Man to answer charges in NYC pipe-bomb terror case

[March 13, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A Muslim convert is due to answer rare state-level terror charges after being accused of building a pipe bomb in New York City to try to attack police, soldiers and other government targets.

Jose Pimentel is set to be arraigned Tuesday in a Manhattan court. A grand jury indicted him last month on charges including weapons possession and conspiracy as terror crimes. The terror charges reflect a New York state law passed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The indictment says the 27-year-old Dominican immigrant conducted computer research on bomb-making, made shopping trips to secure supplies and finally started assembling a pipe bomb before his Nov. 19 arrest.

Defense lawyers Lori Cohen and Susan Walsh say police overreached and used a self-serving informant to go after a down-on-his-luck loner.

[Associated Press]

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