Maldonado Sentenced: Update

Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a former Houston resident and Muslim convert who admitted training with terrorists overseas, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.^[1] He was the first American charged with joining al-Qaida in Somalia.^[2]

Under federal statute, the charge to which he pleaded guilty, receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization carries a 10 year sentence. Maldonado also was fined $1,000.^[3]

"You can't go above the statutory maximum," said Abe Martinez, the assistant U.S. attorney who oversees terrorism prosecutions in the Southern District of Texas.^[4] Congress is increasing that penalty to 15 years, Martinez said, to equalize it with punishments for similar terrorism violations.^[5]

Brent Newton, the assistant federal defense attorney who represented Maldonado, declined to comment further until the case is "fully final."^[6]

Karen J. Greenberg, who studies the legal aspects of counterterrorism and monitors the outcome of terrorism cases, said a defendant's plea is often a bargain for their lives.^[7] "Once they're accused of being a terrorist — whatever the evidence — they're in trouble….When they plea, the Justice Department doesn't have to necessarily then prove that there were some kind of terrorist affiliations. They don't have to provide evidentiary support for what the charges were…….We need to be convinced as a public that the people we're going after are the people we should be going after. There are a lot of people out there who not only mean us harm, but have the intent and have the ability to cause us harm…….With a plea, you have to assume that there is some kind of information of value that these people may be able to provide." said Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law, which issues the Terrorist Trial Report Card. Greenberg also said Newton's comment about a future finality for the case likely means that there are "other tentacles that he can't discuss that lead on to other cases."^[8]

Maldonado was originally charged with, among other things, conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction,^[9] he was also charged with, and plead guilty to, knowingly receiving military type training from a terrorist organization.^[10]

To be guilty of use of weapons of mass destruction by a national of the United States, outside of the United States a person must first be a national of the U.S. ^[11] Then the person, without lawful authority, must use, or threaten, attempt, or conspire to use, a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States. ^[12] The punishment for this offense shall be imprisonment for any term of years or for life, and if a death results, shall be punished by death, or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.^[13]

To be guilty of receiving military training from a terrorist organization, one must knowingly receive military-type training from or on behalf of any organization designated at the time of the training by the Secretary of State under section 219(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as a foreign terrorist organization.^[14] The person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization, that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist, or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism.^[15] A person found guilty under this law shall be fined or imprisoned for ten years, or both.

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously discussed this case, here.

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^[1] Cindy George, Jihad trainee gets 10-year prison term Ex-Houstonian who is accused of joining al-Qaida given maximum sentence allowed, Houston Chronicle, July 21, 2007, available at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4987008.html (last visited July 21, 2007)
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] 18 U.S.C §2332a(B) (2006); the definition of destructive device is found in 18 U.S.C. §921(a)(4)(a)(1) (2006).
^[10] 18 U.S.C. §2339D (2006).
^[11] 18 U.S.C §2332a(B).
^[12] Id.
^[13] Id.
^[14] 18 U.S.C. §2339D
^[15] The definition for these offenses can be found in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989, Id.