Severe Charges for ISIS-Linked Bombing Attempt in New York City: Attorney

Two men have been charged with attempting an ISIS-linked bombing during protests outside the New York City mayor's home, Gracie Mansion. Joining us now for legal analysis is Bobbie Ann Cox, civil rights attorney and fellow at the Brownstone Institute. Bobbie Ann, good to see you. So they're facing a number of charges, as you are aware of, so one of them being attempting to give material support to ISIS. So how strong is the case based on what we know so far against them? So what we know so far is that both of these individuals, when they were arrested, they did make statements to the arresting officers and once they were brought into the police station, outwardly saying that they were doing this as a promotion and incentivized by ISIS and that they pledged allegiance to ISIS. So that count, it sounds like it's going to be pretty strong against them. They are being charged with several counts of different violations of different federal laws, but this one in particular, it sounds like they both outright pledged their allegiance to ISIS. And so it sounds like that's going to be a very strong cause of action against each one of these individuals. So another charge is the use of a weapon of mass destruction. Why is an improvised explosive device in this context being charged as a weapon of mass destruction? Right. So if you look at the federal law itself, what is defined as a weapon of mass destruction is anything that is a device, a destructive device. So that could be a bomb, it could be a rocket, it could be a grenade, things of this sort. And it's anything that is used that would have mass casualties. So when you look at this situation in specific, we look at what was being used. So these two individuals, they made these two bombs themselves. And what they did was the material used was highly explosive. And then they wrapped it in shrapnel, what would have become shrapnel if they had detonated, things like nuts and bolts and screws, things like this. So when you look at what they used to make these bombs, and then you saw where they were going to use them. They were planning to use these at a protest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City. So it was a large crowd of people that they were going to detonate these bombs in. So when you look at the intent behind what they were planning to do, and you look at the hard evidence itself, what the bombs actually were made out of, it would fall under that definition of a weapon of mass destruction as per the federal law. Okay, understood. Looking at the intent and the actual evidence there. So as well, the suspects are teenagers, 18 and 19. Does their age at all affect how the court might view sentencing if they're convicted? Not really. In an instance like this, they are being charged with some very serious federal crimes. And the weight of the potential prison sentences for these crimes is tremendous. One is life in prison, another one is 20 years, another one is 10 years. So these are very serious crimes that they are being charged with. So when it comes time for sentencing, and sentencing can arise either because they go through a jury trial, so a trial of their peers that hear the evidence and then make a decision as to whether or not they're guilty or innocent, and then the judge would set a sentence, or if they end up doing a plea deal, then the next step is the judge would issue sentencing. So I'm not sure that they would get a break because they are both technically still teenagers when the federal charges that are being pushed against them or brought against them are such as these. And they're very serious. And these are issues of national security, since they did both pledge an allegiance to a foreign terrorist organization. So we're going to see how this plays out. But these are very serious charges. Right. As you mentioned, their statement appeared to show that they have strong ties to ISIS. And police have already found out that they consumed ISIS propaganda material. So you said earlier, this is a strong case of the links to ISIS. Do you think police will have to investigate even further to build on this case? Or could they just leave it as it is right now? Well, I think there will be further investigation. Something so serious as this, they're probably going to dig further. They're going to, they are already coordinating with FBI and law enforcement in Pennsylvania, because both of these individuals are originally from Pennsylvania. And they drove to New York City to perpetrate this crime. So there will be further investigation because they're going to want to know not just why they did this, and how they did this. But they're going to also want to know if anybody else helped them in preparing for this or planning this or purchasing the materials to make those bombs. Those are things that the law enforcement officials are going to be investigating, because it might not be only these two individuals. There might be other people involved at different levels and different stages of this. So they have to determine whether or not these individuals acted on their own, or if there is something deeper and a wider group behind them. I did read one or two accounts that said that these two individuals did not know each other prior to this taking place last week. So it sounds like they didn't intentionally plan this together. But again, I'm sure there will be further investigations by law enforcement officials at both the federal level and the local level to see what else they can find out and as much detail as possible. Okay, Bobby, and just one final question. What comes next in this case? So both of these individuals have been arrested. They are being held in jail without bail. So they're going to have to wait in jail until they have their first hearing, their first appearance in court. And we have to see the formal charges that are brought in court. We don't know if there's going to be any talk about plea deals or not. We don't know if there's going to be, you know, we have to see how it plays out. Could be a jury trial, could be a plea deal. But anyway, either way that it goes, there will be sentencing. And I do expect that that sentencing is going to be severe. You know, we did see in the 2017 ISIS-induced attack in New York City that occurred on the bike path as an individual had used a truck to blow up the truck and ended up killing eight innocent victims that were standing by and injuring others. You know, in that case, that individual back in 2017 was charged. And just in 2023, the jury came down and he had multiple life sentences against him. So, you know, he's in life, he's in jail for the rest of his life, and then some. And so, you know, these are serious charges. These are serious accusations. And we have to see how this plays out in court. Right. All right, Bobby-Ann, thank you for speaking with us today. Good to talk to you. Yes, thanks for having me on.