Federal court in Manhattan (Spencer Platt/Getty)
A federal jury has convicted four Newburgh men of trying to blow up Bronx synagogues and shoot down military planes at Stewart International Airport last May.
The jury reached the verdict Monday in federal court in Manhattan, after deliberating for about a week and a half.
The four men were arrested on May 20, 2009, after planting what they thought were live bombs at two synagogues in the Bronx.
Defense lawyers argued that the four men were illegally entrapped by an aggressive, confidential FBI informant, who pressured the defendants to form a plan and pick targets. The informant -- Shahed Hussain -- allegedly offered the men hundreds of thousands of dollars, a new BMW and a new barbershop.
Prosecutors accused James Cromitie -- the purported leader of the group -- of initiating the plan, selecting the specific targets and recruiting co-conspirators.
Hussain helped record hundreds of hours of surveillance tapes that were played at the trial.
Judge Colleen McMahon denied a request for a mistrial last week, after a juror read a document that was inadvertently included in an evidence binder provided by the government. After the juror told the judge she might not be able to disregard what she had read, MacMahon dismissed her. The verdict was reached by the 11 remaining jurors.
All four defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who covers criminal justice, terrorism and the courts for WNYC. She found her way into public radio after practicing law for five years, and can definitely say that walking the streets of New York City with a microphone is a lot more fun than being holed up in the office writing letters to opposing counsel.
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