Thursday, May 20, 2010
Jury to Decide if U.S. Government Induced Men to Attempt Bombings of Synagogue, Community Center
A jury will decide whether four men accused of plotting to blow up a Bronx synagogue and a Jewish community center were induced into participating in a government-manufactured scheme designed to entrap the defendants, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
James Cromitie maintained that a government informant infiltrated a mosque in Newburgh, N.Y., where the informant stoked Cromitie's hatred for Jews and offered him and the other defendants huge sums of money to target synagogues and military aircraft.
The government told a different story, insisting that it had intervened in a pre-existing plot concocted by Cromitie, a "virulent anti-Semite who wanted to commit terrorist attacks against Jews and the United States."
While Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon said she "harbor[ed] some doubt about the viability of defendants' application" to dismiss the indictment on the ground of outrageous government misconduct, a jury should decide the "hotly" contested factual issues.
"While the issue of the Government's misconduct is ultimately for the Court, where, as here, facts relating to that claim are in dispute, and may be relevant to the issues that are properly resolved by a jury, the better course is to let the jury go first," McMahon wrote in United States v. Cromitie, 09 Cr. 558.
Defendants Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen were arrested last year and charged with conspiring to use what they believed were improvised explosive devices to blow up a synagogue and community center in Riverdale and conspiring to use a surface-to-air missile to destroy military aircraft at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport outside of Newburgh.
According to prosecutors, Shaheed Hussain, a confidential informant, first met Cromitie in June 2008 at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque.
Hussain says that Cromitie told him that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and said he wanted to die as a martyr and go to paradise.
During a subsequent encounter, Hussain says he told Cromitie that he was involved with a Pakistani-based terrorist organization.
Cromitie, according to Hussain, immediately said that he would like to join the group and "do jihad."
Following these "repeated statements of hate-filled, violent Anti-American sentiments," the government began recording meetings between Cromitie and Hussain.
During these conversations, Cromitie allegedly made numerous rants about Jews, called Osama bin Laden his "chief brother," and made it "clear that he was ready and willing to engage in violence," according to court papers filed by the government.
Prosecutors maintain that Cromitie recruited his three co-defendants into his criminal scheme in April 2009. The defendants were arrested the following month for placing "what they believed" to be three improvised explosive devices in front of the Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center.
However, according to the defendants, the government provided them with the devices as part of "an elaborate scheme in pursuit of defendants who were not engaged in any offenses even remotely similar to those charged in the indictment; were not contemplating any such crimes; had no prior involvement in any such crimes; and did not have the resources, skills or funds with which to commit such crimes."
The defendants claim that an impoverished Cromitie only agreed to participate in a plot manufactured by the government after he was promised $250,000.
Not only did the government fully fund the operation, it also pressured Cromitie to recruit others to participate, suggested specific targets, supplied a fake Stinger missile, assembled explosive devices, and transported the defendants, who did not have cars or driver's licenses, to "all locations within the charged scheme," according to the defendants' motion to dismiss.
Prosecutors argued the government's actions did not "remotely approach the extremely high legal standard that constitutes 'outrageous' government misconduct."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202458543676&Jury_to_Decide_if_US_Government_Induced_Men_to_Attempt_Bombings_of_Synagogue_Community_Center
James Cromitie maintained that a government informant infiltrated a mosque in Newburgh, N.Y., where the informant stoked Cromitie's hatred for Jews and offered him and the other defendants huge sums of money to target synagogues and military aircraft.
The government told a different story, insisting that it had intervened in a pre-existing plot concocted by Cromitie, a "virulent anti-Semite who wanted to commit terrorist attacks against Jews and the United States."
While Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon said she "harbor[ed] some doubt about the viability of defendants' application" to dismiss the indictment on the ground of outrageous government misconduct, a jury should decide the "hotly" contested factual issues.
"While the issue of the Government's misconduct is ultimately for the Court, where, as here, facts relating to that claim are in dispute, and may be relevant to the issues that are properly resolved by a jury, the better course is to let the jury go first," McMahon wrote in United States v. Cromitie, 09 Cr. 558.
Defendants Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen were arrested last year and charged with conspiring to use what they believed were improvised explosive devices to blow up a synagogue and community center in Riverdale and conspiring to use a surface-to-air missile to destroy military aircraft at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport outside of Newburgh.
According to prosecutors, Shaheed Hussain, a confidential informant, first met Cromitie in June 2008 at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque.
Hussain says that Cromitie told him that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and said he wanted to die as a martyr and go to paradise.
During a subsequent encounter, Hussain says he told Cromitie that he was involved with a Pakistani-based terrorist organization.
Cromitie, according to Hussain, immediately said that he would like to join the group and "do jihad."
Following these "repeated statements of hate-filled, violent Anti-American sentiments," the government began recording meetings between Cromitie and Hussain.
During these conversations, Cromitie allegedly made numerous rants about Jews, called Osama bin Laden his "chief brother," and made it "clear that he was ready and willing to engage in violence," according to court papers filed by the government.
Prosecutors maintain that Cromitie recruited his three co-defendants into his criminal scheme in April 2009. The defendants were arrested the following month for placing "what they believed" to be three improvised explosive devices in front of the Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center.
However, according to the defendants, the government provided them with the devices as part of "an elaborate scheme in pursuit of defendants who were not engaged in any offenses even remotely similar to those charged in the indictment; were not contemplating any such crimes; had no prior involvement in any such crimes; and did not have the resources, skills or funds with which to commit such crimes."
The defendants claim that an impoverished Cromitie only agreed to participate in a plot manufactured by the government after he was promised $250,000.
Not only did the government fully fund the operation, it also pressured Cromitie to recruit others to participate, suggested specific targets, supplied a fake Stinger missile, assembled explosive devices, and transported the defendants, who did not have cars or driver's licenses, to "all locations within the charged scheme," according to the defendants' motion to dismiss.
Prosecutors argued the government's actions did not "remotely approach the extremely high legal standard that constitutes 'outrageous' government misconduct."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202458543676&Jury_to_Decide_if_US_Government_Induced_Men_to_Attempt_Bombings_of_Synagogue_Community_Center
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