PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-4433 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. HASSAN SHARIF ALI, a/k/a Big Hassan, Defendant – Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Catherine C. Eagles, District Judge. (1:14-cr-00362-CCE-1) Argued: January 29, 2021 Decided: March 19, 2021 Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Niemeyer and Judge Thacker joined. ARGUED: Emily Damsgaard Gladden, TIN FULTON WALKER, & OWEN, PLLC, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. Stephen T. Inman, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Noell P. Tin, TIN FULTON WALKER & OWEN, PLLC, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. John P. Cronan, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Matthew S. Miner, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, John P. Taddei, Criminal Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Matthew G.T. Martin, United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee. WILKINSON, Circuit Judge: Defendant Hassan Ali led a band of thieves on a spree of armed robberies in July 2013. A jury found him guilty of four counts of aiding and abetting Hobbs Act robbery, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1951(a), four counts of carrying a firearm in connection with a crime of violence, id. § 924(c), and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, id. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2). On appeal, Ali brings three claims. He argues that the district court abused its discretion by refusing to sequester the co-defendant witnesses and by denying his motion for a new trial. He also claims that the uncertainty as to the predicate offenses for the § 924(c) convictions renders them invalid. We affirm the judgment of the district court. I. A. In April 2013, Ali had debts that he could not repay. To solve this problem, he texted someone to whom he owed money that he was going to “go rob something.” J.A. 532. Ali then planned the robberies with the four co-defendants in this case: Rodney Frazier, John Griffin, Jr., Hassan Hassan, and Kelvin Jacobs, Jr. Although these four men were not all well-acquainted with each other, Ali knew and brought all of them together for the robberies. Ali first gathered with Hassan, Jacobs, and a few other men a couple of days before July 7 to plan the robbery of a Food Lion grocery store on Golden Gate Drive in Greensboro, North Carolina. Ali assigned roles to each co-conspirator and told them where to be for the robbery. On July 7, Jacobs made a diversionary call, Hassan served as lookout, 3 and Griffin went into the store shortly before 11 p.m. After entering the store, Griffin threatened the clerk with his gun, forced her to open the safe, took the approximately $800 within it, and fled the store. Later, Ali divided up the money. On July 15, the crew robbed the …
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