A 16-year prison sentence handed a man convicted of plotting to blow up a Chicago bar has been thrown out by a federal appeals court.
The ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sends the case of Adel Daoud back to the U.S. District Court for resentencing.
The appeals court in its Tuesday ruling said the sentencing judge paid "lip service” to the seriousness of the crime and overemphasized Daoud’s immaturity at the time he was caught in an FBI sting.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to impose a 40-year sentence while defense attorneys said Daoud, 27, should be released as soon as a mental health treatment program can be tailored for him.
“Daoud committed three discrete, premeditated criminal acts that exhibited an extraordinary disregard for human life,” Appellate Judge Amy St. Eve wrote in the opinion, joined by Judges Kenneth Ripple and Michael Brennan.
In addition to terrorism charges stemming from the plot to bomb the Cactus Bar & Grill in Chicago’s Loop, Daoud pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of the undercover FBI agent who was the center of the sting and attacking an inmate while awaiting trial in 2015.
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Daoud’s attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, in an emailed statement said the appeals court abandoned the precedent of deferring to the discretion of the district court.
Daoud is being held at the United States Penitentiary, McCreary United States Penitentiary in Kentucky.
