After 2 Mistrials, 5 Convicted in Sears Tower Attack Plot

One of the Liberty City Six was acquitted
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 12, 2009 2:25 PM CDT
After 2 Mistrials, 5 Convicted in Sears Tower Attack Plot
Defense attorneys for the men convicted today walk out of a Miami courtroom in 2007.   (AP Photo)

Five men were convicted today of plotting to join forces with al-Qaeda to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices in hopes of igniting an anti-government insurrection. A jury in Miami acquitted one member of the so-called "Liberty City Six." Ringleader Narseal Batiste was the only one convicted of all four terrorism-related conspiracy counts, and faces 70 years in prison.

The four others also face decades in prison. The men were arrested in June 2006 on charges of plotting terrorism with an undercover FBI informant they believed was from al-Qaeda. Defense attorneys said terrorist talk recorded on dozens of FBI tapes was not serious and the men wanted only money. Two previous trials ended in mistrials.
(More terrorism stories.)

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