U.S. argues terrorist can't get new lawyer

DETROIT, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- It's too late for confessed terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to seek new counsel before he is sentenced, federal prosecutors said in papers filed in Detroit.

The federal government was responding to Abdulmutallab's request last month for a new standby lawyer, preferably a Muslim attorney, when he is sentenced Jan. 19 for attempting to detonate an underwear bomb aboard a Northwest Airlines flight on Dec. 25, 2009, as it approached Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

Abdulmutallab represented himself and had a lawyer appointed as standby counsel.

"Because defendant represents himself, he has no right to standby counsel, let alone standby counsel of his choice," prosecutors said in documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, Abdulmutallab asked for a new legal adviser, claiming his standby attorney, Anthony Chambers, and his associates "treat me with contempt, especially away from the eyes of the court." He said Chambers doesn't visit him and hasn't provided documents requested for his upcoming sentencing. He also claimed Chambers' associates have lied to him.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Chambers said he is prepared to help Abdulmutallab at sentencing, despite the defendant's claims.

Against Chambers' advice, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty in October to trying to blow up the airliner with explosives hidden in his underwear. The plot was foiled when passengers and crew members subdued Abdulmutallab, who suffered burns to his genitals and legs in the incident.