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Underwear bomber challenges life sentence
Source: Detroit Free Press
Underwear bomber challenges life sentence
By Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press
Updated 10h 5m ago
DETROIT -- Confessed underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is challenging his mandatory life in prison sentence, arguing in court documents filed Monday that a life sentence is "cruel and unusual punishment" and unconstitutional.
Abdulmutallab, who is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, is facing a mandatory life in prison sentence after pleading guilty in October to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner carrying nearly 300 people with a bomb hidden in his underwear. He pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
The plot was foiled when his bomb malfunctioned.
"Given the circumstances and what did NOT occur in the instant matter it is fair to say that the mandatory minimum sentence of life is excessive and grossly disproportionate to the conduct," Abdulmutallab wrote in court documents Monday. "Aside from the defendant no passengers suffered any serious injuries and there were no casualties."
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By Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press
Updated 10h 5m ago
DETROIT -- Confessed underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is challenging his mandatory life in prison sentence, arguing in court documents filed Monday that a life sentence is "cruel and unusual punishment" and unconstitutional.
Abdulmutallab, who is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, is facing a mandatory life in prison sentence after pleading guilty in October to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner carrying nearly 300 people with a bomb hidden in his underwear. He pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
The plot was foiled when his bomb malfunctioned.
"Given the circumstances and what did NOT occur in the instant matter it is fair to say that the mandatory minimum sentence of life is excessive and grossly disproportionate to the conduct," Abdulmutallab wrote in court documents Monday. "Aside from the defendant no passengers suffered any serious injuries and there were no casualties."
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Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-13/underwear-bomber-challenges-life-sentence/53085734/1