News from The Associated Press

Trial judge Gerald Bruce Lee had discretion to sentence Abu Ali to anywhere from 20 years to life in prison. The appellate majority said Lee made too much of the fact that Abu Ali's assassination plot never got off the ground, and that Lee improperly compared Abu Ali's case with that of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, who was sentenced to 20 years after striking a plea bargain admitting that gave his services to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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