A 22-year-old man from Ohio has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for an unexecuted terror plot to attack Washington D.C. and kill Barack Obama during the president's 2015 State of the Union address. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Christopher Lee Cornell pleaded guilty to criminal charges in August, including a charge of attempted murder of government officials and attempting to give support to terrorist groups.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Cornell found himself on the radar of federal authorities in 2014 when he began tweeting supportive messages about the terrorist group ISIS (also called IS and ISIL). Cornell later began to plot an attack on D.C. with an FBI informant, who said Cornell had never handled a gun, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. He was then arrested in January of 2015.
Cornell's lawyers attempted to paint him as a young person whose depression led him to be easily influenced by terrorist propaganda online, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
In March of this year, Cornell wrote a letter to his family stating, "I hope they can soon see the change in me, understand me, give me the help I need and allow me to get a second chance. I’m not a terrorist, a criminal or a bad person, I’m just a kid who suffered from problems, that made some bad decisions and stupid mistakes."
After being sentenced on Monday, Cornell left the courthouse and said the courts are "a rigged ass system. Allah's in control, not the judge."
