Liberty City 6 Member Gets Six Years
Four others will be sentenced this week
By TODD WRIGHT
Updated 3:45 PM EDT, Wed, Nov 18, 2009
Miami man convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to six years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard imposed the sentence Wednesday on 24-year-old Burson Augustin. Four other men are scheduled to be sentenced over the next three days.
The group known as the Liberty City Six had many bomb targets, prosecutors told jurors, including Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI offices around the country.
The other men scheduled to be sentenced are Narseal Batiste, 35; Patrick Abraham, 29; Stanley Grant Phanor, 33; Rotschild Augustine, 25; and Naudimar Herrera, 25.
Prosecutors sought the maximum 30-year sentence for Augustin. Lenard ruled that sentencing terrorism enhancements should not apply to Augustin, who was not the leader. That thinking could spell bad news for Batiste, who is alleged to be the mastermind.
The men were arrested in June 2006 on charges they plotted terrorism with an undercover FBI informant posing as an al-Qaida operative. Defense attorneys said terrorist talk recorded on dozens of FBI tapes was not serious and that the men wanted only money.
There were two mistrials, before the men were finally found guilty in May. Two other men were acquitted. All denied plotting terror attacks.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Miami
First Published: Nov 18, 2009 3:08 PM EDT
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