Christmas tree lighting bomb-plot trial to begin today
PORTLAND, Ore. - More than two years after prosecutors said Mohamed Mohamud plotted to detonate an explosive bomb during Portland’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, the former Oregon State University student is set to go to trial today.
Jury selection is expected to last at least two days. The 12-member jury will be selected among a pool of about 100 people.
Opening arguments could be heard as early as Monday in Judge Garr King’s courtroom at the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Portland.
Mohamud, who went to high school in Beaverton prior to attending OSU, is charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
The case hinges on whether the 19-year-old was a victim of entrapment, as the defense contends, by overzealous FBI agents who corresponded undercover with Mohamud for months before the Nov. 26, 2010 event. Prosecutors allege Mohamud showed clear signs of jihad extremism prior to the attempted bombing.
Conspiring with the federal agents – who were disguised as jihad extremists – prosecutors say Mohamud planned to bomb the annual tree lighting at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland.
The 1,800-pound bomb was fake, provided by the federal agents who took Mohamud into custody after they said he made the attempt to detonate the explosive by calling a number on a cellphone.
While the defense suggests Mohamud’s young age made him especially vulnerable to entrapment, federal prosecutors said in court documents that he increasingly showed signs of terrorism in the years before the alleged plot.
“In a moment defendant claimed he had been thinking about since he was 15, he finished dialing the number” that was supposed to detonate the bomb, federal prosecutors wrote in an 85-page trial memorandum.
In the memorandum, prosecutors said Mohamud corresponded with jihad extremists by email about his views and also contributed terrorism-related articles to online jihad publications.
Contacted by the FBI agents the summer before the tree-lighting, Mohamud began telling them about his alleged plans to coordinate a bombing at a high-profile event, according to the memorandum.
“It’s gonna be a firework display…a spectacular show,” said Mohamud, according to court documents. “New York Times will give it two thumbs up.”
Over the course of the four-week trial, prosecutors could call as many as 29 witnesses, including many FBI agents.
Defense attorneys said in court documents that they plan to call three expert witnesses, including two psychologists and one terrorism expert.
If convicted, Mohamud could face life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Stay with KATU and KATU.com for continuing coverage of the Mohamed Mohamud trial.
He is just a dumb kid that was talked into doing something that he would not have done by himself as I smarter person can always talk a dumb person into doing something and we are talking about a kid and FBI agent telling a kid what to do and I don't think the FBI agent is that dumb he had agenda and the FBI did not just take no for a Answer until this kid did what he wanted him to do!.
I don't doubt that this kid will be found guilty regardless of the excesses of the FBI and whatever exploitative tactics they used. And, I don't doubt that this kid needed some guidance and monitoring and socialization; there are many kids...and adults.... that would benefit from monitoring and positive social influences. Which is to say that society would also benefit from identifying and managing and socializing people that have anti-social/dis-associative tendencies, perhaps, even benefit to the point of preventing some rampage shootings.  Sadly, the public will never be convinced of this because there is no way to evaluate the success of such programs for preventing violence so our law enforcement/criminal justice system fills the role by reacting and over-reacting to "criminal' conduct and has no social expectation of an appropriate response.Â
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When the only tool is a hammer; everything looks like a nail. When the only agency managing marginalized and poorly socialized people is law enforcement then, by definition, those people must be engaged in criminal activity; otherwise, law enforcement has no authority to act. But, if law enforcement really wants to act they can always find a crime....or manufacture one.Â
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This is the nature of injustice and it happens everyday as "laws" are manufactured on the street to deal with the socially marginalized; homeless, poor, mentally ill, foreclosed upon, protesters, abandoned kids, etc....
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@Icarus Only Icarus knows the truth.
*sigh* this guy tried to blow people up. Blowing people up is bad. END OF STORY. Why is there even an argument here?
Is he US born? If not, then no wonder he was more suggestable & prone towards extreme ideology. He probably felt like a stranger in a foreign land, alienated, and held a grudge.
