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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has denied a motion by two Minnesota men convicted of plotting to go to Syria to join the Islamic State group who wanted to be evaluated by a German de-radicalization expert.
Abdirahman Daud and Guled Omar face possible life sentences after being found guilty by a jury last month. The expert's de-radicalization program was offered to six other defendants who earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who pioneered use of the program, denied Daud's and Omar's motions on Tuesday.
The program was developed by Daniel Koehler, who works with neo-Nazis and other extremists.
Davis says court personnel have now been fully trained in Koehler's risk-assessment methods, so there's no need to hire Koehler to evaluate Daud and Omar for the presentence investigation.
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This story has been corrected to show that that judge's order denied the defendants' request to be evaluated by the German expert, not to participate in a program, and to correct that they were convicted last month, not in May.
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