Govt. asks Supreme Court to take up Ressam case

The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case of Ahmed Ressam.

Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of nine charges for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the new millennium. He was arrested after arriving by ferry in Port Angeles in December 1999.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Ressam's conviction on one charge — carrying explosives during the commission of a felony — early this year. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle asked the court to hear the case again with all 15 judges, but the court declined.

The Justice Department today filed a petition with the Supreme Court, saying the lower court had misconstrued the law regarding the charge that was thrown out.