Trump DOJ warned court ISIS convict needed 20 years. Judge gave him 11, he was free to kill
ANALYSIS:
The Trump Justice Department asked for double the prison sentence the judge handed down to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, meaning that if it had passed, the accused Old Dominion University assassin would still be in prison and would not be free to kill an Army war hero.
The conviction dates back to February 10, 2017, when the new Trump team was in power for 21 days. Jalloh had pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, a vicious Islamic terrorist army that massacres and burns non-Muslims alive.
Before the sentencing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Trump’s Justice Department wrote the judge a Feb. 2 memo. “The United States contends that the 240-month sentence recommended in the Guidelines [20 years] would be sufficient,” wrote U.S. Attorney Dana Boente.
But District Court Judge Liam O’Grady highlighted Jalloh’s difficult life and his time in the Army National Guard, sentencing him to 11 years in prison, about half the sentence the prosecution sought.
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“You had a terrible upbringing, and you were able to overcome that and come here and become a naturalized citizen, go to college, work and join the National Guard,” Judge O’Grady told him. “And then you took a 90-degree turn and you became radicalized very quickly.”
Jalloh was released from prison on December 23, 2024, serving eight years of an 11-year sentence. It is unclear why he was released early.
On Thursday, he walked into an ODU military classroom and killed Lt. Col. Brandon A. Shah, the class instructor and decorated war hero who flew attack helicopters in the Middle East. The students then ended the violence by killing Jalloh, according to law enforcement.
Court records reviewed by The Washington Times show that in 2015, Jalloh became interested in joining ISIS. He began making contact with known ISIS terrorists online. He traveled to his native Sierra Leone and then to Nigeria, a country where ISIS is now killing large numbers of Christians. He paid money to his masters and took a shabby bus from Nigeria to Niger.
The FBI detected Jalloh’s terrorist adventures and assigned a confidential human source, or CHS, posing as an ISIS terrorist, to judge his desire to kill Americans.
The government’s sentencing memo outlines the interactions:
“At the April 9 meeting, the defendant told CHS that Mohamed Yousuf Abdulaziz, the terrorist who killed five U.S. service members in Tennessee in 2015, was a “very good man.” The defendant also told CHS at the April 9 meeting that he thought about carrying out an attack all the time, was about to do so at one point, knew how to shoot guns, and considered carrying out an attack similar to the one committed by Nidal Hassan, the U.S. Army major who killed 13 people and injured 32 others in a 2009 terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas. »
The memo quoted Jalloh: “I will support you with whatever you need from me, I need Allah’s reward and forgiveness of my sins.” »
On July 2, 2016, “the defendant purchased a Stag Arms AR-15 rifle at a local gun store and was arrested the following day,” the memo states.
Judge O’Grady told Jalloh: “And while you were in Africa, you decided to join ISIS and go fight on the front lines against the United States and others, and you continued to support them after you decided not to go to the front lines by providing them with money. You knew that [terrorist] were trying to come up with a plan to kill military personnel here in the United States, you supported that. You actively went looking for this AK-47.
It turned out that seven years later, according to law enforcement, Jalloh was free to go to the ODU campus, find Colonel Shah and kill him.
Colonel Shah was a professor of military science and taught ROTC students.
He was a combat helicopter pilot, serving in Iraq and other war zones and earning numerous honors, including two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal for Valor and a Combat Action Badge.