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So why does the US allow so many migrants into its borders without adequate time for the ones already here to Americanize, aculturalize, and melt in with the rest of the pot? commonsense jumped out the window?
The FBI says.
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Isn't that the same FBI that has a documented history of
warrantless break-ins, perjury, fabrication of evidence, and cover-ups.
Yep. That's them.
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In any other scenario, an organization with that track record
wouldn't be believed if they said the sky is blue.
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Most still believe what the government says to be true.
Will the people ever learn?
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Keep in mind he did push the button to detonate the bomb, so what ever happened before that moment the courts have to decide, not a comment blog on KATU web site.
 @Mipsfer Not interested in your crackpot conspiracy theories. This guy tried to blow my wife and I up. Stop making excuses for it.Â
 @Playanekes  @MipsferÂ
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So dramatic. There are millions that fantasize about the same things and many would even push a button if somebody made it such a sterile and remote activity. Fewer would strap on a jacket. And, a very minute percentage plan and implement a strategy. And, in America the most successful have been Americans; Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kazinsky.
 @Lips  @Playanekes  @MipsferÂ
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So blame the FBI they were more culpable to playing to this kid's fantasy and making it a dark reality than he was. Without the FBI involvement nothing would have happened and this kid would have just returned to smoking weed and being rejected by women.
 @LipsÂ
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That's cool, we can disagree. Yes, I believe that an impressionable person seeking an identity and placing their trust in an authority figure can be convinced of anything...which is the reason that society has tough anti-predatory laws to protect minors.
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I also believe that there is a social disposition to follow emotions and the crowd during crisis and to reject/suppress intellect and higher reasoning. The term "Group-Think" was specifically invented to describe that reality and it is responsible for the majority of problems in society: Enron Gambling, AIG gambling, Goldman Sachs Gambling, as well as vigilantism.  Â
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As far as the dangers of cars in the hands of teens or society at large; I stand on statistics.
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People have a predisposition a fundamental need for fitting into a crowd and sharing values and this is particularly true during times crisis and when they are emotionally wrought because it is comfort to feel that there are others on your side and it lends a sense of security. That predisposition can and has been used and the people manipulated to control society. Revisit the Iraqi war hysteria and the Patriot Act for recent examples; two specific events where emotions out stripped reason.
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It is for that reason for so many ad homonym attacks against me but so few reasonable thoughtful arguments disputing my statements. Â
 @Icarus I don't think you're a terrorist. I think you have misguided sympathies. I find your analogies to be out of balance (on this story). You don't seem to comprehend the vast difference between being ABLE to convince a kid he could be a rock star and being ABLE to convince the kid to be a mass murderer. Kids with cars are more deadly? Another ridiculous analogy. And you call others dramatic. Anyway, I was done when you deemed me a troll for having a differing opinion than you. Have a Super Sparkly Day!Â
 @Lips
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I don't know exactly what you're getting at except possibly to bait me as a Terrorist which is just absurd....and a fool hearty ploy of a troll.Â
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My point is that the FBI has every reason to puff the drama of this event that they manufactured so that they could convince a) the public that they are necessary for public safety b) that this 19 year old kid represented a significant threat. There are at least a million 19 year old kids that have access to cars that represent a greater threat to the public than this kid. The only way that the FBI could build a case was to manufacture it by building a bomb and appealing to this kids fantasy. They could have as easily posed as talent scouts and convinced this kid that he could be the next Justin Bieber but that didn't fit into the FBI plan because they didn't need a Justin Bieber they needed a criminal kingpin. Â
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At best this kid represented...before the FBI got a hold of him...a potential threat just like every kid ever born. The FBI proved that by nurture of the wrong influences this kid was capable of a very anti-social act. It is impossible to know if the FBI took another route if this kid might have made different choices. Â
 @Playanekes Â
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 And, Vigilantism is illegal but you're fantasizing about that? And, you feel justified by your anger. What if a bunch of people were all fired up and they planned to meet downtown and they had a rope and you joined in then they got that guy and stood him on a horse under a tree with a rope around his neck and everybody was shouting for his death.....would you slap the horse on the arse? Or would you pull back and say that was too much and stand up to the crowd and denounce vigilantism? What if it was all set-up to dupe you? Would you feel manipulated...perhaps....entrapped?
