MILNET Brief
  The L.A. Terrorists, 8/21/2005 (updated 9/30/2006)

As northern California U.S. Attorneys and the FBI wrestled with preparations for the Lodi Five trial, Los Angeles officials announced apprehension of yet another terrorist cell there. Could California's liberalism be a breeding ground for Militant Islamic Jihadists?
Analysis of Arrest Warrant Affadavits     U.S. Federal Court System
The Case Documents    The Sources    Updates

The FBI announced this week that they have apprehended what they believe is a terrorist cell operating in the Los Angeles area with links to Al Qaeda. 

BRIEFING:  Arrested as suspects were:
According to the August 18 Times article:

"A search of the Los Angeles apartment of Mr. Washington, a former gang member who was recently released from prison in Folsom, Calif., yielded what the police called radical jihadist literature, bulletproof vests and the addresses of nearly two dozen sites in Southern California that may have been chosen for terrorist attacks. The sites included National Guard recruitment centers, the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, several synagogues and the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport

A senior Los Angeles police commander, Assistant Chief George Gascon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that investigators believed the group had planned to carry out attacks around Sept. 11 or on the Jewish High Holy Days, Oct. 4-13. 

...Mr. Washington and Mr. Patterson were friends, ... they had attended a mosque in Los Angeles together and ... Mr. Samana, the third man in custody, had been seen with them by Torrance police officers who had them under surveillance in connection with the gas station holdups. He said he knew nothing more about their relationship.

...the authorities apparently believed that Mr. Patterson and Mr. Washington had held up the gas stations to raise money to finance terrorist activities." 1

An earlier report by Associated Press writer Jeramiah Marquez states that:

"His arrest came after investigators discovered a potential target list at the home of Levar Haney Washington, who has been implicated in a series of gas station robberies in Los Angeles County, according to a law enforcement official who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The list included three National Guard facilities in the Los Angeles area, as well as the Israeli Consulate and a couple of synagogues." 3

According to the Washington Post's coverage,
"Officials allege the conspiracy began with Kevin James, 29, a longtime inmate at California State Prison-Sacramento who is serving time for attempted robbery and possession of a weapon in prison. In 1997, James founded a group called Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh.

According to charging documents, James tried to recruit his fellow inmates into the group, which preached a radical version of Islam that called for members to attack any perceived enemies of the faith. Last fall, one of his alleged recruits, Levar Haney Washington, 25, was paroled from the prison and returned to Los Angeles with orders from James to recruit more followers with clean records, then acquire firearms and explosives." 4



[ANALYSIS]:

The case against the four is a serious one.  While we have not been able to view the actual evidence, the DOJ claims are such that they could easily be refuted yet the case has moved forward slowly toward a trial.  The defendants are charged with a number of counts in the Indictment 1.  To clarify these various counts and defendants, we include the table below:

Name
 Charges on Record, U.S. District Court, Central District, Judge Cormac J. Carney
USA V James, et al. Case Number  8:05-cr-00214-CJC
Kevin James
 Count One - 18:2384: CONSPIRACY TO LEVY WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THROUGH TERRORISM
Count Five - 18:924(c), 924(o): USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; CONSPIRACY TO POSSESS AND DISCHARGE FIREARMS IN FURTHERANCE OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE
Levar Washington
 Count One - 18:2384: CONSPIRACY TO LEVY WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THROUGH TERRORISM
Count Two - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT UNIFORMED SERVICES
Count Three - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL FOREIGN OFFICIALS
Count Four - 18:1951, 2: INTERFERENCE WITH COMMERCE BY ROBBERY; AIDING AND ABETTING
Count Five - 18:924(c), 924(o): USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; CONSPIRACY TO POSSESS AND DISCHARGE FIREARMS IN FURTHERANCE OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE
Count Six - 18:924(c)(1), 2: USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; AIDING AND ABETTING
Gregory Patterson
 Count One - 18:2384: CONSPIRACY TO LEVY WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THROUGH TERRORISM
Count Two - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT UNIFORMED SERVICES
Count Three - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL FOREIGN OFFICIALS
Count Four - 18:1951, 2: INTERFERENCE WITH COMMERCE BY ROBBERY; AIDING AND ABETTING
Count Five - 18:924(c), 924(o): USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; CONSPIRACY TO POSSESS AND DISCHARGE FIREARMS IN FURTHERANCE OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE
Count Six - 18:924(c)(1), 2: USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; AIDING AND ABETTING
Hamad Samana
 Count One - 18:2384: CONSPIRACY TO LEVY WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THROUGH TERRORISM
Count Two - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT UNIFORMED SERVICES
Count Three - 18:1117: CONSPIRACY TO KILL FOREIGN OFFICIALS
Count Five - 18:924(c), 924(o): USING AND CARRYING A FIREARM IN CONNECTION WITH A CRIME OF VIOLENCE; CONSPIRACY TO POSSESS AND DISCHARGE FIREARMS IN FURTHERANCE OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE

Clearly the most serious of the charges are the terrorism related charges since quite draconian laws have been enacted since 9/11 to seek out and destroy terrorists and criminal statutes are no exception.  If the defendants are convicted on the terrorism charges alone, they could be serving up to life sentences under mandatory federal sentencing requirements.

Kevin James was not named in the 2-4 and 6th counts of the Indictment as he was in prison (and remains there) at Folsom Prison, Folsom, California.  The indictment does claim that James conspired to use firearms in connection with a crime of violence...essentially calling for these actions from his prison cell.  In the indictment detail it is alleged he ordered regular reporting of the groups activities and that on at least one occassion Washington and on several Patterson obeyed those orders.

