Within several years he and another teenage friend traveled to Egypt with the hope of joining what was a designated foreign terrorist organization - his aim to join the Taliban to fight the United States.
Having never touched a weapon, joined any group, received any training or engaged in any act of violence they moved on to Kosova. From there the friend returned to the US where he was turned into the FBI by his father.
Not long thereafter Kaziu then 21 years old was extradited back to the US where after trial he was convicted of material support of terrorism and sentenced to 27 years!
Some 6 years ago, having heard that there had been a change in what’s known as a crime of violence by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Kaziu family reached out to me to see if we could attack his convictions. We did.
Returning to the District Court but with a judge different from the one who had sentenced him we prevailed but his sentence was reduced from 27 to only 25 years.
Appealing to the Court of Appeals on both procedural and substantive grounds after 18 months we prevailed with the sentence vacated and the matter returned to the district court for a full hearing with witnesses and testimony.
After six months of litigation that hearing was held. At its conclusion Mr. Kaziu’s sentence was reduced once again, this time to 20 years. 6 years of fighting saved the now 37-year-old some 7 years of prison, with his release upcoming. The following is the court’s decision.
UNITED STATES v. KAZIU | Case No. 09... | 20250303879 | Leagle.com
UNITED STATES v. KAZIU | Case No. 09... | 20250303879 | Leagle.com
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| Stanley L. Cohen is lawyer and activist in New York City. |
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