 @Icarus  @Playanekes  @Mipsfer I found the way you articulated your comment (slightly) disturbing. Equating killing potentially thousands as a ''sterile and remote'' act simply because it was to be carried out by ''pushing a button''. The universal way to detonate a bomb. Not sure how that becomes sterile and remote. Then... assuming that millions fantasize about such acts? Then the process of elimination steps.. ''Fewer would strap on a jacket. And, a very minute percentage plan and implement a strategy. And, in America the most successful...'' Successful? It read almost like.. ''The few , the proud, the...''
 @Lips  @Playanekes  @MipsferÂ
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You find my repulsion to the mob/lynching mentality....disturbing, really?
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Look at what that nutcase, Playanekes, advocates and the fires of vigilantism that he stokes. I cannot think of anything more "disturbing".Â
 @Icarus  @Playanekes  @Mipsfer You spun that comment with glamor. Disturbing.
 @Icarus  @Mipsfer Too bad. It's legal to fantasize. This guy tried to push the button. Regardless of how many of them there might be out there, we got one of 'em. Get a rope.We were about a block and a half away that night.
2 years. Nothing like swift justice. I guess you can't rush into things with people that have 2 first names.
Once this goes to a jury and they hear " so, mr. F.B.I. officer you are telling me that this young man from that start wanted to bomb alot of people, and you taped every conversation with him ?"Â yes he replies.. " " can we hear the conversation on the first meeting"Â no, we lost that one... Really.. this type of sloppy work doesn't fly to a jury..
 @dougrpdx That is a -serious- problem. Also, batteries dying, other simple stuff like that.
 @Playanekes  @dougrpdxÂ
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Or...other simple stuff like: it doesn't build the case the FBI is trying to manufacture. That's also very plausible...in fact...more plausible since the FBI has unlimited resources.Â
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This is why religious extremism when allowed to influence and "educate" young girls and boys leads to a disastrous adulthood, itâs a shame that there wasn't an intervening voice to help this man before he was lost to the ideology of martyrdom.
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I want to help create a world that's proactive in its approach to problem solving not reactive.
 @OliverNicholas there was an intervening voice, it was the FBI there to assist this young man in exploding a public place. Â
 I agree with you on the proactive approach...what did the FBI do wrong? They should have gotten this young man involved in sports, arts, flying a kite, etcetera, etcetera.
 @djshimon  @OliverNicholasÂ
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Yes, there was a point in time when this kid would have benefited from a positive role model...he was seeking a negative role model/authority figure. But, that isn't what Law Enforcement does. Law Enforcement gets criminals and the bigger the criminal the better that Law Enforcement looks. It's something like the poultry industry that injects chickens and turkeys with water to puff them up; when Law Enforcement only has a scrawny little case and a scrawny little perp they do everything possible...not necessarily legal or right....to puff that case up and sell it to the DA and Jury and, in this case in particular....the Public.
 @djshimon  @OliverNicholas Please tell me that was sarcasm. Or you're simply having a moment of sensitivity that will soon pass.
 @djshimon  @OliverNicholas "what did the FBI do wrong? They should have gotten this young man involved in sports"
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HAHAHAH!!! Maybe the 9/11 suicide bombers just wanted some skates or a guitar or an R/C car or something.
