Posted on 01/22/2008 9:09:48 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Jose Padilla is sentenced to 17 years
By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer
5 minutes ago
Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don't mention those initial allegations.
The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the "dirty bomb" allegations. He had faced up to life in prison.
Cooke also imposed prison terms on two other men of Middle Eastern origin who were convicted of conspiracy and material support charges along with Padilla in August. The three were part of a North American support cell for al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists around the world, prosecutors said.
Padilla was added in 2005 to an existing Miami terrorism support case just as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering his challenge to President Bush's decision to hold him in custody indefinitely without charge. The "dirty bomb" charges were quietly discarded and were never part of the criminal case.
Cooke sentenced Padilla's recruiter, 45-year-old Adham Amin Hassoun, to 15 years and eight months in prison and the third defendant, 46-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi, to 12 years and eight months. Jayyousi was a financier and propagandist for the cell that assisted Islamic extremists in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere, according to trial testimony. Both also faced life in prison.
The men were convicted after a three-month trial based on tens of thousands of FBI telephone intercepts collected over an eight-year investigation and a form Padilla filled out in 2000 to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Padilla, a former Chicago gang member with a long criminal record, converted to Islam in prison and was recruited by Hassoun while attending a mosque in suburban Sunrise.
Padilla sought a sentence of no more than 10 years. Hassoun asked for 15 years or less and Jayyousi for no more than five years.
Padilla's arrest was initially portrayed by the Bush administration as an important victory in the months immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and later was seen as a symbol of the administration's zeal to prevent homegrown terrorism. Prosecutors repeatedly invoked al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden in the criminal case
Civil liberties groups and Padilla's lawyers called his detention unconstitutional for someone born in this country and contended that he was only charged criminally because the Supreme Court appeared poised to order him either charged or released.
Jurors in the criminal case never heard Padilla's full history, which according to U.S. officials included a graduation from the al-Qaida terror camp, a plot to detonate the "dirty bomb" and a plot to fill apartments with natural gas and blow them up. Much of what Padilla supposedly told interrogators during his long detention as an enemy combatant could not be used in court because he had no access to a lawyer and was not read his constitutional rights.
Padilla's lawyers argued for a lenient sentence, in part because of his minor role in the conspiracy that was the subject of last year's trial and because of claims that he was mistreated and tortured while he was held at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. U.S. officials denied those claims repeatedly.
Attorneys for Hassoun and Jayyousi argued that any assistance they provided overseas was for peaceful purposes and to help persecuted Muslims in violent countries. But FBI agents testified that their charitable work was a cover for violent jihad, which they frequently discussed in code using words such as "tourism" and "football."
I figure the legal appeals will be good for at least another 17 years. All, presumably, on the taxpayer’s dime.
General population for these three, I hope.
He would still be 55 years old if he served every day of his sentence and still lethal enough to kill innocent people. This sentence is a disgrace.
The judge also, as part of the sentence, said Padilla must receive vocational job training during his time in jail. In what? Bomb building? He will probably be eligible for parole in four years.
Another way to look at this is, the Feds have 17 years to pin something else on him. I don’t think he’ll get out...
There is no parole in the federal system.
17 year?????
Not nearly long enough. A dirty bomb should have been attempted murder times the number of people who would have been victims. This creep should serve 5000 years before being eligible for parole.
No parole for federal sentences.
And the left gains another poster child...
Isn’t he a long time criminal prior to “conversion”. He needs three times your out law enforced on him!
I don’t see how they could use him as a poster child, since he got his due process. The lefties I know who whine about Gitmo, lack of trial is their #1 beef.
This is the kind of creep that the liberals love. I would like to see all liberals in jail beside this POS.
after time served, it will only be about 11 years.
Think Mumia.
Not long enough. Should have been executed for the TRAITOR he is. What is wrong with our legal system? This POS will live to plot, and probably kill, again.
WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY????
WE USED TO HANG TRAITORS!!! 17 YEARS???? ONLY 17???
