ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A former Orange County imam accused of planning an attack on U.S. troops overseas wants a federal judge to free him.
Marcus Robertson took the stand Wednesday to try to convince the judge he did not commit tax fraud to promote terrorism, as he's accused.
Robertson was arrested shortly before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The government wants him to get 20 years in prison, but Robertson does not want the judge to consider a terrorism enhancement to his sentence.
He claims his alleged operative developed extremist views on his own, and he claims he discouraged talk about suicide bombing and jihad, but Robertson couldn't explain why those concerns didn't stop him from planning to send the man overseas.
Before Robertson led a Mosque in east Orange County, he was a convicted felon, found guilty of being one of the 40 thieves in a string of Philadelphia-area bank holdups.
He became a government informant and wants credit for that cooperation when the judge decides his sentence for his latest crimes.
Robertson has been convicted of illegal gun possession and tax fraud, which prosecutors said was to fund an attack on U.S. military overseas.
The government believes it disrupted the plot.
On Wednesday, Robertson testified that he never promoted terrorism.
“We're trying to let the judge make the right decision about whether my client was involved in terrorism. He clearly wasn't, and we'd like the judge to find that and we'll be done,” said Robertson’s attorney, Daniel Broderson.
Broderson wants Robertson to be sentenced only to the time he's already served.
Robertson testified he encouraged his alleged operative, Jonathan Jimenez, to go to Mauritania to study Islam.
Robertson claims he's never stopped helping the government since becoming an informant, but the government challenged him on why he never reported Jimenez's disturbing talk of terrorism to officials.
Robertson gave conflicting explanations.
“They're essentially trying to give an imam 20 years in prison simply for possessing literature, and that's an assault on the First Amendment, and we're very concerned about that,” said Muslim advocate Hassan Sibly.
Robertson had ties to an Islamic extremist when he committed his first felonies.
The government believes he was at it again.
His sentencing hearing has run two days so far, but there’s no schedule yet for when it will finish.
WFTV
