After deadlocked juries resulted in two mistrials, a Florida jury has finally convicted five men of conspiring with Al Qaeda in the “Liberty Six” terrorism case. One man, Naudimar Herrera, was acquitted of the charges, while the group’s ringleader, Narseal Batiste, was charged on all four counts of terrorism. The FBI rounded up the men in a sting operation in 2006, when an FBI informant posed as an Al Qaeda member. Batiste and his men took footage of various FBI buildings for the informant, who promised to help Batiste in his plan to blow up Chicago’s Sears Building. The defense team said the informant’s actions were a “setup,” and no incriminating materials were found when the FBI raided the group’s warehouse at the end of the sting. Batiste faces up to 70 years in prison.
