"Fort Dix Five" could get life in prison
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
Sentences for five men found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers, will be handed down this week at the federal courthouse in Camden, New Jersey.
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Three of the "Fort Dix Five:" Dritan, Shain, and Eljvir Duka will learn their sentences today. The other two men will be sentenced tomorrow.The five foreign-born men were found guilty last year of plotting to attack soldiers at New Jersey's Fort Dix Army base. Their families claim the men are innocent.
Family of the defendants
Temple University School of Law professor Edward Ohlbaum says the case is significant.
Ohlbaum: It was a major federal prosecution of Muslim Americans for conspiring to kill United States soldiers. One would like to think the fact that there is a heightened scrutiny on all of our parts really did not contribute to the way in which the jury evaluated the evidence.
The government's case against the "Fort Dix Five" relied heavily on two government informants. The prosecution successfully argued that the informant's actions did not constitute entrapment because the defendants were serious about attacking Fort Dix.
The men could face life in prison.