Waitin' for the Commutation
posted by TheDon
The AP is reporting that Sabri Benkahla received a 10 year sentence for lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. Benkahla's defense team argued that

prosecutors were bitter because the 32-year-old Benkahla, born and raised in the U.S., had been acquitted of giving aid to the Taliban and that they were setting a perjury trap by hauling him in front of the grand jury in 2004.

The prosecutors had a different take on the situation.

Under normal sentencing guidelines, Sabri Benkahla would have received at most a three-year term for his convictions this year on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement.

But for the first time, prosecutors were able to obtain a stiffer sentence by arguing that Benkahla's lies effectively promoted terrorism by obstructing a wide-ranging terror investigation.

Prosecutor Gordon Kromberg argued that Benkahla stymied an FBI investigation by giving a grand jury misleading information about his contacts on a 1999 trip to a training camp run by a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the U.S. has since designated a terrorist organization and Kromberg said has links to al-Qaida.

I'm assuming that right-wing radio will be all over this one. I mean, the idea! No underlying crime, and all he did was lie to a grand jury, and he got TEN YEARS?!?!? It's outrageous, and I'm sure they won't let up until President Bush pardons this man who was never in any kind of legal trouble before. I'm guessing Fred Thompson will run the defense fund?