Padilla’s Prison Term Ruled to Be Too Short

Laurence Viele Davidson
BusinessWeek
September 23, 2011

Jose Padilla, called an al-Qaeda “star recruit” by U.S. prosecutors, should have received a longer sentence than the 17-year, four-month term he’s serving for his 2008 conviction, a federal appeals court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta sent Padilla’s case back to the trial court for resentencing. The three-judge appeals panel voted 2-1 to reject the lower-court judge’s opinion that Padilla will be too old to pose a threat upon his release from prison.

“Padilla poses a heightened risk of future dangerousness due to his al-Qaeda training,” the appeals panel wrote. “He is far more sophisticated than an individual convicted of an ordinary street crime.”

Read more

This article was posted: Friday, September 23, 2011 at 12:05 pm

---

---

---

---