Would-be bomber apologizes in letter
A young Lebanese immigrant awaiting sentencing for putting a backpack he thought held a bomb near Chicago’s Wrigley Field has said in a letter to his judge he drank “all day, every day” for months before the attempted attack.
Sami Samir Hassoun’s lawyers publicly released the seven-page letter in a filing this week. In it, he also apologizes and says he’s worked hard at being a better person, including by doing yoga in jail.
Prosecutors want federal Judge Robert Gettleman to sentence Hassoun to 30 years in prison on weapons charges he pleaded guilty to. Sentencing is April 5 in Chicago.
The defense filing argues the trauma in Hassoun’s life and that he was egged on by an informant are factors that call for a lesser, 20-year term.
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