The suffering his family is going through must be terrible.
But no one is more vocal about shining light on Mr. Muhammads radicalization than his father, Melvin Bledsoe. Though he has hired a lawyer for his son, visits him in his cell in Little Rock on weekends and contributes to his defense, Mr. Bledsoe, 54, says he has no illusions about his sons guilt.
My heart bleeds for the families of the victims, he said.
What he wants, Mr. Bledsoe says, is to understand how evildoers brainwashed his son, as he puts it. And he wants the F.B.I. held accountable for what he considers its negligence in preventing the attack.
They didnt pull the trigger, but they allowed this to happen, Mr. Bledsoe said. It is owed to the American people to know what happened. If it can happen to my son, it can happen to anyones son.
Gee, the warning signs were certainly there.
“He asked that he be allowed to plead guilty to capital murder, a request that will probably be denied.”
Lawyers can’t make any headlines or money if that happens. Judges are lawyers in black robes and always look out for their bretheren.