Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
WILLIAMSPORT — The federal inmate who stabbed an Allenwood penitentiary corrections officer in the eye five years ago proposes to plead guilty without a plea agreement. That was made known Sunday when the attorney for Abdulrahman el Bahnasawy asked U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann to permit his client to plead guilty via video from prison. Andrew J. Frisch cites his client’s mental health issues as the reason he should be allowed to plead guilty by video instead of being transported to Williamsport. Bahnasawy is currently incarcerated in the maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, where he is serving a 40-year sentence for plotting in 2016 on behalf of ISIS to blow up the New York subway system, detonate bombs in Times Square and shoot people in public venues. Frisch states in a brief that Bahnasawy plans to plead guilty to the eight counts in the indictment related to the assault on Dale Franquet Jr. and on a female guard who came to his aid. He would enter a conditional guilty plea to the count that charges providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. That plea, according to Frisch, would be conditional on Brann determining before sentencing whether there is a factual basis and legally sufficient evidence for that charge. If the judge ruled in favor of the government, Bahnasawy could pursue an appeal, Frisch explained. No date has been scheduled for a guilty plea, but jury selection for what is anticipated to be a five-day trial is scheduled Nov. 17. The charges to which Bahnasawy proposes to plead guilty without condition are two counts each of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault on a federal officer, plus single counts of possession of a prohibited object. Bahnasawy is accused of stabbing Franquet in the eye with a 14.5-inch-long shank on Dec. 7, 2020, and assaulting a female corrections officer who came to his aid. The attack, which was captured on video, occurred as Franquet was walking down the “range” after unlocking the cell door to allow Bahnasawy out to move about. According to Franquet, the inmate came up behind him, yelling, “Allahu Akbar,” a term historically used by Muslims as a battle cry, stabbed him in the neck, and as they struggled in the eye that he later lost. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey W. MacArthur previously revealed a note found in the assailant’s sock following the assault stated: “This is a terrorist attack for ISIS.” MacArthur has filed notice that if the case goes to trial, he plans to call as witnesses experts on ISIS, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization. The proposed verdict form submitted by Frisch provides an option for jurors to find his client not guilty by reason of insanity. MacArthur opposes it.
