Man gets 18 years in Seattle terror plot

A man who plotted to attack a Seattle military complex with machine guns and grenades was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, 35, was also given 10 years of supervised release by federal Judge James Robart. Prosecutors had argued for a 19-year sentence with lifetime supervision following release, saying he was in charge of major aspects of the planned attack.

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Abdul-Latif previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kill US officers and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

He is said to have not been given a life sentence because of problems in the investigation of his crimes, including a deceitful informant and a detective who destroyed evidence.

Robart called the destruction of evidence by the informant — a five-time convicted sex offender paid more than $100,000 — and the detective "at-best sloppy," but also rejected the idea that the informant "manufactured" the terror plot. Hours of recordings showed that Abdul-Latif was in fact the mastermind behind the idea.

The terror plan was to storm the East Marginal Way South center with Los Angeles-resident Walli Mujahidh and the informant, where they would open fire with automatic weapons and grenades on Department of Defense workers and new recruits headed to basic training in order to kill as many as possible before being killed or caught.