As reported by the Huffington Post and several other media outlets, a young Somali-American man has been found guilty of a terrorism plot that allegedly failed to come to fruition as his co-conspirators were undercover FBI agents posing as jihadis.
M.M.'s verdict was handed down by a jury on January 31. He was found guilty of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting event in Portland during November of 2010.
Jurors, and the media, questioned whether M.M., 21, would have planned the bombing if it had not been for FBI agents that began an email exchange with him to discuss radical jihad.
The defense team called the case entrapment while prosecutors had to prove that M.M., 21, was predisposed to terrorism – before the FBI began exchanging emails with him.
G.K., the presiding judge, told jurors that M.M. didn't have to select the place or time of the bombing; he only had to likely commit the bombing or one similar to it to be found guilty.
The FBI agents posting as jihadis planted the fake bomb.
M.M., 17 at the time the FBI began their surveillance of his behavior, had, according to the head of Portland's FBI office, G.F. "made a series of choices over a period of several years – choices that were leading him down a path that would have ended in violence. His actions showed little regard for the rights and responsibilities that come with being an American or respect for the lives that he was prepared to take."
Steve Sady, M.M.'s defense attorney told the jurors a different story of his client's frame of mind. M.M., confused, broke, gullible and eager to please, was an easy target for the FBI.
Sady told reporters that he would be appealing the verdict after the May 14 scheduled sentencing. Sady added, "We are disappointed with the verdict. We obviously though he was entrapped."
Some of the evidence against M.M. shared by the prosecution included that he had an email exchange with an al-Qaida lieutenant, and he had told the undercover FBI agents that his enrollment in an Oregon college was just a ruse while what he was really doing was preparing for a vicious jihad.
Testimony was presented from several sources – friends, parents, undercover FBI agents, counterterrorism experts, and others – however M.M. did not take the stand himself.
Sady blamed his client's conviction on nothing but the U.S. government's dogged desire for convictions.
Amanda Marshall, U.S. Attorney for Oregon stated, "This case has been a difficult case for the city of Portland. It's been a particularly difficult case for (M.M.'s) community, for his family, for the Somali community. We are hopeful that this will bring closure and healing to all of us here in Portland."
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