United States of America v. Mohamed Ali Said, a/k/a Mohammed Said, a/k/a Maxamad Cali Saciid

PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
MOHAMED ALI SAID, a/k/a
Mohammed Said, a/k/a Maxamad
Cali Saciid; MOHAMED ABDI JAMA, No. 10-4970 
a/k/a Mohammed Abdi Jamah;
ABDICASIIS CABAASE; ABDI RAZAQ
ABSHIR OSMAN, a/k/a Abdirasaq
Abshir; MOHAMED FARAH, a/k/a
Mahamed Farraah Hassan,
Defendants-Appellees. 
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk.
Raymond A. Jackson, District Judge.
(2:10-cr-00057-1)
Argued: March 25, 2011
Decided: May 23, 2012
Before KING, DAVIS, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.
Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge King
wrote the opinion, in which Judge Davis and Judge Keenan
joined.

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COUNSEL
ARGUED: Benjamin L. Hatch, OFFICE OF THE UNITED
STATES ATTORNEY, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant.
Geremy C. Kamens, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC
DEFENDER, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellees. ON
BRIEF: Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney, Alexan-
dria, Virginia, Joseph E. DePadilla, Raymond E. Patricco, Jr.,
Assistant United States Attorneys, OFFICE OF THE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia; Virginia
Vander Jagt, Jerome Teresinski, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appel-
lant. Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender, Jef-
frey C. Corey, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC
DEFENDER, Alexandria, Virginia, Keith Loren Kimball,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, OFFICE OF THE FED-
ERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee
Mohamed Ali Said; Robert B. Rigney, PROTOGYROU &
RIGNEY, PLC, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee Mohamed
Abdi Jama; Bruce C. Sams, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee
Abdicasiis Cabaase; Trey R. Kelleter, VANDEVENTER
BLACK, LLP, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee Abdi Razaq
Abshir Osman; David M. Good, DAVID MICHAEL GOOD,
PC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellee Mohamed Farah.
OPINION
KING, Circuit Judge:
The government appeals from the district court’s published
opinion and order of August 17, 2010, granting the joint pre-
trial motion of the five defendants-appellees — Mohamed Ali
Said, Mohamed Abdi Jama, Abdicasiis Cabaase, Abdi Razaq
Abshir Osman, and Mohamed Farah — to dismiss the 18
U.S.C. § 1651 piracy count from the eight-count superseding
indictment brought against them. See United States v. Said,
2 UNITED STATES v. SAID

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757 F. Supp. 2d 554 (E.D. Va. 2010).1 The defendants were
charged with piracy under § 1651 for attacking, but not seiz-
ing or otherwise robbing, a United States Navy ship. See id.
at 556-57 (describing indictment’s allegations that, around
5:00 a.m. on April 10, 2010, defendants fired at least one shot
on USS Ashland from skiff in Gulf of Aden). The district
court’s ruling dismissed the piracy count from the indictment,
pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12, because
no taking of property was alleged. Id. at 556.
We heard oral argument in the government’s interlocutory
appeal from the Said opinion on March 25, 2011, and that
same day ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs
addressing the legal propriety of the procedure employed by
the district court to dismiss the piracy count from the indict-
ment. Thereafter, on April 20, 2011, we placed this appeal in
abeyance pending our decision in United States v. Dire, No.
11-4310(L), ___ F.3d ___ (4th Cir. 2012), which we issue
today in tandem with this opinion.2 We hereby remove this
appeal from abeyance, vacate the district court’s Said opinion,
and remand for such other and further proceedings as may be
appropriate, consistent with our decision in Dire.
VACATED AND REMANDED
1The government has not appealed the dismissal of the piracy count as
to the sixth defendant charged in the indictment, Jama Idle Ibrahim.
2Notably, counsel for the defendants in this appeal submitted an amicus
curiae brief in support of the appeals of the Dire defendants.
3 UNITED STATES v. SAID

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