Appeals panel upholds Fort Dix conspiracy

TRENTON, N.J., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court has largely refused to reverse the convictions of five Muslims convicted in 2008 of plotting to attack U.S. military bases.

The five defendants, Mohamad Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka and Serdar Tatar appealed convictions and sentences they received after a high-profile, 2 1/2-month jury trial for a plot to attack U.S. military bases in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, particularly the Army's Fort Dix, N.J.

Tatar was sentenced to 33 years, the rest to life terms.

The appeals court, based in Philadelphia, said prosecutors "presented extensive evidence of the plot, including: dozens of recorded conversations among defendants and two confidential informants discussing violent jihad and plans to stage an attack; weeks of testimony from the government's confidential informants and the law enforcement agents who coordinated the government's 16-month investigation; videos of defendants' 'training" trips in the Poconos, where they engaged in target practice; propaganda videos advocating violent jihad, including attacks against American service members, which defendants viewed and discussed; and video surveillance of a transaction in which two defendants purchased automatic and semi-automatic weapons for use in an attack."

All five were convicted of conspiring to murder U.S. military personnel, and four also were convicted of firearms offenses.

In a joint appeal, the five men argued that evidence was gathered unconstitutionally by federal wiretaps, and that hearsay evidence was admitted at trial under the "co-conspirator exception."

"Because we conclude that their arguments lack merit and that [the trial judge] managed this extraordinarily complex trial in an exemplary way, we will affirm the District Court's judgments as to the conspiracy and most of the firearm offenses," the three-judge appeals panel ruled Wednesday.

The panel did throw out Shnewer's conviction for attempted possession of firearms in the furtherance of a crime because of lack of evidence.