United States v. Harun, 922 F.3d 129

Defendant Adnan Hausa, an al-Qaeda member, attacked U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan; one ambush killed two U.S. soldiers. He was arrested in Italy in 2011 and extradited to the Eastern District of New York.
Hausa sought to represent himself; the district court conducted multiple Faretta colloquies but Hausa repeatedly refused to answer questions, interrupted, cursed, hummed, threatened the judge, demanded an "international court," and was repeatedly removed from proceedings.
Three psychiatric evaluations found Hausa competent to stand trial and able to assist counsel, but he refused to engage in the colloquies required to establish a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel.
The district court denied Hausa's requests to proceed pro se (also citing his obstructionist conduct), tried him with counsel, and a jury convicted him on five counts including conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals (18 U.S.C. § 2332(b)(2)); he received principally life imprisonment.
On appeal Hausa argued: (1) the district court violated his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation by denying his Faretta requests; and (2) Count One (§ 2332(b)(2)) requires killings within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States and thus did not cover the Afghanistan killings.

Issue	Hausa's Argument	Government's Argument	Held
Whether the district court denied Hausa a valid Faretta waiver by refusing to let him proceed pro se	Hausa argued his waiver was "knowing and intelligent" and the court erred in denying self-representation	The court could not find a knowing, intelligent waiver because Hausa refused to engage in colloquy and blocked the court from assessing his understanding	Affirmed: waiver invalidly shown because defendant prevented the required colloquy; denial proper
Whether the court could deny pro se status based on obstructionist misconduct	Hausa contended that once warned of risks, he was entitled to proceed pro se	Court may deny self-representation when defendant deliberately disrupts, refuses courtroom protocol, or cannot abide rules	Affirmed: independent basis to deny Faretta—egregious, repeated obstruction justified denial
Whether § 2332(b)(2) requires the murder to occur within U.S. special maritime/territorial jurisdiction	Hausa argued incorporation of § 1111 made subsection (2) domestic, so conviction for killings in Afghanistan was improper	§ 2332(b)(2) criminalizes conspiracies to kill U.S. nationals outside the United States; § 1111(b) (jurisdictional aggravator) is irrelevant to (b)(2)	Affirmed: § 2332(b)(2) applies extraterritorially to conspiracies to kill U.S. nationals abroad

Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975) (Sixth Amendment right to self-representation and requirement that waiver be knowing and intelligent)
Torres v. United States, 140 F.3d 392 (2d Cir. 1998) (district court must ensure waiver is knowing and intelligent via on-the-record discussion)
United States v. Spencer, 995 F.2d 10 (2d Cir. 1993) (standard of review for waiver-of-counsel findings)
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 (2006) (denial of right to counsel not subject to harmless-error review)
McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168 (1984) (limits on standby counsel when defendant proceeds pro se)
United States v. Al Kassar, 660 F.3d 108 (2d Cir. 2011) (§ 2332(b) applies extraterritorially)
United States v. Fore, 169 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 1999) (waiver inquiry depends on facts and defendant characteristics)
United States v. Schmidt, 105 F.3d 82 (2d Cir. 1997) (trial court must be persuaded waiver is rational and defendant has capacity to understand consequences)
Clark v. Perez, 510 F.3d 382 (2d Cir. 2008) (court may deny pro se status for serious obstruction or inability to follow courtroom protocol)
Davis v. Grant, 532 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 2008) (willingness and ability to abide by courtroom protocol can be prerequisite to accepting waiver)
United States v. Garey, 540 F.3d 1253 (11th Cir. 2008) (court may accept less-than-full colloquy if it is satisfied defendant understands choices and dangers)