Five of the members of the Miami terrorist group dubbed the Liberty City Seven are seeking to overturn their convictions at a federal appellate court hearing Tuesday.
Attorneys for Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Phanor, Burston Augustin and Rotschild Augustine are giving oral arguments after the group was found guilty of conspiring to aid al-Qaida, according to the Miami Herald.
The appeals center on the removal of a juror during the group's trial in 2009. Two other defendants were acquitted.
The ringleader, the 37-year-old Batiste, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison. Abraham, 32, was sentenced to nine years and Phanor, 36, was sentenced to eight years. Augustine, 27, was sentenced to seven years while Augustin, 26, was sentenced to six.
All five had been convicted of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and FBI offices, but insisted they weren't guilty. Prosecutors had pushed for sentences between 30 and 50 years.
