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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal judge sentenced a Memphis man to over 18 years in prison and five years of supervised release today for carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury and discharging a firearm during the carjacking.

“This was a calculated and brutal act of violence against an unsuspecting man in his own front yard in broad daylight,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their swift response and commitment to public safety. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute armed offenders who threaten the safety of our neighborhoods.”

“The premeditated and horrendous acts of violence that this individual committed demonstrates a blatant disregard for human life,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Stankiewicz of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Division. “The ATF along with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, remains committed to combatting violent crime and swiftly bringing these individuals to justice before they commit other senseless acts of violence.”

According to court documents, on May 16, 2024, at around 7:45 a.m., Jaylen Simpson, 23, of Memphis, shot a 60-year-old victim in the stomach as the victim stepped outside his home to mow the lawn. Simpson, who had been hiding in the victim’s backyard, then stole the victim’s car keys and fled in his vehicle. 

Home surveillance footage from the victim’s home, showing the defendant entering the victim’s vehicle with a black handgun after shooting the victim in the stomach.

After pursuing him for nearly three hours by car and on foot, Memphis Police apprehended Simpson, who was carrying inside his backpack a loaded Walther Creed 9mm pistol that had been reported stolen days before. In an interview later that day, Simpson admitted to waiting outside the victim’s home, discharging the firearm, and stealing the victim’s car. The victim was hospitalized for four weeks and underwent multiple surgeries to treat the gunshot wound.

Before any evidence was presented at trial, Simpson pleaded guilty to carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of the crime.

The ATF and the Memphis Police Department Violent Crime Unit investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Ashleigh Atasoy of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods efforts to prosecute violent crimes in Memphis, Tennessee and surrounding areas.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon that revoked the naturalized U.S. citizenship of a convicted Bosnian war criminal. Sammy Yetisen hid from immigration officials that she had engaged in human rights violations and war crimes in Bosnia, including the deaths of several civilians and prisoners of war.

Yetisen was born in a town in the former Yugoslavia. When the Yugoslav republics began seceding in the 1990s, Yetisen joined the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was formed by the newly independent Bosnian state, as part of a special forces detachment known as the Zulfikar Unit. The unit was renowned as elite and was particularly cruel, often beating, sexually assaulting, burning, and cutting prisoners. As a member of the Zulfikar Unit, Yetisen participated in the Trusina Massacre, a horrific attack on April 13, 1993, in which Yetisen and others lined up six unarmed Croat prisoners of war and civilians and executed them by firing squad.

“The United States is not a safe haven for individuals who commit war crimes and human rights abuses around the globe,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “If you come to this country and hide those acts in your past to become a U.S. citizen, the Justice Department will discover the truth and come after you.”

In 1996, Yetisen came to the United States as a refugee, after alleging she had been persecuted as a Muslim, and in 2001, Yetisen applied for naturalization. Throughout her immigration proceedings Yetisen omitted her service in the Zulfikar Unit and participation in extrajudicial killings. She became a U.S. citizen in 2002.

In 2009, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecutor’s Office issued a warrant for Yetisen’s arrest, alleging that she had committed war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war. The United States extradited Yetisen to Bosnia in 2011 where Yetisen pleaded guilty to committing war crimes and was sentenced in 2012 to five-and-a-half-years in prison. After completing her sentence, Yetisen returned to the United States.

In 2018, the Justice Department filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon seeking Yetisen’s denaturalization based on her crimes and failure to disclose them. In 2023, the court entered an order revoking Yetisen’s citizenship. On July 21, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District of Oregon’s revocation of Yetisen’s U.S. citizenship.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations Human Rights Violator and War Crimes Center and the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation with consultation and support from ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Seattle Office of the Chief Counsel, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Office of Chief Counsel, Western Law Division. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided substantial assistance to secure the 2011 extradition of Yetisen to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The case was jointly prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsels Devin Barrett and Steven Platt, and Trial Attorney Nancy Pham with review from Senior Litigation Counsel Max Weintraub of OIL ‒ General Litigation and Appeals Section, Affirmative Litigation Unit and support from Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianne Schweiner for the District of Oregon.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department announced the successful completion of the Justice Department’s Jan. 17, Agreement for the Sustainability of Custodial Informant Reforms with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) in California to sustain reforms addressing OCSD’s prior pattern or practice of using custodial informants in a manner that violated the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

Under the Agreement, OCSD implemented enhancement and sustainability measures with respect to its policies, training, information systems, and auditing procedures and the information it makes publicly available related to its use of custodial informants. These measures adequately ensure that OCSD’s reforms to prevent the use of custodial informants in an unconstitutional manner are durable and robust.

“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has demonstrated an enduring commitment to protecting the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of those in its jurisdiction,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend the Sheriff and his staff for their efforts in doing their part to ensure the integrity of criminal prosecutions.”

To read the original press release announcing the findings of the investigation, click here. To read the report of the investigation, click here. To read the original OCSD Settlement Agreement, click here. To read the Validation Assessment Report, click here. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

In a win for American energy, ENRD’s Natural Resources Section and Appellate Section successfully convinced a district court to deny a request to pause construction of a new natural gas pipeline. The Crow Creek pipeline will run from Idaho to Wyoming, including through Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The pipeline’s construction will further the Trump Administration’s broad efforts to unleash American energy and lower energy prices for American homes and businesses.

The project follows from a yearslong series of careful reviews and analyses — most recently with the Forest Service completing a supplemental environmental impact statement supporting the project last December. In their lawsuit challenging the pipeline’s approval, environmental groups asked the court to prevent construction. The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho sided with ENRD. Based on the Forest Service’s years of evaluation, the court determined that plaintiff groups were unlikely to show that the government did not adequately consider potential environmental impacts from the pipeline. Likewise, the court concluded that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable harm from the project.

Construction of the pipeline is expected to begin this month. ENRD’s Natural Resources Section and Appellate Section will continue handling the case.