UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ____________

No. 22-2983 ____________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

KHALED MIAH, Appellant ____________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 2-21-cr-00110-001) District Judge: Honorable W. Scott Hardy ____________

Argued June 10, 2024 ____________

BEFORE: CHAGARES, Chief Judge, RESTREPO, and FREEMAN, Circuit Judges

(Filed: September 20, 2024) Sufia M. Khalid Charles D. Swift Muslim Legal Fund of America 100 N Central Expressway Suite 1010 Richardson, TX 75080 Allie J. Hallmark [ARGUED] Hamilton Wingo 325 N St. Paul Street Suite 3600 Dallas, TX 75201 Counsel for Appellant Laura S. Irwin Direct: 412-894-7374 Office of United States Attorney 700 Grant Street Suite 4000 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Jeffrey M. Smith [ARGUED] United States Department of Justice National Security Division, 6521 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 Counsel for Appellee ____________

OPINION OF THE COURT ____________ RESTREPO, Circuit Judge

Khaled Miah threatened FBI agents over social media, specifically targeting the agents investigating his online activities. A jury convicted Miah of issuing interstate threats, threatening to assault FBI agents, and knowingly deleting social media accounts and postings with the intent to impede their investigation. He received a sentence of six years’ imprisonment followed by three years’ supervised release. On appeal, Miah raises claims of trial court error and contends that his sentence is illegal. After thoughtful review, we will affirm the judgment of sentence.

In September 2020, FBI Special Agent Nick Edquist and an officer from the Joint Terrorism Task force went to Miah’s apartment to interview him about his comments on several social media platforms. Miah’s comments drew the FBI’s attention because they suggested he believed in a “particular extremist ideology,” consisting of a “vengeful,

2 violent form of Islam.” A697, A701.1 Miah was not cooperative during the initial interview and in fact filed a complaint against the FBI. He agreed to another interview the following day but was again uncooperative, refusing to answer the agents’ questions about his online conduct.

On October 8, 2020, Miah created a Twitter account named after Agent Edquist’s wife that contained pictures of her and her personal information, including her approximate age, place of employment, education, and religion. The next day agents executed a warrant to search Miah’s home and devices.2 Miah admitted to creating the tweets but claimed they were a joke and that he would not post such content again. He instead immediately resumed creating tweets featuring Agent Edquist and his wife, as well as tweets providing personal details about Agent Edquist’s supervisor.

In December 2020, Miah created a second Twitter account with the name “Federal Intelligence Service” and a profile photo of a mock FBI seal. It was on this account that Miah posted the statements that underlie the charges for which he was convicted. On December 27, 2020, Miah tweeted, “Nick, Dave, Mike, the whole bureau, the deed will be done at a time which is the most opportunistic for me, chosen by myself.” A1100. He followed with, “Currently eating pasta and watching videos of the second plane hit the south tower.” A1100. The next day, Miah tweeted, “The zero hour is 1 Agent Edquist testified at trial that the tweets included incendiary language encouraging violence against Christian- majority countries, an “exp