In Temple terror case, motions give clues to strategy

By N. Clark Judd

Lawyers defending the four men accused in the alleged attempted bombing of two Riverdale synagogues seem to be preparing to argue that the government entrapped their clients.

In a conference at the White Plains, N.Y. federal courthouse on Sept. 17, lawyers for James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen argued for access to information concerning the government’s instructions to a cooperating witness who allegedly provided the four defendants with a dud Stinger missile and C- 4 plastic explosive that was incapable of exploding. They are accused of planting the fake C-4 outside Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center, and planning to fire the surfaceto- air missile at military aircraft at an airbase not far from Newburgh, N.Y., where they lived.

As they argued with federal prosecutors about what they could and could not demand from the government, more details emerged about the events leading up to the plot.

In the indictment against the four men, prosecutors leaned on a recording of a conversation between the defendants and the cooperating witness on April 23, 2009, that is said to include a detailed outline of what the alleged conspirators would try to do and how they would do it.

When defense attorneys asked about that recording during the Sept. 17 hearing, prosecutors admitted that the recording never existed.

The defense attorneys indicated that their clients — and possibly other congregants at mosques near Newburgh, N.Y., in the lower Hudson Valley — may have been offered money for going ahead with an alleged bomb plot.

They sought information from the government that may prove whether the FBI instructed or authorized the cooperating witness to offer those payments.

Prosecutors did not give a definitive answer as to whether or not payment was offered. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Leibowitz did say that in the run-up to the defendants’ alleged operation, they were given keys to what they were told were boxes containing documents and “a small amount of money to aid their escape.”