Somali Pirate May Plead Guilty

The surviving Somali pirate involved in taking a U.S. container ship captain hostage a year ago may plead guilty. The NY Times reports the U.S. Attorney's office has asked a judge to schedule a plea proceeding for Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, who pleaded not guilty last May to charges including piracy under the law of nations and kidnapping: "If convicted of piracy, Mr. Muse would face a mandatory life sentence. One possible strategy by Mr. Muse’s lawyers would be to seek a deal in which he could plead guilty to a lesser charge that would reduce his potential sentence; or to have any cooperation be factored into a request for leniency." It's unclear how old Muse is: Prosecutors said he was 19 last year, while his defense said he was 15.

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By Jen Chung in News on April 13, 2010 3:15 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

i do admire his pic--doesn't he look like he just won a gold medal?

Snoopy

I suggest taking him back to where they picked him up and drop him in the water on a dark night.

Gotham Extremist

Son, Rikers is like a 5 star hotel compared to back home, no wonder he's all smiles!

jaycjay

Rikers is a city jail, so not at all relevant. He's facing federal charges, so is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Mr Mel

Yeah, here's what's going to happen. He cops a plea and is allowed to serve 6 months and is released and winds up in the general population and is next seen selling handbags on lower 5th Avenue.

nicemarmot

If you really wanted to punish his ass, you'd send him back to Somalia empty-handed. If we start taking all the pirates to the US everyone in Somalia will take up piracy!

schadenfreudian mensch

How do you they haven't. It's a booming business. Bigger than the Nigerian 419 scam.

Spook

I heard that insiders close to the case said- off the record- that as soon as the DA took walking the plank off the table, the pirate agreed to plead guilty, which is why he's smiling