Updated 05/01/2012 11:38 PM
Queens Man Found Guilty In Subway Bomb Plot Trial
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Jurors in Brooklyn federal court delivered on Tuesday a guilty verdict on all counts against Adis Medunjanin, the Queens man accused of conspiring with two other men to blow up the city's subways back in 2009. NY1's Criminal Justice reporter Dean Meminger filed the following report. The mother of convicted terrorist Adis Medunjanin hurried out of Brooklyn federal court Tuesday afternoon, minutes after her son was found guilty of plotting to blow up parts of the city's subway during rush hour back in 2009.
The jury also found Medunjanin guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan after receiving terrorism training from al-Qaida in Pakistan.
Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney in charge of the case, said this should send a clear message -- terrorists will be caught and prosecuted.
"This trial has afforded a rare glimpse into the inner workings of al-Qaida, how they look for those with connections to our homeland, how they recruit those who are disaffected and seeking a place to go, and how they will stop at nothing to implement further attacks on our soil," Lynch said.
Several convicted and self-proclaimed terrorists testified in this case, including Medujanin's friends from Flushing High school in Queens, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay.
Zazi and Ahmedzay pleaded guilty to the plot and said Medunjanin was in on the subway bombing plot.
Defense attorneys said they knew it would be hard to win a terrorism case in New York.
"We were prepared for a verdict such as this. He's always been very realistic. He understands the environment in which this case was tried," said defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb.
Although defense lawyers said they were pleased this terrorism trial was held in a public court, they still plan to appeal. They said they are upset with some of the evidence the government used against their client.
"The courts actually approved a secret warrant allowing the government to intercept my conversations as his lawyer with him. That affected this trial, depriving him of access to his lawyer from the beginning when he was arrested," said Gottlieb.
Lynch said the government did not break any laws while trying to protect Americans, and that the job is getting harder as more so-called homegrown terrorists emerge.
Medunjanin faces life in prison when sentenced on September 7.