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The man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another outside an Arkansas military recruiting center has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming ties to al-Qaida. Abdulhakim Muhammad's attorney, Claiborne Ferguson, said Thursday night that his client sent a letter earlier this month to the judge in his case asking to change his plea to capital murder and attempted capital murder charges. Ferguson said he hadn't discussed the request with his client before the letter was sent. Under Arkansas law prosecutors would have to agree and waive the death penalty before the judge could consider it,...

A Tennessee man accused of killing a soldier outside a Little Rock, Ark., military recruiting station last year has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming for the first time that he is affiliated with a Yemen-based affiliate of Al Qaeda. In a letter to the judge presiding over his case, the accused killer, Abdulhakim Muhammad, calls himself a soldier in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and calls the shooting “a Jihadi Attack” in retribution for the killing of Muslims by American troops. “I wasn’t insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this...

Suspect in GI killing claims al-Qaida ties Letter to judge seeks plea shift to guilty JOHN LYNCH ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE The Memphis man accused in a deadly attack at a Little Rock military recruiting office claims in a recent letter to the presiding judge in the case that he wants to plead guilty to capital murder and that he is a member of a Yemen-based affiliate of al-Qaida. Defense attorney Claiborne Ferguson called the letter by 24-year-old Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad “inappropriate,” saying the writing complicates Muhammad’s defense. “I feel like I’m the only one with Mr. Muhammad’s best interests at heart,”...

WASHINGTON -- There is no doubt that the terrible earthquake in Haiti -- the worst disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere -- is a tragedy of profound proportions. The good news is that the "first responders" on-scene were wearing American uniforms. The U.S. Coast Guard -- motto: "Semper Paratus" (Latin for "Always Ready") -- was "firstest with the mostest" and began providing emergency assistance within hours of the Tuesday night quake. The White House quickly ordered reinforcements. A veritable armada -- consisting of U.S. Navy ships and aircraft, Air Force cargo and aeromedical flights, a brigade of the...

Suspect's dad: FBI 'dropped the ball' on warning signsReported by: David Goins Last Update: 11/24 7:58 am The father of the man charged with shooting two soldiers in Little Rock is speaking out. He says his son, Abdulhakim Muhammad, was manipulated by Islamic extremists overseas and the FBI knew it but didn't step in before it was too late. Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis looks at what his son is accused of doing at the Army Recruiter Station in Little Rock last June the same way he looks at foiled terror plots in Dallas, and the Fort Hood shootings earlier this...

Man could face death penalty for slaying of soldier in ArkansasBy The Associated Press Story Updated: Aug 1, 2009 at 3:30 PM CDT LITTLE ROCK, Ark., -- Prosecutors say they'll seek a death penalty against a man accused of killing a soldier outside an Army recruiting center. Abdulhakim Muhammad pleaded not guilty on Friday at a Pulaski County court hearing to charges that he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long. The judge set a trial date of Feb. 15. Muhammad's lawyer says his client is in good spirits but wouldn't say whether his client's calls to reporters to claim...

Capital murder charge filed in Army recruit killingBy: Associated Press - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 07/23/2009 LITTLE ROCK—Prosecutors have filed a capital murder charge against a man who confessed to killing one soldier and wounding another outside an Army recruiting center in Little Rock. Abdulhakim Muhammad, 24, is also charged with attempted capital murder and 10 counts of firing a gun from a vehicle. Muhammad is accused of fatally shooting Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. Both had just finished basic training and were outside the recruiting center June 1 when Muhammad drove...

UPDATE: Army recruiting shooter declines name changeLast Update: 6/30 7:20 pm The man charged with shooting two Army recruiters, killing one of them, says in court Tuesday he no longer wants to change his name. It was part of a civil hearing for Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, who also faces a capital murder charge for his accused act of domestic terrorism. FOX16 News was the only station at the hearing. Pulaski County prosecutors are still working on filing formal criminal charges against Abdulhakim Muhammad. Muhammad didn't appear to know which way to go stepping into the hallway on the fourth floor...

Man charged in GI killing declines to change name BY JOHN LYNCH ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE The Muslim convert who is charged with killing one U.S. Army soldier and wounding a second outside a Little Rock recruiting station made a brief appearance in Pulaski County Circuit court on Tuesday to resolve his request to change his name. Prosecutors have yet to file a criminal case against Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad over the June 1 shooting that killed Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville. Little Rock police have charged the 23-year-old Tennessee native with capital murder...

