United States v. Mike Hakaj, A/K/A Mehemet Hakanjin, 842 F.2d 1293, 4th Cir. (1988)

842 F.
2d 1293
25 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 288
Unpublished Disposition
NOTICE: Fourth Circuit I.O.P. 36.6 states that citation of
unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing
res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires
service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Fourth
Circuit.
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Mike HAKAJ, a/k/a Mehemet Hakanjin, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 87-5035.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Feb. 5, 1988.
Decided March 21, 1988.
William H. Cleaveland (Lichtenstein, Thomas & Cleaveland, on brief),

for appellant.
Wayne O. Withers, Jr., Third-Year Law Student (John P. Alderman,
United States Attorney; Thomas Jack Bondurant, Jr., Assistant United
States Attorney, on brief), for appellee.
Before WIDENER and WILKINS, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER,
Senior Circuit Judge.
PER CURIAM:
Mike Hakaj appeals his conviction of conspiracy to fire bomb his restaurant in
violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 844(i) and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 and of traveling in
interstate commerce for an unlawful activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs.
1952(a)(2) and (3). We affirm.
* Mike Hakaj was the owner of the Italian Village Restaurant in Boone, North
Carolina. The government presented evidence that Hakaj, in order to collect up

to $229,000 in insurance proceeds, drove from Boone, North Carolina, to
Richlands, Virginia, met with Ghoni Bardh, and promised to pay him $50,000
to destroy the restaurant. Hakaj agreed to assist Bardh after he hesitated to
complete the job on his own.
3
On July 20, 1981, an explosion and fire destroyed the restaurant. An expert
testified that the fire was deliberately set by someone who spread gasoline
throughout the restaurant. While no one actually witnessed Hakaj and Bardh set
the fire, witnesses testified that they saw and heard Hakaj in the restaurant after
closing time and observed his car backed up to the service door of the
restaurant shortly before the explosion.
Bardh was injured in the fire and went to New York for treatment at a burn
center. Frank Bisaki and Gjon Berisha testified that, while in the burn center,
Bardh spoke with them about the conspiracy to destroy the restaurant. Berisha
testified that Bardh asked for assistance from him in obtaining the $50,000
payoff from Hakaj.
In November, 1981, Hakaj was tried and acquitted in North Carolina on state
charges of conspiracy to commit arson. Bardh, who was never prosecuted for
the crime, testified against Hakaj at the state trial. Bardh was murdered in a
Clarkstown, New York, hotel in December, 1983.
In June, 1986, Hakaj was indicted on the federal charges related to his role in
the restaurant fire. With Bardh no longer available as a witness, the government
introduced his testimony in the state trial as evidence in the federal trial, and
Berisha and Bisaki testified about Bardh's statements to them while in the burn
center. Hakaj was convicted and now appeals.
II
7
Hakaj was indicted within the applicable five-year statute of limitations. See 18
U.S.C. Sec. 3282. Nevertheless, his main argument on appeal is that the
government violated his fifth amendment right to due process of law by
delaying the indictment for 59 months following the restaurant fire. This court,
referring to United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783 (1977), and United States v.
Marion, 404 U.S. 307 (1971), explained the following two-pronged inquiry
when preindictment delay is alleged to violate due process:
First, a court must assess whether the defendant has suffered actual prejudice,
and the burden of proving such prejudice is clearly on the defendant. If the
threshold requirement of actual prejudice is met, the court must then consider
the Government's reason for the delay, balancing the prejudice to the defendant
with the Government's justification for delay.... The basic inquiry then becomes
whether the Government's action in prosecuting after substantial delay violates
"fundamental conceptions of justice" or "the community's sense of fair play and
decency."
9
United States v. Automated Medical Laboratories, Inc., 770 F.2d 399, 403-04
(4th Cir.1985).
10
Applying the first prong of this test, Hakaj asserts that the preindictment delay
prejudiced his defense in five ways. First, he claims that witnesses lost their
memories. Second, he points out that certain evidence introduced at his state
trial was lost before he was indicted and was unavailable for the federal trial.
Third, he claims that he divorced his wife after his state trial, lost contact with
her, was unable to meet with her before she testified in his defense at the federal
trial, and therefore could not properly prepare his defense. Fourth, he claims
that he was prejudiced because the district court allowed the government to
present evidence concerning the violent nature of Bardh's death to the jury,
pointing out that this would not have occurred if he was indicted before Bardh's
death. And fifth, he claims that he was prejudiced because the government
waited until after the state trial to indict him and then, during voir dire, unfairly
emphasized to the jury that although Hakaj was acquitted in the state trial new
evidence was available for the federal trial. We conclude that none of these
claims establishes substantial prejudice.
11
Regarding the first claim, the dimming of memories does not ordinarily
establish substantial prejudice. See Marion, 404 U.S. at 326; United States v.
Snyder, 668 F.2d 686, 689 (2d Cir.1982). We reject Hakaj's second claim
because the lost evidence in question--letters written by Bardh's girlfriend that
were used to impeach her testimony at Hakaj's state trial--was not significant.
His third claim must also be rejected because, while Hakaj did not actually
meet with his former wife before she testified, his attorney spoke with her on
the telephone for five hours the night before she testified and had access to her
testimony at the state trial as well. This gave him enough information to
formulate a proper defense.
12
Regarding the fourth claim, Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b) required the
government to establish that Bardh was unavailable as a witness before his
previous testimony and extrajudicial statements could be admitted into
evidence. The government was meeting this burden of proof when it informed
the jury of Bardh's death. The government in no way suggested that Hakaj had
anything to do with the murder and, furthermore, the court specifically
instructed the jury not to consider any of the facts surrounding Bardh's death
when reaching a verdict.
13
Finally, regarding Hakaj's fifth claim of prejudice, Hakaj's counsel specifically

