Judge orders release of 3 of ‘Newburgh Four,’ assails FBI’s role in post-9/11 terror sting
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Three men ensnarled in an infamous post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on Thursday deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust,” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing the “Newburgh Four” in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes. McMahon granted Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerre Payen compassionate release, effective in three months. The judge says the men were “hapless, easily manipulated and penurious petty criminals” caught in a scheme driven by overzealous FBI agents and a dodgy informant.
