UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Kenderick BEGAY, a.k.a. Kendrick Begay, Defendant-Appellant.

*1039 Daniel L. Kaplan, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellant.

John R. Lopez, Assistant United States Attorney, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellee.

*1040 Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, STEPHEN REINHARDT, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, BARRY G. SILVERMAN, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RAYMOND C. FISHER, MARSHA S. BERZON, RICHARD R. CLIFTON, CONSUELO M. CALLAHAN and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge CLIFTON; Dissent by Judge REINHARDT.

OPINION

CLIFTON, Circuit Judge:

Kenderick Begay appeals his convictions on two counts of first-degree murder in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1111(a) and 1153(a), and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). Begay's principal argument on appeal is that the evidence introduced at trial, even when taken in the light most favorable to the prosecution, fails to establish that he acted with premeditation and thus fails to support his convictions for first-degree murder. We conclude that there was sufficient evidence to establish premeditation and affirm the convictions.

I. Background^[1]

In the early morning hours of March 28, 2002, Kenderick Begay^[2] drove his truck through the Navajo Indian Reservation^[3] in Greasewood, Arizona, after leaving a gathering at the "windmill," an area in town where the youth partied. His passengers included his sister Mecheryl Begay, Loren Clark, Emmanley Begay, and Jessica Lee. When a car passed them traveling in the opposite direction sometime around 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m., Begay turned his truck around. The other car turned around as well. When the two vehicles passed each other again, Begay flashed the lights of his truck, a signal that resulted in stopping the other car. The two vehicles pulled off the highway and onto a dirt road. Begay got out of his truck and walked to the driver's side of the other car. Two high school students, J.T. and O.C.,^[4] were in the car; O.C. was in the driver's seat and J.T. was in the front passenger's seat.

After about a minute of standing by the driver's side of the car, Begay walked back to his truck. He reached under the driver's seat, pulled out a .30 caliber rifle, and walked back to the passenger's side of the car. Begay shot eight or nine times through the passenger-side front window, shattering the glass. Six of the bullets hit J.T., while some of the shots missed, hitting the driver's side door. One of the bullets that struck J.T. passed through him and hit O.C.

After firing the shots, Begay walked back to his truck and put the gun under *1041 the back seat. Clark, who had gotten out of the truck prior to the shooting to relieve himself, "just stood there" before asking, "What the hell are you doing?" Begay did not answer. His sister Mecheryl ran up to him making "horrible cries" and yelling at him, screaming, "What did you do?" or "Why did you do that?" Begay told her to be quiet. Clark walked over to the car and saw J.T. gasping for air and O.C. sitting in her seat. Clark again asked Begay why he shot the victims, but Begay did not respond.

Begay, Mecheryl, and Clark got back into the truck and drove away. Lee remained behind. Up until the shooting, she had been in a comatose state in the rear of the truck as a result of having consumed too much alcohol. The gunshots roused her from her stupor, at which point she felt an immediate need to vomit and exited the truck to do so. Lee did not reenter the vehicle following the shooting, but instead walked home from the crime scene. As she passed O.C.'s car, she saw O.C. trying to hold J.T. upright and saw that J.T.'s shirt was bloody.

O.C. managed to drive her car to a nearby housing area, where she sought help from Rosita Clark, Loren