Appeals court halts release of Colorado terror suspect
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay barring the release of a terror suspect accused of providing material support to the Islamic Jihad Union pending a hearing.
The order, in the case against Uzbek Jamshid Muhtorov, was in response to an emergency appeal by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Holloway after a decision to release Muhtorov pending his trial.
The 10th Circuit order indicated that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not adequately explained how its appeal to halt Muhtorov’s pretrial release would succeed or why the government would be irreparably harmed without a stay.
The appeals court Monday will hold a hearing that will give Holloway an ophearing portunity to supplement his appeal.
Muhtorov’s defense team has until Friday to reply to the government’s request for a stay.
U.S. District Senior Judge John Kane had ordered Muhtorov’s release after he had been held for 5½ years without a trial. Muhtorov had filed a pro se motion seeking dismissal of charges claiming his Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy trial had been violated.
“The orders of this court are stayed pending any further order by the Court of Appeals of the 10th Circuit,” Kane announced in a Thursday.
Kane took care of procedural matters that will be moot until the appeals court rules. During the hearing, a federal probation officer announced that a $20,000 bond is set for Muhtorov.
Kane said that an inspection of the family home where Muhtorov would stay if he is released before the trial was conducted.
The officer found the home suitable for Muhtorov. “That condition has been met,” Kane said.
If the appeals court agrees with Kane that Muhtorov should be released until his trial, the terror suspect will be allowed to attend church services at a mosque every Friday.
Muhtorov was arrested by FBI agents at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago in January 2012 as he was preparing to board a flight to Turkey and allegedly join the terrorist organization. He had purchased a one-way ticket to Istanbul, where he planned to join the group’s propaganda cell.
Holloway has said there are no conditions or combination of conditions that would ensure public safety if Muhtorov is released pending his trial, which has been delayed until March.
The appeal for a stay indicates Muhtorov had planned to die while fighting as a terrorist after telling his daughter he would never see her again and telling a co-defendant that “only the best Muslims get to be martyrs.”
“Given Muhtorov’s expressed desire to join the IJU and forward its mission of terrorism, he is also plainly a threat to the public and others under any form of release,” Holloway’s appeal says.