Trial of Accused Synagogue Bomb Plotters Postponed
The trial of four men accused of planning to blow up two New York City synagogues was put on hold after prosecutors withheld evidence.
Jury selection was set to begin Monday, but Manhattan Judge Colleen McMahon postponed the trial indefinitely after the government failed to provide documents to the defense until a week before the trial. The documents could back the defense’s claim that the four men were entrapped, the New York Daily News reported.
James Cromitie, Laguerre Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams face life in prison if they are convicted.
The men were arrested in May 2009 after plotting to blow up the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx and to shoot military planes out of the sky. An FBI informant supplied the men with fake bombs and a phony anti-aircraft missile.
The judge said she will hold a hearing next week to consider releasing the men on bail.
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