Man seeks leniency in Somalia terror case

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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Prosecutors sought to counter the image of the two men as misguided, troubled teens entrapped by a government informant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Judson Welle reviewed transcripts of audio tapes made by the informant, purporting to show Alessa and Almonte relishing the thought of getting the chance to kill American soldiers overseas. The two men viewed multiple online videos, including some they kept on their cellphones, that showed U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan under sniper attacks, ambushes, IED attacks, executions and beheadings, according to Welle.

“I like watching (disbelievers) get slaughtered,” Almonte allegedly said, according to a transcript of an undercover tape shown in court.

“Your honor, if you send a message that homegrown violent extremism will be met with serious consequences, it will be less likely that others will engage in this crime,” Welle said.

Alessa and Almonte were arrested in June 2010 as they prepared to board separate planes to Egypt at New York’s JFK Airport.

They each pleaded guilty in 2011 to a charge of conspiring within the United States to murder individuals outside the U.S. by trying to join al-Shabab, a designated terrorist organization.

The charges could carry from 30 years to life in prison, but they will likely face less under the terms of their plea agreement.

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