Checked, Affirmed, Stacked: Three Ways Federal Justice Worked on Oct. 19
A Ninth Circuit opinion reopens a case over a skipped hearing, the Sixth Circuit blesses counterfeit-pill sentencing math, and DOJ stacks 50 years onto a prison terror sentence. Three October 19 records show federal justice checking itself.
- The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court's order denying Anderson's §2255 motion and remanded for an evidentiary hearing, holding that an attorney's failure to file a requested appeal is per se ineffective assistance of counsel. m:…9663
- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the sentences in a counterfeit drug conspiracy, holding that the loss calculation correctly included the total amount victims paid for counterfeit pills without credit for the pills' value. m:…1209
- Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2020 attack on correctional officers, to run consecutive to the 40-year sentence he is currently serving. m:…5287
Checked: The Hearing That Should Have Happened
In a Ninth Circuit opinion issued October 19, the court vacated the district court's order denying Anderson's §2255 motion in United States v. Anderson and remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing. Anderson claimed his lawyer failed to file an appeal after being instructed to — and the court held that such a failure is per se ineffective assistance of counsel. m:…9663
The district court had denied the motion without a hearing, concluding Anderson had merely "discussed" an appeal rather than instructing counsel to file one. The Ninth Circuit held that was an abuse of discretion: faced with conflicting sworn statements on a dispositive issue, the court had to hear both sides. Writing for the panel, Judge Roopali H. Desai put it this way: "Faced with conflicting sworn statements from Anderson and his trial counsel on a dispositive issue, the district court should have held a hearing to assess each person's credibility, and it abused its discretion by failing to do so before denying Anderson's motion." m:…9663
The opinion closed two doors the government often walks through: an appellate waiver does not negate an ineffective-assistance claim rooted in a failure to file a requested appeal, and judicial efficiency — including the perceived futility of the appeal — is not a valid basis to deny an evidentiary hearing when a factual dispute exists. m:…9663
A telling detail: Anderson's §2255 motion was his first filing in the district court after his appeal deadline passed — which made the skipped hearing the only forum where his version of events was ever going to be tested. m:…9663
Affirmed: The Counterfeit-Pill Math
Also on October 19, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the sentences of Michael Basalyga and Reina Chirinos de Urena for their roles in a counterfeit drug conspiracy. The court's message to sentencing lawyers: the loss figure under §2B1.1 includes every dollar victims paid for the counterfeit pills, with no credit for the pills' own value. m:…1209
The panel also upheld the risk-of-death enhancement against Chirinos de Urena, finding she was aware of the dangers of the counterfeit pill scheme, and an obstruction-of-justice enhancement against Basalyga based on evidence he deleted electronic records. m:…1209
Basalyga also waived any challenge to the $6,975,000 forfeiture judgment by consenting to it in his plea agreement and subsequent stipulations — a reminder that stipulations signed to get a deal have consequences at sentencing and on appeal. m:…1209
Stacked: 50 Years on 40
On October 19, the Justice Department announced that Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the December 7, 2020 attack on correctional officers at USP Allenwood. The new sentence runs consecutive to the 40-year term he is already serving for plotting an ISIS-linked mass-casualty attack in New York City. m:…5287
The attack used a weapon fashioned from part of a steel desk in his cell; one officer lost his right eye. Investigators found a note in Bahnasawy's sock that prosecutors characterized as declaring the attack an act of terrorism for the Islamic State, and a pledge of allegiance to ISIS taped inside his cell locker. m:…5287
Bahnasawy pleaded guilty in November 2025 to multiple counts of assault, assault with intent to commit murder, and providing material support to ISIS. He had been in custody since May 2016, when the FBI arrested him after he traveled from Canada to the New York City area to prepare the earlier plot, which he hatched with Talha Haroon and Russell Salic. m:…5287
The Thread
Reasoning: Three records, one day, three ways the federal system audits itself. An appeals court reopened a case to protect a defendant's right to be heard; a second appeals court validated the government's sentencing arithmetic against the defendants; prosecutors stacked half a century of new time onto a prison terror attack. Rights, review, retribution. m:…9663 m:…1209 m:…5287
Reasoning: For journalists, the lesson is that October 19 was not a day of outcomes favoring one side. It was a day the machinery showed: defense rights enforced against trial courts, government math upheld against defendants, and punishment compounded where violence recurred. m:…9663 m:…1209
What is still unresolved
- Whether the evidentiary hearing on remand in Anderson's case changes the outcome of his §2255 motion.
- The total counterfeit-pill proceeds and forfeiture collection beyond the $6,975,000 judgment against Basalyga.
- Whether DOJ pursues further charges or security measures following the Allenwood attack given Bahnasawy's consecutive 90-year total.
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