Headley gets 35 years in jail

I don't have any faith in Headley when he says he is a changed person now, says judge

January 24, 2013 10:22 pm | Updated December 05, 2021 09:02 am IST - CHICAGO

Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley was on Thursday sentenced to 35 years in prison by a U.S. court for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The sentence will be followed by five years supervised release.

While the U.S. government admitted the “deplorable” nature of his role in the 26/11 attacks, the prosecution had pressed for a sentence of 30-35 years under a plea bargain with Headley in return for his cooperation. The death penalty and extradition options were dropped.

Pronouncing the sentence here, U.S. federal district court judge Harry Leinenweber said he had to consider that Headley had committed numerous crimes in the past, confessed to them and received lenient sentences.

Headley’s defence team argued for mitigation based on his past drug addiction and the need to set an appropriate sentence to encourage cooperation from future defendants in a similar position.

Under his deal with the U.S. government, Headley supplied information on other terror suspects, which, prosecutors said, helped them investigate and bring criminal charges against co-defendant >Tahawwur Rana , Ilyas Kashmiri and several Pakistan-based operatives.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there is no Federal parole and defendants must serve at least 85% of their sentence.

In pronouncing the sentence, Justice Leinenweber said: “Mr. Headley is a terrorist.”

“There is little question that life imprisonment would be an appropriate punishment for Mr. Headley’s incredibly serious crimes but for the significant value provided by his immediate and extensive cooperation.”

PTI adds :

The judge said: “He commits crime, cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation. No matter what I do, it is not going to deter terrorists. Unfortunately, terrorists do not care for it. I do not have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says that he is a changed person now.

“I do believe that it is my duty to protect the public from Mr. Headley and ensure that he does not get into any further terrorist activities. Recommending 35 years is not a right sentence.

“I will accept the government motion 35 years and sentence of 35 years ...”

Asked if he wanted to make a statement, Headley said: “No your honour …”

The judge said: “The sentence I impose, I’m hopeful, it will keep Mr. Headley under lock and key for the rest of his natural life.”

He said it would have been much easier to impose the death penalty. “That’s what you deserve.”

A week ago, Justice Leinenweber had sentenced Rana to 14 years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and planning terror attack against a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.