THAT IS AN INSULT TO EVERY RED BLOODED AMERICAN!!!
Many were American citizens of German descent, others not.
Most were subjected to military tribunal, and large numbers received death sentences or life in prison.
Padilla is/was an unlawful combatant (not the meaningless redundancy “enemy combatant” which the press ALWAYS gets wrong), and due to his presence on US soil, a spy. He should have received a death sentence.
in general population he should be offed in about a year.....
They ‘sought’ shorter sentences..
So in 10 to 15 years , these guys get out and go on Oprah and Larry King..
Lady Justice is truly blind sometimes...
On to the next trial, glad to finally get this one wrapped ..
It’s still possible to get out early. Noriega did.
I hope you’re right but if a Rat gets elected he maybe out in about a year when they pardon him because they claim he was tortured.
in general population he should be offed in about a year.....
I sure hope you are right!!! I also hope they feed him bacon for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!! That means no Allah and virgins for him!!!
He’ll walk out of there in 17 years raring to go and ready as ever to blow up an American city.
And he’ll probably be laughing his head off at the utter stupidity of the American justice system.
Oh yes, this seems fair. 17 yrs for wanting to blow up some Americans vs. soldiers getting 18 yrs on a plea deal killing known insurgents in Iraq.
***But Cooke said that as serious as the conspiracy was, there was no evidence linking the men to specific acts of terrorism anywhere.***
***”There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere,” she said.***
What the hell was Bush thinking when he nominated this judge?
http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=3053
Ha.... heads are exploding over @ D.U....
Thanks for the clarification. I still wish it was more than 17 years.
Hahaha! Do the traitors over at DU are mad about this?
His intention was and will remain the murder of as many American citizens as possible, preferably with a nuclear or radiological bomb. He will come out of that prison a middle-aged jihadist, angrier than ever and totally committed to the cause.
This judge is a nincompoop.
He could be out in about 11 years because this judge gave him credit for time served knocking it down to 14 years then 80% of his remaining sentence.
I don’t like the light sentence, but it’s about damn time! Padilla should have been convicted by a military tribunal years ago, but Bush just wanted to keep him indefinitely. Bush, under a new law, just stated his status as unlawful, while according to the Geneva Convention a tribunal should have determined that. It was a total cluster.
These tribunals should have been set up the moment we started capturing these terrorists, if not before.
In contrast, the Quirin saboteurs were convicted by tribunal and executed within two months of capture, including a Supreme Court review of the case.
The reason for the lesser sentence was no mention of the dirty bomb plot was part of the charges........it was lesser charges instead.
“Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years..”
Gives him 17 years of cooling-off time before he makes his next attempt. Great job!
The trial seemed to have lasted longer than that.
I agree, the death penalty should have been sentenced. However, to say that he will be on Larry King in 11 years when King will be 120 years old.............LOL!
Sadly, this is a loss for the Jihadi candidate—Jose was a major supporter of Obama. Fortunately, Al Jazeera has endorsed obama to unite the movement; which movement he will unite was not stated in the endorsement, which leaves the matter open to speculation. It has been suggested that Obama may rise to a position of power necessary to commute Jose’s sentence. Time will tell if the American public will take the bait from what the American mainstream media labels a charismatic candidate.
Proof that giving access to our legal system to non-citizen terrorists is wrong-headed.
It’ll be amazing if he lives through prison even if it is only 4 years, and if he makes it out, he’ll be looking over his shoulder the rest of his short days.
I thought King was already 120. He looks it, at least.
I thought this guy was a citizen.
He is.
And for him to get 17 years merely makes the point that trying those in Gitmo is REALLY a bad idea!
It also makes the point that treason doesn’t mean anything in this country.
Looking at this from the other end of the spectrum, had a citizen of ANY Islamofascist state been guilty of what he’s guilty of, the so called trial would have been over years ago and he’d just be in another long forgotten unmarked grave missing his head.
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