Oregon: Lawyers for Muslim who attempted jihad mass murder will appeal, challenge secrecy of key witnesses.

He attempted to detonate a bomb that would have murdered thousands of people. He tried to detonate it; he just didn't know it was fake. Whether or not the witnesses' identities were known doesn't change that fact, but Mohamed Mohamud's lawyers are playing the victimhood card anyway: "Mohamed Mohamud's lawyers will challenge secrecy surrounding key witnesses in Portland terrorism trial," by Bryan Denson for The Oregonian, February 2:

Mohamed Mohamud's lawyers are expected to appeal his terrorism conviction with a new attack on an old target: the nation's security versus the constitutional rights of suspected criminals to confront their accusers.

The FBI made its case against Mohamud in 2010 by sending a pair of agents, posing as al-Qaida terrorists, to cozy up to him and determine whether he posed a public danger. A few months later, the FBI arrested Mohamud after he tried to detonate a fertilizer bomb -- fake, as it happens -- that the undercover agents presented to him during their sting operation.
Mohamed Mohamud faces a possible life prison term, but also could spend no time at all in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing hearing is set for May 14. In the meantime, he remains at the Justice Center Jail in downtown Portland.

Prosecutors haven't decided how long a sentence to ask the judge to impose, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan D. Knight.

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