requested that the jury be informed that Hakaj was previously acquitted in the
state trial after both sides recognized that it would be impossible to keep from
the jury the fact that Hakaj was previously tried. The government was merely
explaining to the jury why new charges were brought and attempting to find out
if knowledge of the previous verdict would unduly effect any members of the
jury. Indeed, an examination of the trial transcript reveals that jury members
indicated that, if anything, they were predisposed to vote in Hakaj's favor
because they knew that a previous jury in a very similar trial had acquitted him.
Therefore, we reject this claim as well.
14
In any event, even if one were to assume that Hakaj suffered some slight
prejudice from the preindictment delay, application of the second prong of the
Automated Medical Laboratories test shows that his due process rights were not
violated. The government maintains that the preindictment delay occurred
because it was conducting a continuing investigation into organized crime in
western Virginia that did not turn to Hakaj until late 1985 or early 1986. In
many ways, this case is similar to Automated Medical Laboratories. That is,
while it seems that the government could have pursued its case against Hakaj
more diligently, there is no evidence--and Hakaj has not alleged--that the
government's delay was motivated by bad faith or that it delayed in "reckless
disregard of circumstances ... suggesting that the delay would impair the ability
to mount an effective defense." Lovasco, 431 U.S. at 795 n. 17. See Automated
Medical Laboratories, 770 F.2d at 404. Hakaj has not suffered any more
prejudice than any defendant is likely to suffer during the running of the statute
of limitations and the government's reason for the preindictment delay
outweighs this prejudice. There is no reason to believe that the government, by
compelling Hakaj to stand trial in this case, violated the "fundamental
conceptions of justice ... which define the community's sense of fair play and
decency," Lovasco, 431 U.S. at 790.
III
15
Hakaj's other assignments of error are also dismissed. First, he claims that the
court violated the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment when it
admitted Bardh's testimony at the state trial into evidence. The testimony was
admitted pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(1), which provides that the former
testimony of a witness is admissible "if the party against whom the testimony is
now offered ... had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony
by ... cross-examination." Hakaj asserts that he did not have such an
opportunity at the state trial because he was unaware at that time of the
statements that Bardh made to Bisaki and Berisha in New York. Hakaj claims
that he would have impeached Bardh with those statements at the state trial.
16
The admissibility of prior testimony pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(1) does not

violate the sixth amendment's confrontation clause if the former testimony is
reliable. See Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 (1980); Dutton v. Evans, 400
U.S. 74, 89 (1970); Ellison v. Sachs, 769 F.2d 955, 956 (4th Cir.1985). Bardh's
former testimony was reliable even though Hakaj did not impeach him with the
inconsistent statements he made to Bisaki and Berisha. Furthermore the crossexamination of Bardh was effective because the jury at the state trial apparently
chose not to believe Bardh and acquitted Hakaj. Finally, Hakaj brought out the
inconsistencies between Bardh's state trial testimony and his statements to
Bisaki and Berisha through other witnesses at the federal trial. Thus, the
admission of Bardh's state trial testimony did not violate the sixth amendment.
17
Hakaj next claims that Bardh's extrajudicial statements to Berisha and Bisaki
were improperly admitted into evidence as statements by a coconspirator
"during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy" under Fed.R.Evid.
801(d)(2)(E). We reject Hakaj's contention that, even if a conspiracy did exist,
it ended after Hakaj and Bardh destroyed the restaurant. In arson cases, "[t]he
conspiracy continues until defendants obtain the insurance money or abandon
their quest." United States v. Xheka, 704 F.2d 974, 986 (7th Cir.1983). Because
the statements were admissible under Rule 801(d)(2)(E), we also reject Hakaj's
claim that the admission of these statements violated the confrontation clause.
Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 66; United States v. Chindawongse, 771 F.2d 840,
846-47 (4th Cir.1985).
18
Bardh's extrajudicial statements were also admissible as statements against

interest under Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). Hakaj argues that, because Bardh was
under arrest, he may have made some of the statements in order to gain favor
with the police and therefore they were not statements against his interest. This
argument is groundless because the statements in question were not made to the
police but to Berisha and Bisaki and, at least in Berisha's case, were not made in
an attempt to exonerate himself but, rather, in an attempt to secure payment
from Hakaj.
19
AFFIRMED.

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842 F.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

William H. Cleaveland (Lichtenstein, Thomas & Cleaveland, on brief),

Carolina. The government presented evidence that Hakaj, in order to collect up

Finally, regarding Hakaj's fifth claim of prejudice, Hakaj's counsel specifically

The admissibility of prior testimony pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(1) does not

Bardh's extrajudicial statements were also admissible as statements against

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