A Massachusetts jury convicted a man local man in the conspiracy to kill and behead Pamela Geller following the 2015 terrorist attack at the “Draw the Prophet” art contest in Garland Texas.
The jury found David Wright guilty on all charges relating to the case. Those include conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, the Associated Press reported.
During a separate trial last year, co-conspirator Nicholas Rovinski pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. In Wright’s trial, Rovinski testified that Wright told him that Geller “deserved to be beheaded” because she insulted Mohammed.
Wright, 28, faces up to life in prison for his role in the plot. Prosecutors said the man conspired with his uncle, Ussamah Rahim and a third man to kill Geller because they were angered by her organizing the Muhammad art contest in Texas.
Rahim told Wright in a recorded phone conversation that he “couldn’t wait to attack Geller.” He later told his nephew that he decided to attack “those boys in blue” instead. Wright responded saying the plan to attack the police was “beautiful,” prosecutors stated. He then instructed his uncle to delete all data from his computer before carrying out the attack.
A short time later police in Boston killed Rahim after he lunged at them with a knife.
Wright tried to claim he didn’t think his uncle was serious about the plot. “I didn’t want my uncle to get hurt. I didn’t want law enforcement to get hurt,” Wright said during his testimony. “I lost someone who was very close to me because I was so deluded and self-centered that I couldn’t see beyond my own need for attention.”
The jury apparently chose to believe the prosecution’s theory that Wright led the conspiracy and recruited his uncle and other people to help in the attack.
Prosecutors tied the conspirators to Hunaid Hussain, an Islamic State group member. The ISIS hacker was later killed in an airstrike in Syria, prosecutors stated.
The third man in the conspiracy in Boston pleaded guilty in 2016. Nicholas Rovinski awaits sentencing where he faces between 15 and 22 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Siegmann told the jury that Wright was “committed to ISIS, and knew exactly what he was doing.”
Breitbart Texas broke the news of the terror attack on May 3, 2015, from the scene at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. The two terrorists were killed shortly after getting out of their car and opening fire on police officers providing security for the event. The terrorists wounded one of the security guards before police officers should return fire.
The police officers quickly responded, killing both of the terrorists before they could reach the auditorium where Geller and the attendees were wrapping up the art contest.
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