreseeable acts and omissions of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity." U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). Fakih does not dispute that "others" carjacked Mr. Woods "in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity." Thus, Fakih's argument rests on whether the carjacking was "reasonably foreseeable" to him.
At sentencing, the district court explained its rationale for finding that the carjacking was reasonably foreseeable to Fakih as follows:
We review a "reasonable foreseeability" determination for clear error.
Fakih bases his argument on a single case,
Fakih's case is a far cry from
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is