A U.S. judge is scheduled to sentence five defendants in a federal terrorism and kidnapping case Wednesday. The case began with a search for a missing toddler in Georgia in late 2017 and ended months later with a raid on a squalid compound in northern New Jersey. Mexico.
The sentencing hearing comes months after a jury convicted four family members in what prosecutors called “the worst possible doomsday plot.” Each faces life in prison for their beliefs.
Defense attorneys have indicated they plan to appeal.
‘Extremist Muslim’ man arrested at New Mexico facility training children to carry out school shootings: document
The main defendant, Haitian national Janie Leveille, avoided a three-week trial last fall after pleading guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and possessing a firearm while in the United States illegally. did. Under the terms of her plea agreement, she could receive up to 17 years in prison.
Prosecutors said at trial that Leveille was responsible for the family’s flight from Georgia with the boy, ending up in a remote high desert where he trained in firearms and tactics in preparation for an attack on the government. He said it was an instruction. It was tied to the belief that the boy would rise again and tell them which corrupt governments and private organizations needed to be eliminated.
Some of Reveille’s writings on the project were presented as evidence during the trial.
Five defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in a federal terrorism and kidnapping case that ended with authorities raiding a facility in New Mexico. (AP Photo/Brian Skolov, File)
The boy’s father and Rubeille’s partner, Siraj ibn Wahaj, was found guilty on three terrorism-related charges. Wahhaj’s brother-in-law, Lucas Morton, was also found guilty of terrorism charges, kidnapping conspiracy and kidnapping resulting in the boy’s death. Wahhaj’s two sisters, Hujra Wahhaj and Subhana Wahhaj, were found guilty only of kidnapping.
In a case that took years to bring to trial, jurors heard for weeks hearing from children who lived on the property with their parents, other family members, firearms experts, doctors and forensic scientists. I heard the testimony. The defendants, who are Muslim, argued that federal authorities targeted them because of their religion.
Authorities searched the family’s compound in August 2018 and found 11 starving children and deplorable living conditions without running water. Also found were 11 firearms and ammunition used at a makeshift shooting range on a property outside Amalia near the Colorado state line.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The body of Wahadj’s three-year-old son, Abdulghani Wahadj, was found in an underground tunnel on the property. According to testimony during the trial, the boy died just weeks after arriving in New Mexico, and his body was kept for several months, with Leveille promising others that he would be resurrected.
The exact cause of death was never determined, with accusations that the boy had frequent seizures and was not given important medication.
