DETROIT — The Nigerian man known as the “Underwear Bomber,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, hasn’t given up the fight to go free.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday heard arguments from his lawyer Travis Rossman, who wants his client’s guilty plea tossed. He wants him to undergo a competency hearing, according to the Associated Press.. He also argued that the punishment — multiple life sentences — was far too harsh considering the only person injured on the Christmas Day flight in 2009 was his 26-year-old client.
The prosecution, as expected, disagreed.
In a court filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel wrote:
Abdulmutallab’s four life sentences did not violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The magnitude of his crimes—seeking to kill 289 people on behalf of a violent terrorist organization; his complete lack of remorse, which actually is pride in his mission; and his future dangerousness, make the … life sentences proportional to the crimes. The defendant’s sentences were substantively reasonable for the same reasons.