On a Sunday morning in Wichita, Kan., a man is murdered while attending church. The killing is immediately labeled a "hate crime" and an act of "domestic terrorism." The news media is outraged. Television networks act as if the man was a martyr, and the story is front-page news in every newspaper in the country. Attorney General Eric Holder orders the U.S. Marshal's Office to increase security around the slain man's business and around similar businesses. Later he announces that the Justice Department will launch a federal investigation into the murder to see if it was a conspiracy. The next...

Narrative from the first person by Gunsareok with considerable and insightful input from BufordP and Mr. and Mrs. Trooprally. If the public were asked to identify George Tiller, aka Tiller the Baby Killer, there’s little doubt that, after the “mainstream” news coverage of last week, many would be able to do so. But what about Private William Long, killed at a Little Rock Army recruiting center just a day after Tiller was killed at church? And no doubt that fewer still would be able to identify Private Quinton Ezeagwula, severely wounded in the same incident. This was the motivation for...

ASHEVILLE, NC—Bernard von NotHaus, 65, formerly of Evansville, Indiana, and two additional defendants from Evansville, along with William Kevin Innes, 53, of Asheville, North Carolina, have been indicted in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on conspiracy and other charges in connection with an alleged unlawful operation to publish, possess and sell for profit, coins in resemblance and similitude to U.S. coins. All four defendants are also charged in the alleged conspiracy with uttering and passing, and attempting to utter and pass, a coin of silver in resemblance of genuine coins of the United States in...

The day before he died, U.S. Army Pvt. William Andrew "Andy" Long floated the Buffalo River with his sister, Vanessa Rice.Rice tearfully told guests: "My brother meant the world to me. Andy couldn't wait to get to Korea to serve his country."Long was killed outside a recruiting office.The church was filled with family and friends, armed service members, and officials, including Gov. Mike Beebe and Rep. Vic Snyder.Long is a fourth-generation armed services member. Long's father, Daris Long, is retired from the Marine Corps."No one is more military, no one is more patriotic than this family right here," "I asked...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 Arkansas Jihadist Admits Killing US Soldier in Little Rock- Says There Was No Crime (Video) The Arkansas jihadist Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad says he was justified in killing US soldier Private William Long in cold blood. He said there was no crime. He said he was justified in killing the soldier. FOX News has more: "Yes, I did tell the police upon my arrest that this was an act of retaliation, and not a reaction on the soldiers personally," Muhammad said. He called it "a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah,...

The day before he died, U.S. Army Pvt. William Andrew “Andy” Long floated the Buffalo River with his sister, Vanessa Rice. If he had his way, she said, the pair would have gone skydiving. “I’m so blessed to have had that day with Andy,” Rice tearfully told guests at her brother’s funeral Monday at Harlan Park Baptist Church in Conway. “My brother meant the world to me. Andy loved to be outdoors, to travel, and he couldn’t wait to get to Korea to serve his country.” The service was followed by a burial with full military honors Monday at the...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A judge has issued a gag order in the capital murder case against the man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another at a military recruiting office in Arkansas. Judge Alice Lightle issued the order Monday after prosecutors requested it to block court officials and police from discussing the case

Little Rock, Ark.- A muslim convert charged with fatally shooting an American Soldier at a military recruiting center said Tuesday that he doesn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the middle East justified it. I do feel I'm not guilty abdulhakim muhammad told the assocaited press

CONWAY, Ark. -- A soldier shot and killed at a military recruiting office in Arkansas last week was laid to rest Monday, though what his headstone will eventually read is still unknown. Pvt. William Andrew Long's family must still decide whether his tombstone lists him as the first soldier to die at the hands of a terrorist since Sept. 11, 2001. Police say Long was shot and killed June 1 by Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, a Muslim convert, at a recruiting center at a suburban Little Rock strip mall. Muhammad, who also allegedly injured another Army private, targeted soldiers "because of...

<p>Little Rock - Army Private William Long was to have been on his way to his first posting today when, instead, he was being eulogized in his hometown.</p> <p>Long, from Conway, was killed June 1 outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock where he had volunteered to tell others about his military experience. A Muslim convert once imprisoned in Yemen has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in Long's death. He allegedly told police he targeted Army personnel "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past."</p>

The case has attracted high-level attention, with President Obama saying Thursday in a written statement that he was "deeply saddened" by the shootings.