Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
WILLIAMSPORT — “It closes a chapter in the book,” was the comment of a federal corrections officer after the inmate who stabbed him in the eye five years ago pleaded guilty. Dale Franquet Jr., his family and more than a dozen federal prison guards watched Tuesday in U.S. Middle District Court as Abdulrahman el Bahnasawy, an admitted ISIS sympathizer, entered the plea by video. He did so in a steel cage in the administrative security U.S. penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, with his attorney Andrew J. Frisch sitting outside. Bahnasawy, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts each of assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a prohibited object in prison. There was no plea agreement. He entered a conditional plea to a charge of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which in this case is ISIS. The plea to that count is conditional because Frisch contends there is no factual basis for it. U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann ordered briefs on the issue. The guilty plea will stand if the judge rejects the defense argument. The aggregate maximum sentence of all nine counts is 130 years, but the guideline range is 30 years to life. Bahnasawy is currently 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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey W. MacArthur noted Bahnasawy had been transferred to the Allenwood Federal Penitentiary about a month before he stabbed Franquet on Dec. 7, 2020. Had the case gone to trial, which was scheduled for jury selection on Nov. 17, the prosecutor said the evidence would have shown: About 6:10 a.m. Franquet opened Bahnasawy’s cell on the upper tier in a block to permit him to move about. He rushed at the correction’s officer, yelling “Allahu Akbar,” a term historically used by Muslims as a battle cry, and stabbed him in the neck near the jugular vein with a 14.5-inch-long piece of metal. Franquet pushed him away but was stabbed in the right eye, which later had to be removed. A female guard heard the commotion, went upstairs to the upper tier, and saw Bahnasawy only a few feet away. He swung the shank at her, puncturing a finger and the container of pepper spray she was holding, causing it to explode. Franquet went down the rear steps to a control station, followed a short time later by Bahnasawy. He displayed the weapon at the control station, where seven officers subdued him and took it away. A ballpoint pen converted into a weapon was discovered in Bahnasawy’s jacket when he was searched. A note found in Bahnasawy’s sock stated, “This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State. I’m one of their soldiers.” Jessica Joyce, a Justice Department lawyer from Washington who helped prosecute the case, reviewed other ISIS-related documents found in Bahnasawy’s cells since the assault. In one that was partially written in Arabic, he pledged allegiance to the commander of ISIS. She also listed the ISIS experts the government planned on having testify at trial related to the count to which a conditional plea was entered. Although Bahnasawy has a history of mental health issues, he waived his right to a competency hearing. He had been evaluated by defense and government experts who concluded he was not insane when he attacked Franquet. Brann in July found the native of Kuwait, who is a naturalized Canadian citizen, competent to stand trial. Franquet suffered a traumatic brain injury in addition to losing his right eye as a result of the attack. During a 2020 PennLive interview, Franquet said he was fighting for his life when he struggled with Bahnasawy. There was no doubt in his mind that the inmate was trying to kill him, he said. A doctor at the Geisinger Medical Center near Danville told him he came “within the width of a dime of being killed,” he said. Doctors tried to save his right eye but were unable to. Franquet, in early 2021, resumed being the head wrestling coach at Midd-West High School but has since given it up. He still has the Twisted Steel Training Center on his Snyder County property that contains two full-size wrestling mats and a batting cage. He included the batting cage for his daughters Mekenna, and Masyn, who play softball. Bahnasawy’s sentencing will not be scheduled until after Brann rules on the charge to which a conditional guilty plea was entered.
