TERROR SUSPECT WANTS TO BE CALLED 'MR. UBAYDAH'
Source: USA Today – 9 July 2019
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CINCINNATI — As an accused terrorist headed to federal court here for the first time Friday, legal experts say his case will take at least a year to go to trial if he chooses to fight his charges.
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Christopher Cornell, 20, of Green Township, Ohio, is accused of plotting an attack on the U.S. Capitol, charged with attempting to kill a federal employee and possession of a firearm. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in prison. And federal Magistrate Stephanie Bowman directed Friday that he continue to be held without bond in Butler County Jail, where he is on suicide watch.
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"I feel that the danger to the community is such that I cannot order bond today," Bowman said, noting that messages attributed by federal authorities to Cornell had him discussing extreme violence.
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His lawyer, assistant federal defender Karen Savir, had asked that Cornell be released to his parents with electronic monitoring.
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Cornell, transported about 30 miles to downtown Cincinnati in chains and handcuffs for the hearing, told Bowman through his lawyer that he wants to be called by his Muslim name, Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah. Prosecutors have said he used the alias to establish social media accounts in which he posted statements and video supporting radical Islam.
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Savir also asked that Cornell be taken off suicide watch so that he can wear underwear again, be given a prayer mat and have a clock available so he will be able to pray at the correct times each day.
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Cornell's father, John Cornell, was nearly thrown out of court when he told his son, "Don't trust anyone, Chris." The elder Cornell maintains that a "snitch" set up the 20-year-old.
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The case will be complicated because the government likely will fight turning over some of the evidence that he has against Chris Cornell, said lawyer Kevin Tierney, a former federal prosecutor who now represents defendants but is not connected with this case.
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"(But) you can't just waltz into court and throw up something on a big screen about national security issues," he said.
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Chris Cornell was arrested Wednesday immediately after walking out of a Cincinnati-area gun store where he bought two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. The FBI has said he planned to use them in his attack on the Capitol.
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Green Township Police said they knew of Chris Cornell before his arrest Wednesday.
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In 2013, Chris Cornell showed up at a township memorial service for victims of 9/11, standing silently and carrying a sign that read "9/11 was an inside job," Lt. Mitch Hill said.
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His father said that since his son's graduation in 2012 from Oak Hills High School Chris Cornell has been working part-time jobs and spending the the past few years trying to find himself — experimenting with politics, religion and vegetarianism. Chris Cornell embraced conspiracies about the 9/11 attacks and later called himself an anarchist.
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Chris Cornell will have a pretrial hearing Jan. 22 in which the government is expected to show probable cause that he should be charged. Instead, a federal grand jury could indict him on the present charges and possibly additional charges.
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After that, the government has 70 days to bring Cornell to trial, but the complexity of a terrorism case means that likely won't happen.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't nine to 12 months or more," said Hal Arenstein of Cincinnati, a veteran defense lawyer.
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Defense lawyers and prosecutors must have top-secret security clearance to look at evidence that the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies have gathered.
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House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that federal investigators relied on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives law enforcement authorities broad surveillance powers in potential terrorism cases. That likely means Cornell was communicating with radicals or others overseas, communications that the U.S. government monitored.
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Similar cases in recent years have led to accusations of entrapment. But the FBI has argued such stings are vital for averting deadly terror attacks, and juries have returned tough sentences.
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The arrest came with U.S. counterterrorism authorities on high alert against homegrown extremists and "lone wolves" — disaffected or disturbed individuals who hold radical beliefs but have no direct connection to a terrorist organization.
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Cornell told the informant they should "wage jihad," authorities said in court papers. He allegedly wrote in an instant message that "we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves."
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Contributing: Dan Horn and Carrie Blackmore Smith, The Cincinnati Enquirer; The Associated Press
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