| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Dylan Boyd pleads guilty in NC terror trial |
| 2011-09-18 |
| Dylan Boyd was on his way to a shooting range two years ago when federal authorities arrested him - accusing him and seven others with being part of a terror group conspiring to wage jihad overseas. On Wednesday, four days before the trial of three of the suspects is scheduled to begin, Boyd, 24, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised probation. Sentencing is set for December in a case that also brought pleas in February from Dylan Boyd's brother, Zakariya, and their father, Daniel Patrick Boyd, 41, the accused ringleader of the group. Daniel Boyd pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism between November 2006 and July 2009 and conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, maim and injure people in a foreign country." Zakariya pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Neither will be sentenced until after the trial, which is projected to take nearly two months. Daniel Boyd, described by his neighbors as a friendly drywall contractor and devout Muslim, is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution. The plea this week provided a look at evidence that prosecutors plan to present next week in a trial that could offer insight into the use of FBI informants to build terrorism cases. Prosecutor John Bowler said that federal investigators had gathered 800 hours of recordings, 750 hours of which might be used in trial. The government also collected email and other documents. Dylan Boyd, according to prosecutors, can be heard on at least 40 of the government recordings. Prosecutors allege that Dylan Boyd, who was living at home with his father much of the time, can be heard instructing some of the accused on how to travel through Turkey and across the Black Sea to Chechnya to try to join the jihadi brigade. Bowler alleged that Dylan Boyd also helped raise funds for a compound the group planned to build in Kosovo where food could be grown and weapons could be kept. Prosecutors also said Dylan Boyd was with his father and brother when they met FBI agents in a bookstore. Though Dylan Boyd did not go inside the store he was armed, Bowler said. While providing the judge facts to support his case against Dylan Boyd, Bowler described the house that the Boyd's lived in as one with an arsenal of weapons - guns in every room and gas masks in some. Prosecutors accused the elder Boyd of recruiting his co-defendants to help him plan "violent jihad" attacks on government facilities and kill members of the U.S. military. The indictment accused the defendants of training in military-style tactics and traveling to the Middle East and Kosovo hoping to kill, kidnap and maim in the name of jihad. During a 2009 detention hearing, feds played audio tapes of Boyd talking in his home about protecting Muslims at all costs. The tape included long conversations about the struggle of Muslims, his disgust with the U.S. military, and martyrdom. Defense attorneys for the three scheduled for trial next week oppose having the tapes admitted as evidence. The issue has not been decided. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 what a maaaarvelous family! "meet my two boys - Dylan and |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-09-18 11:59 |