This scenario is wrong on almost every level. Yes the guy is young, impressionable, hate filled and clearly ignorant. He was then lead to believe through continued propaganda fed via FBI to commence with this plot. He is a criminal - no doubt, but so are the FBI agents that "saved" us from this manufactured boogeyman.Â
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There doesnât always have to be a good and bad guy to the story, in this case itâs a lose-lose situation, shameful tactics and continued fear mongering, a young man's life ruined first by whomever influenced him to hate and second by the FBI playing into the delusions of an ignorant hate filled man. It amazes me now that our FBI, Homeland security and other federal agencies go out of their way to fill the air with stories like this, how convenient - keep them in fear, keep them in their mind forged manacles. Terrorism is a threat, this is know - but to restrict our freedoms or totally eliminate them (patriot act) is the wrong play in combating terrorists. Â
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They saved us from what exactly? People are afraid - whether it be represented by isolation or public anger, people are consumed with the notion of terrorism, if this is true - the terrorist have won. We must remain vigilant but SENSIBLE!
@OliverNicholas ......"combating terrorists".......... And you would do it how?
@Rob C 503 First by not striping the rights of our citizens and removing the patriot act.   Then handling the threat in a manner similar to the direction President Jefferson took during the Barbary Wars, it's an amazing read and I highly suggest it. We must penalize the criminal act of terrorism and not the citizens and their freedoms.Â
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Our duty and our governments duty should be in the preservation of our freedom not the restriction of it out of fear.
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Iâm a former Marine, I've seen some of this barbarism first hand - and to see now the back stepping our government has done and restrictions placed on our freedoms is appalling. I took an oath to uphold and defend the constitution, with my life, because it is my life - as it is yours.
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What would be your first step?
 @Rob C 503  @OliverNicholasÂ
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Oliver never excluded the FBI from the list of "evil" people joining together for a horrible cause and it seems that Oliver would include deception among those horrible causes. And, there are plenty of cases where "Americans" have joined together to support a horrible "evil" cause: enron, the 2nd. Iraqi war (Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Bush), AIG, Goldman Sachs...the evisceration of the middle class, depriving rights to and marginalizing American minorities, exploiting the poor both nationally and internationally...etc.
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@OliverNicholas .....your last paragraph sounds very contradictory to your earlier post.
@Rob C 503 I too would remove foreign aid to these nations and withdraw from Afghanistan, there are always arterial motives when any government decides to go to war, such as; is it profitable to do so? This is one of the determining factors of engagement for our government over the last 60+ years, itâs shameful but a fact - itâs never on the merit of justice. Â
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We can't totally ignore the extremism, ignoring it only gives the illusion of its eradication or gives false security and prolongs any resolve.
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I sense your anger, I'm on the side of freedom and shaking the shackles of any would be repressor, whether it be our own government or terrorists abroad.
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This is not an easy question to answer, we must not cower in isolation - we must face this problem head on, openly, honestly and with strong resolve.
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When sick and evil people join for any horrible cause, the free and good natured must unite as well or succumb to their disastrous fate.Â
@OliverNicholas ......I would withdraw from Afghanistan. I would stop all foreign aid to Middle East countries. They seem to like killing so they can turn on each other and leave the rest of us alone.
About time. Let's make an example out of this one.
Yes he is a criminal, but I think this is more our Federal government making an example out of us.
 @OliverNicholas they can turn him over to me and, trust me, people will be talking about it for centuries, and the federal government doesn't have to get involved.
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But you don't REALLY want me to do that, do you?
 @Playanekes  @OliverNicholasÂ
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By your statement; it is clear that you represent the same values as the Jihadists that American propaganda has taught Americans to fear.
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Would you sever his living head from his body and post the video to Youtube? Because, that's already been done many times and is so commonplace that nobody talks about it anymore. But, I don't doubt that you have something really "cool" in mind to torture and kill this not-yet-proven-guilty-boy, please, share.
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America was intended as a land ruled by laws. The greatest threat to the promise of America is motivated by fear and panic and the excesses of of its own people...the greatest domestic threat....as it is by any external threat possible.