Court to hear appeal in LAX plot

SEATTLE —  Prosecutors and defense attorneys are challenging aspects of the 22-year sentence imposed on Ahmed Ressam for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium.

The U.S. attorney’s office has suggested that U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour’s decision to sentence Ressam to less than the 35 years it had requested may have been colored by a disagreement over the Bush administration’s treatment of “enemy combatants.”

And Ressam’s lawyers, Thomas Hillier and Michael Filipovic, say one of the nine counts on which he was convicted should be thrown out, which would reduce the sentence by 10 years.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments today.

Ressam was arrested in Port Angeles, Wash., in December 1999 after a U.S. Customs officer became suspicious as Ressam drove a rented Chevrolet off a ferry from British Columbia, Canada. Officers found enough explosive material in the trunk of his vehicle to take down a small building and potentially kill hundreds of people.

Ressam was convicted on terrorism and explosives charges in 2001.

The prosecution appeal cites Coughenour’s comments at Ressam’s sentencing, when he said Ressam’s case illustrated that U.S. courts were capable of handling terrorism cases.

“We did not need to use a secret military tribunal or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution,” the judge said.

U.S. Atty. John McKay said: “Even taking into account his cooperation, the sentence was far too short. Ressam has told us he intended to kill as many people as he could at the Los Angeles Airport. That’s what he should be sentenced for.”

Coughenour noted that, before the trial, the government offered Ressam a chance to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of 25 years, with no cooperation required.

The judge reasoned that 25 years represented the government’s assessment of Ressam’s crime, and that any cooperation he provided should be subtracted from that. The government disagreed, saying that because Ressam didn’t accept the 25-year offer, it shouldn’t factor into the court’s decision.

Ressam’s testimony helped convict one of his co-conspirators, but he stopped cooperating by early 2003.

Government officials said that because Ressam stopped cooperating, they had to dismiss cases against two suspected co-conspirators.

Ressam’s lawyers are arguing against his conviction on one count of carrying explosives during a felony. The felony was providing a false name and other information to customs agents.