NEW YORK (AFP) – A US federal judge Wednesday sentenced three men to 25 years each in prison on terrorism charges, but rebuked both prosecutors and the FBI for "questionable" behavior stemming from a sting operation.
The three men -- James Cromitie, 45, David Williams, 30, and Onta Williams, 35 -- were accused of planning to attack two synagogues and to shoot down US military planes.
"There was no pre-existing plot," said Judge Colleen McMahon after a three-hour hearing in federal court in Manhattan.
"The government came upon a man incapable of committing an act of terrorism on his own," she said. "I have never heard anything like the facts of this case."
Lawyers for the three men said they would appeal.
The three, along with Laguerre Payen, who has not yet been sentenced, were arrested on May 20, 2009 after a year-long sting operation led by the FBI and an informant who provided the men with three IEDs (improvised explosive devices), each with 30 pounds (14 kilos) of inert C-4 plastic explosives.
The men were arrested while they were preparing to plant the IEDs near two synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
They were also accused of planning to shoot down military aircraft stationed at the Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, using Stinger surface-to-air missiles.
The men never bought the missiles, but according to a statement released by the US attorneys office, were provided with one inert Stinger missile by the informant.
Lead prosecutor David Raskin, who had asked for life sentences for the three men, acknowledged that Cromitie had never used the term "Stinger missile."
But, he said, "the fact that it is all fake really does not matter.
"The fact is, it was a sting operation, but they still had a choice to pull out", said Raskin. "Those bombs were fake, but would they have been real, they would have killed lots of people," he said.
Last October, a jury found Onta Williams guilty on seven counts and Cromitie and David Williams guilty on eight counts.
The most serious -- conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, attempting to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles and attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States -- all had a minimum sentence of 25 years and a maximum of life.
"I have no discretion to sentence the defendants to less than statutory mandatory minimum," said McMahon. "So 25 years is the floor, life is the ceiling.
"That sentence will be 25 years," she added. "This case is sui generis. The government behavior here is questionable. It seems to me it has to change."
Cromitie defense attorney Susanne Brody argued that it took a long time for the FBI informant to convince Cromitie to go ahead with the operation.
Cromitie only agreed after he lost his job at a Wal-Mart and fell deeper and deeper into debt. The informant, said Brody, promised him money, cars and vacations.
He also had trouble finding accomplices, who were described by Brody and the judge as "low level drug dealers."
The three men, said Brody, "don't even know one another."
"The government evidently manufactured the crime," said Brody. "The government selected the charges. They provided everything. If this is not enough to dismiss the case, what would be?" asked Brody.
Cromitie, talking softly, told the court that he had "never been a terrorist, and I will never be a terrorist.
"I have put myself in a stupid mess. This is crazy," added Cromitie, who was allowed to wear civilian clothes for his sentencing.
"I am very sorry for letting myself get caught up in a sting operation like this, made up by the government," he said.
"I am a US citizen. I have never been outside the US," Cromitie said.
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