L.A. Jury Jury Convicts Algerian of Terrorism
L O S A N G E L E S, April 6 -- A jury today convicted Ahmed Ressam of terrorism in connection with what prosecutors said was a sweeping plan to disrupt millennium celebrations with explosives.
Ressam, a 33-year-old Algerian national, was found guilty of all nine counts against him, the most serious of which is "an act of terrorism transcending a national boundary," for which Ressam could receive 25 years in jail. If fully sentenced on all counts, Ressam will face 130 years in federal prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 28. Ressam's defense attorneys said they will appeal.
The case was moved to Los Angeles because of excessive pretrial publicity in Seattle. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of the Western District of Washington brought his entire operation to California to try the case.
The verdict was the second for Ressam today. Besides the U.S. trial, a court in France also heard of Ressam's alleged connection to the terror network of Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden. Today in Paris, he was convicted and sentenced to five years for belonging to a support network for Islamic militants.
Prosecution: Trail of Terror
In December 1999, Ressam was captured in Port Angeles, Wash., after crossing into the United States from Canada. He fled on foot after an agent for the U.S. Customs Service asked to do a secondary inspection of his vehicle.
Authorities said they found bomb-making materials in the wheel well of his car, including chemicals and four timing devices.
Ressam's destination was Seattle. His capture and concern over possible terrorism caused the city to cancel its New Year's millennium celebration.
The government did not know Ressam's targets but prosecutors said such knowledge was not needed to prove their case. In closing arguments Thursday, Andrew Hamilton of the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle, urged the jury to hold Ressam accountable for planning a terrorist attack on the United States designed to "tear apart the very fabric of our society."
Hamilton portrayed Ressam's capture as a success story in which "two countries stood side-by-side and took a stand against terrorism."
