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"Lone Wolf" Terror Suspect Gets New Attorney, Informant's Motives Questioned
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 23, 2011
Modified Nov 23, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 23, 2011
Modified Nov 23, 2011
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Accused "lone wolf" terrorist Jose Pimentel has been assigned a new attorney, after the Legal Aid Society learned that it was representing the informant in the case for an unrelated criminal matter. Pimentel's new counsel is Lori Cohen, a private criminal defense attorney who defended the Egyptian banker accused to assaulting a housekeeper last spring, and has several homicide cases under her belt. "The credibility of the person who led him to do those things will certainly be an issue," Cohen tells DNAinfo, referring to reports that the case against Pimentel may be tainted by entrapment.
A federal official tells Murray Weiss that it's telling that the FBI declined to pursue the case against Pimentel, who, according to numerous reports, smoked marijuana with the informant and attempted to circumcise himself. "We take these requests quite seriously," the official says. "The fact that we are not involved says something."
According to the complaint against Pimentel, the informant was with him "virtually every step of the plot," shopping with him several times at Home Depot to pick up materials to make the bomb. "Let's just say there were issues whether he had the ability to do this without the intercession of the confidential informant," Weiss' source says.
Cohen tells the Post, "Confidential informants are people who are just trying to help themselves. They have an interest in getting as much information against the subject of an investigation as they can, to work off whatever they are facing themselves."
Tagged
crime
fbi
homeland security
lone wolf
nypd
Ray Kelly
terrorism
war on terror
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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