Brothers Get Life in Prison for Ft. Dix Terror Plot
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Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.
Three brothers in the Ft. Dix terror trial all met the same fate Tuesday-- a life sentence in federal prison, where there is no parole.
Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka were all convicted of plotting an armed attack to kill American soldiers. They'd talked about Ft. Dix as a target.
Prosecutors portrayed it as one of the most frightening homegrown terrorism plans ever in the U.S. A drastically different story was told by defense attorneys, who characterized the defendants as all talk, no intention to ever act and frankly too dumb to pull off such a plot.
Family and friends, who were emotional during December when the verdict came down, have insisted the men were wrongly convicted. Some testified before Tuesday's sentencing, but their pleas did not seem to make much of an impact on the judge's sentences. Dritan Duka also spoke, saying he was "completely innocent."
“The hatred and contempt these young men hold for America and the rule of law was made abundantly clear during the investigation, at trial and even today as they spoke at their sentencings,” said Acting United States Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. “Not one word of contrition was heard from any of them, only more hatred and contempt. For their actions and their words, the sentences are appropriate to both protect the public from them and their deeply held, radical beliefs and to deter others who would act similarly,” said Marra.
The government used two informants to help build their case. They infiltrated the group and recorded scores of conversations. Jurors got to hear many of those during the trial. The men, who became known as the Ft. Dix Five, were arrested two years ago when they tried to buy rifles from one of the informants.
They all immigrated to the U.S. and grew up on the East Coast. The Duka brothers grew up in Cherry Hill. Shain and Ditran received the life sentence plus 30 years. The Dukas also have to pay the U.S. Army $125,000 in restitution for the additional security measures they put in place in response to the terror plot. The Dukas have spent the past couple of years at Philly's Federal Dentention Center but are likely to be sent to separate super-maximum federal prisons, according to the Burlington County Times.
Federal prosecutors said the high-school friends were radical Muslims turned homegrown terrorists bent on bringing jihad, or holy war, to the United States in defense of Islam, according to the article.
The last two of the Ft. Dix Five will be sentenced Wednesday.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 10 Philadelphia
Posted Friday, Jul 17, 2009 - 7:46 PM EST
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