The man blamed for last month’s bombings in New York and New Jersey that hurt several people pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder police officers. He made his first court appearance on Thursday from a hospital bed.
Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 28, appeared through live video on a television screen in a courtroom in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The video feed came from the hospital where he has been recuperating from gunshot injuries suffered during a shootout with police.
Rahimi lay motionless with a blanket pulled up to his neck during the hearing. Peter Liguori, his court-appointed lawyer, was standing beside him in hospital scrubs.
Rahimi replied “yes” to a number of questions from Union County Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield. The questions include inquiries on whether he understood the charges and wanted Liguori to represent him.
The hearing involved state charges against him stemming from a gunfight with police on Sept. 19, after an officer found him asleep by the doorway of a bar.
Rahimi is also facing federal charges of employing weapons of mass destruction and attacking a place of public use in New York and New Jersey.
He is charged with setting off an explosive in Manhattan’s Chelsea district that hurt 31 people as well as a pipe bomb near a charity running race in a New Jersey shore town on Sept. 17.
Further, Rahimi is accused of placing another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that did not go off and with leaving numerous devices at a train station in Elizabeth, just blocks from the courthouse where he appeared on video on Thursday.
One of those explosive devices blew up when a bomb squad robot tried to defuse it. None of the blasts killed anyone.
Date of Rahimi’s court hearing still tentative
It still remains uncertain when Rahimi will appear in federal court. However, it is possible he will face charges there before New Jersey’s state case goes on to trial.
The hearing had been postponed while Rahimi recovered from his injuries. One of the two officers who was hurt in the shootout attended the hearing on Thursday.
The post Alleged New York, New Jersey Bomber Pleads Not Guilty Via Live Video From Hospital appeared first on Newsline.
No comments:
Post a Comment