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der, color or religion. I apologize for my
actions.’’
Ressam, who made a similar statement to
the court in 2003, did not speak at the hear-
ing Wednesday.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said
they would review the ruling, and neither
indicated whether they would appeal. U.S.
Attorney Jenny Durkan said that
regardless of whether she agreed with
the judge, the case represented a vic-
tory for the rule of law.
``We afforded a man who sought to
do us the greatest harm the full due
process of the law,’’ she said.
Coughenour read his lengthy sen-
tencing order from the bench, noting
that of the 4,000 to 5,000 sentences
he had handed down in his 31-year
career, Ressam’s case was the only one he
could remember in which the 9th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals deemed him too
lenient.
Nevertheless he thanked the appeals
judges for their guidance, saying that some
cases are so long and difficult that a trial
judge can lose perspective.
``This case provokes our greatest fears,’’
Coughenour said. ``Because Mr. Ressam
planned this act of violence and took steps
to carry it out, many, including the federal
government, believe that Mr. Ressam is a
continuing threat and he should never see
freedom again. But fear is not, nor has it
ever been, the guide for a federal sentencing
judge.’’
with using a weapon of mass destruction,
which can carry life in prison.
Coughenour discredited the government’s
argument that Ressam would pose a future
threat. He will be eligible for release at
about age 64, and his prior cooperation with
terrorism investigators would make it diffi-
cult for Ressam to become involved in any
plot even if he were so
inclined, the judge
said.
The sentence also
took into account
Coughenour’s belief
that Ressam stopped
cooperating because of
the effect of extended
solitary confinement.
His recantation was a
``deranged protest,’’ rather than a true return
to terrorist sympathies, Coughenour said.
The judge said that if the harsh conditions
of his confinement were in fact what caused
Ressam to stop cooperating, that shouldn’t
compound his sentence.
``I will not sentence a man to 50 lashes
and then 50 more for getting blood on the
whip,’’ he said.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour
had twice ordered him to serve 22-
year terms, but both times the
sentences were rejected on appeal
The sentence reflected more than the 35
years maximum for the two most serious of
the nine counts Ressam was convicted of:
committing an act of terrorism across inter-
national boundaries, and carrying an explo-
sive during the commission of a felony.
Prosecutors noted that had Ressam tried
to carry out his plot after Sept. 11, 2001, he
almost certainly would have been charged
Ressam’s case has been vexing because
he started cooperating after he was convict-
ed and was interviewed more than 70 times
by terror investigators from the U.S., Cana-
da, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and
France. Information he provided helped
convict several terror suspects; prompted
the famous August 2001 FBI memo titled
``Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.’’;
and contributed to the arrest of suspected
Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah,
who remains in custody without charges at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
However, Ressam recanted all of his
cooperation when it became clear that the
prosecutors weren’t going to recommend
that he serve less than 27 years in prison.
That forced the Justice Department to drop
charges against two suspected coconspira-
tors, Samir Ait Mohamed and Abu Doha.
In previously sentencing Ressam,
Coughenour noted that before he went to
trial, the government offered him a 25-year
sentence if he would plead guilty — no
cooperation necessary. Ressam refused, but
Coughenour said that any discount for
Ressam’s cooperation, while it lasted,
should start from that 25-year offer.
We honor the many
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Page 6 The Seattle Skanner October 31, 2012