"Millennium Bomber" Given Tougher Sentence
Prison term bumped from 22 to 37 years over foiled LAX plot in 1999.
"Millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, whose original 22-year prison term was deemed too lenient by an appeals court, was re-sentenced to 37 years behind bars on Wednesday for a foiled New Year's Eve 1999 plot to set off explosives at Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal prosecutors who appealed the original punishment had asked the Seattle-based district judge presiding over the case to impose a new sentence that would require Ressam, an Algerian national, to spend the rest of his life in prison.
They argued Ressam deserved a much harsher penalty because he had reneged on an agreement to assist in the prosecution of other suspected militants and later recanted all his testimony and other statements to authorities.