Suspect Abdulmutallab/u.s. marshals photo
DETROIT — The man dubbed the “underwear bomber” unleashed a surprise on Wednesday in the second day of his terrorism trial in federal court in downtown Detroit when he decided to hang it all up and plead guilty to all eight charges.
The Detroit News reported that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, pleaded guilty to charges related to his attempt to blowing up a Northwest plane bound from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.
The bomb in his underwear never detonated properly.
His guilty plea is not likely to bring him any break.
The government had overwhelming evidence in the case and had declined to offer him any kind of break on prison time. Since no one died on the flight, he wasn’t going to face the death penalty.
The News reported that the plea came after a 45 minute recess in the trial before U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds.
The judge asked if he wanted to waive his right to a trial, to which he responded, according to the News:
“That’s right.”
READER COMMENTS
Comment from Alan Stamm | [e]
Time October 12, 2011 at 10:43 am
So he has at least a smidgen of sense after all, thankfully.
Next stop: federal Administrative Maximum Facility in Colorado.
Comment from Jim Burdick | [e]
Time October 12, 2011 at 1:58 pm
And along the way went on a nasty rant that he did it because of America’s support of Israel and America’s killing of “innocent Muslims” (were they school children on busses??). He was doing “God’s work,” he says, and now will have a lifetime to pray. (But, first, he snitched out a whole lot of people right after he was arrested. Who knows what happened since then!)
