Benghazi attack plotter found guilty

Militant convicted of terrorism, acquitted of murder charge

WASHINGTON — A Libyan militant accused of being a ringleader of the 2012 Benghazi attacks on U.S. facilities was convicted on terrorism charges Tuesday in the assaults that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But the jury found the militant not guilty of the most serious of the charges, including murder.

The jury in Washington, D.C., deliberated for five days after a seven-week trial before convicting Ahmed Abu Khattala, 46, in the attack the night of Sept. 11 at a U.S. diplomatic mission that killed Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith in a fire, and in a second attack that took place before dawn on Sept. 12 on a nearby CIA annex, where CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty were killed.

The jury acquitted Abu Khattala of all but four of the 18 charges against him.

At trial, his defense team said Abu Khattala was drawn to the fiery scene in his hometown as a bystander. They questioned the credibility of three Libyan witnesses who testified they saw or heard Abu Khattala take steps to plan, execute or claim responsibility for the attacks.

Prosecutors presented what they called “indisputable” records linking the times of calls on Abu Khattala’s cellphone and surveillance video from the diplomatic mission attack that they said showed he was at least a key plotter.

Abu Khattala was captured in June 2014 by U.S. commandos and interrogated for 13 days aboard a Navy warship that transported him to the United States.