Convicted Terror Plotter Padilla Wins Resentence Delay
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — A federal judge delayed the resentencing for convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla after his attorney argued that he is deteriorating psychologically and needs more visits from his family to get better.
Attorney Michael Caruso said in court documents that he sought a delay in Padilla's December resentencing hearing to allow time for family visits at a South Florida jail. Caruso said the 42-year-old Padilla has only been visited once by family since his original sentencing in 2008 and is very fragile psychologically.
The judge agreed and scheduled his resentencing date to January 29th.
Padilla was being held at the Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado until recently. He is now being held in a Miami detention center.
After an appeals court rejected his current 17-year prison sentence as too lenient, a Miami federal judge set a new Dec. 3 sentencing date. Now the judge has set another hearing for next week to consider the delay request.
Padilla and two others were convicted in 2007 of conspiracy and terrorism support charges involving al-Qaida including plotting to set off a radioactive dirty bomb. Before that Padilla was held for three and a half years in a Navy brig as an enemy combatant before he was criminally charged.
He's currently scheduled for release in January 2022 with time off for good behavior.
The appeals court ruled Padilla deserves a longer sentence because he trained to kill at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and had a long criminal record previously.
Padilla could get life in prison.
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