Three of Newburgh Four sentenced 25 years

Three of four Newburgh, N.Y. men accused of plotting to blow up two Riverdale synagogues in 2009 were sentenced in Manhattan federal court this afternoon to 25 years in prison.

The fourth defendant, Laguerre Payen, is being sentenced separately pending the results of a psychological examination. 

Judge Colleen McMahon said that “the government did not infiltrate some nefarious plot,” but that James Cromitie, Onta Williams and David Williams “did sow a tremendous fear in the Riverdale community.”

Before the sentencing, each defendant addressed the court briefly.

David Williams singled out the community targeted in the planned attack.

“I want to apologize to the people of Riverdale,” he said.

Mr. Comitie also expressed remorse for his involvement.

“I’ve never been a terrorist and I never will be a terrorist,” he said, adding, “I got myself into this stupid mess.”

The men were arrested May 20, 2009 in Riverdale, after trying to plant explosives outside the Riverdale Jewish Center and Riverdale Temple. They had also planned to shoot missiles at military planes located at Stewart Air National Guard Base near Newburgh, N.Y.

The defendants sat almost motionless as the judge informed them they would spend the next quarter of a century behind bars. A brief murmur spread through a small room where a few dozen people, mostly supporters of the defendants, watched the proceedings on a television screen.

Defense attorneys had argued that an FBI informant “created the criminal, then manufactured the crime,” by convincing Mr. Cromitie to pursue terrorism and recruit followers. 

“There is some truth to that description of what transpired here,” Judge Colleen McMahon wrote in a May decision upholding their conviction.

She said she considered the defense’s argument in her decision to give the men 25 years instead of the life sentences prosecutors had asked for.

“All I’m doing in the end is giving theses men who did no harm to anyone … a chance to die outside the walls of a prison.”