Judge denies underwear bomber’s request to replace standby counsel

DETROIT, MICH.

A federal judge in Detroit refused to appoint a new lawyer for convicted underwear bomber Umar Farouk Ab-dulmjutallab, who says his standby lawyer has been ignoring him.

“You are representing yourself,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds told Abdulmutallab during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit. “So, you’re not even legally entitled to standby counsel. . . . I would say Mr. Chambers and his staff have done an extraordinary job in advancing your representation in this matter — far more than what standby counsel usually does and I see no reason to replace standby counsel.”

Abdulmutallab is to be sentenced Feb. 16 to a mandatory life prison for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner with more than 300 passengers aboard on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underwear. airline passengers will be allowed to address the court Jan. 19, the date Edmunds originally set for sentencing. She did so after prosecutors raised concerns that some passengers or crew members may have already made travel plans to be here on Jan. 19. Victims also will be allowed to speak on Feb. 16, the actual sentencing day.

The Nigerian student-turned-alQaeda-operative complained in a letter to Edmunds that his standby lawyer, Anthony Chambers, was neglecting his legal needs. Abdulmutallab said Chambers hadn’t visited him in months and that chambers and his staff had lied to Abdulmutallab and failed to provide legal documents he had requested.