Experience over the years since 9/11 is that defendants carrying the terrorist charges like those in this case find it difficult to win any sympathy from juries, however in the Lodi Terr Case, Umer Hayat's defense appeared to sway at least one juror resulting in a hung jury.  The fact that these defendants were (for the most part) engaged in robberies will make the defense difficult -- it is hard to feel sympathetic to gas station holdup men.

The most disturbing part of this case is the link into Folsom prison.  This is not the first anyone has heard of Muslim prostelization of inmates...in fact the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held several hearings 8 on the subject.  This case seems to validate the concern Congress has.

Below is a graphic that illustrates the concern.


Click on image to make it more readable

Updates:

12/14/2007:
[BRIFING}:  Washington and James pled guilty to seditious conspiracy.   James will appear for sentencing on March 31, 2008 and Washington will appear on April 18.

9/30/2006:
[BRIEFING]  The Trial was due to begin on October 24, 2006, two years after the Grand Jury handed down its bill.  Information on the case is difficult to get, as many of the documents are sealed.  In previous experience, (Lodi Terr Case), documents were sealed in order to prevent disclosure of private information such as bank account numbers, addresses of those unrelated to the case or financial information related to bail/bond posting.   However, review of the case documents indicates the trail was later "continued" from 10/24/2006 to 8/27/2007.  A final  (?) status hearing was set for 10/17/2006 and then changed to 8/13/2007 prior to the trial beginning.   The order moving the trail date into August of 2007 indicates there are some 40,000 pages of documents, "numerous" audio and video tapes, and 14 computer disk hard drives.

[ANALYSIS]:  One of the reasons for this case taking some time to come to trial is indicated in the stipulation and agreement which sets the 8/27/2007) trial date  appears to be that the wealth of alleged evidence provided by the prosecution requires lots of time to analyze and thus the Defense needs the extra time to properly prepare for the trial.  Also, the Case Summary indicates that the Judge has granted a specification of the case as "Complex", requiring waiver of time. So far there has been no indication of the need for a classified documents officer (however that might be under sealed sections of the case documents).  This removes a difficult trial managment issue that added months to the Lodi Terr Case and would undoubtedly have done the same here

[OPINION]:  Clearly the discovery process in this case was not easy and the Defense is smart to take lots of time looking over every piece of evidence.  In addition, it may also be true that the DOJ is being very careful to provide all possible evidence that is not classified.  Perhaps there is no classified evidence, or if there is, they DOJ feels the unclassified evidence is sufficient to win the case.

 [SPECULATION]: Perhaps the sealing of so many documents indicates on-going investigation or a pending plea bargain.  Please do not take this supposition as fact, this has been an extremely difficult case to follow. 




The Documents:
  1. Indictment, U.S. Department of Justice, October 2004 Grand Jury True Bill
  2. Setting of Trial Date, U.S. Federal District Court, California's Eastern District, 7/2006
  3. Case Summary, U.S. Federal District Court, California's Eastern District's Southern Division-Santa Ana, public electronic filing system extract (Shows the Charges against the suspects)
  4. Case History,  U.S. Federal District Court, California's Eastern District's Southern Division-Santa Ana, public electronic filing system extract (Shows legal events during the course of the prosecution)
  5. The U.S. Federal Court System, MILNET, July 4, 2005

Sources:
  1. F.B.I. Terror Clues In California, New York Times, John M. Broder, 8/18/2005
  2. War on Terror, Findlaw Special Coverage on Terrorism Cases, case law, undated
  3. California Terror Probes Yields Third Arrest, Jeramiah Marquz, Associated Press, 8/16/2005 (Findlaw)
  4. 4 Charged With Terrorist Plot in California, Washington Post, 9/1/2005
  5. Kevin James - Wikipedia Profiles, Wikipedia, 6/28/2006
  6. DOJ Press Release on Indictment, U.S. Department of Justice, 8/31/2005 (MILNET Mirror)
  7. Attorney General Speaking on L.A. Terror Plot, U.S. Department of Justice,  8/31/2005 (MILNET Mirror)
  8. Testimony Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, October 14, 2003
  9. The 2005 Los Angeles Plot: The New Face of Jihad in the U.S., The Jamestown Foundation, 1/26/2006


Note:  The  following terms define sections in this report:

Term
 Meaning
ANALYSIS
 An analysis of the facts present, the "expert" or "educated" opinion of the authors, attempting to ignore any personal bias.  All analysts bring a certain amount of bias to their work, however, in sections marked ANALYSIS, the authors proofread to eliminate what could easily be bias rather than logical conclusions of the facts involved.
BRIEFING
 Substantial factual content, authors do their best to ensure removal of bias, speculation or unconfirmed facts. Typically MILNET requires more than one source and usually three.  This also includes original sources -- i.e. four newspaper deriving their stories from the same A.P. story is considered a single source.
OPINION
 An opinionated response which analyzes the information based upon life experience and may incorporate the author's personal bias on political issues.  OPINION will allow personal bias to color judgments and conclusions where logical conclusions may not be clearly drawn or possible to discern.
SPECULATION
 MILNET's authors may, from time-to-time, speculate as to the underlying causes, hidden facts, or rationale behind a particular issue or news story.  While speculation is usually wrong and may be dangerous, it helps the reader understand the origin of fears or concerns of people involved in and around a particular issue or event.  This speculation may also make it possible to point to answers to solving the human problems associated with certain problems -- for instance, speculating on why someone reacts violently to a suggestion might indicate how communication can be used to prevent that occurance again, or perhaps prevent it from occuring at all by taking care of the problem up front.




© Copyright 2006, Michael G. Crawford for MILNET