In a new twist, Pakistani-American David Headley, a terror suspect in the Mumbai attacks, will plead guilty before a US court on Thursday, a move that may get him a lighter sentence than the maximum death penalty.
49-year-old Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in October last year, will move a plea bargain under which a lighter sentence can be recommended on his pleading guilty.
Headley, an LeT operative who had pleaded not guilty to the 12-count superseding indictment filed against him on January 14, has moved for a "change of plea" which will be heard by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber tomorrow.
He had got away with a lesser sentence after he was arrested in 1998 for smuggling heroin into the US from Pakistan as he cooperated with the investigation in the case.
He was sentenced to less than two years in prison and thereafter went to Pakistan to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Headley, a Chicago resident, faces six counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering and maiming persons in India and providing material support to foreign terrorist plots and LeT; and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India. He is also charged with plotting attacks against a Danish newspaper which published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad.
Headley's plea bargain is being seen as a move to get a lighter sentence and escape death penalty.
"Yes, he (Headley) will plead guilty," John Theis, Headley's lawyer, told PTI when asked if his client is changing his not-guilty plea.
He, however, declined to comment on whether Headley would be pleading guilty to all or some of the charges against him.
Theis refused to give any details when asked whether a plea deal has been worked out for Headley, who has been "cooperating in the ongoing investigation".
The FBI had slapped charges on Headley, son of a Pakistani diplomat and a Philadelphia socialite, and his friend from a Pakistani military school Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian national, with providing material support to the Mumbai attacks as well as to LeT.
Rana has pleaded not guilty to the charges claiming that he was duped by Headley. He was denied bail by the court and hearing for his case has been set for March 29.
Headley conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai between September 2006 and July 2008, taking photographs and making videotapes of various potential targets, including those attacked during the November 2008 strikes that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
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