WASHINGTON — Richard C. Reid, accused of trying to blow up a transatlantic passenger plane with explosives hidden in his shoes, intends to plead guilty if a federal judge in Boston will strike from the indictment any suggestion that he is an Al Qaeda-trained terrorist, his lawyers said Wednesday.
But federal prosecutors, caught off-guard by the surprise announcement, insisted that Reid is indeed a terrorist and said they would urge the judge to take the case to trial next month if Reid is trying to avoid a life sentence.
U.S. District Judge William G. Young said he will hold a hearing Friday on the proposed plea. He will decide how best to proceed in what is scheduled to be the first terror-related trial in the federal courts since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Talib, avoided trial by pleading guilty in July to aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is set to be sentenced Friday. And the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the attacks, was postponed for a second time this week. It is now scheduled to begin in June.
The unusual turn of events in the Reid case, just weeks before the start of his Nov. 4 trial, began when lawyers for the British-born Reid disclosed that he is ready to admit to the eight-count indictment filed against him that alleges he tried to ignite a bomb hidden in his sneakers during the American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.
"It is the defendant's intent to admit the facts constituting the elements of the offenses charged in those counts," his lawyers advised the judge.
"Namely, attempted use on Dec. 22, 2001, of a weapon of mass destruction against one or more United States nationals while such nationals were outside the United States, and attempted murder on Dec. 22, 2001, of one or more such United States nationals."
The defense filing asked the court to strike from the indictment two paragraphs discussing Reid and Al Qaeda.
"It was not the government's intent, as conveyed to [defense] counsel, to present evidence at trial on the allegations" in those paragraphs, the defense lawyers said.
Separately, the lawyers issued a brief statement to the public attempting to explain the personal reasons behind their client's motives for seeking to plead guilty.
"He wants to avoid the publicity associated with a trial and the negative impact it is likely to have upon his family," the statement said.
