At a hearing today, Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania woman facing terrorism charges and allegedly known as ‘Jihad Jane’ online, is expected to change her plea to guilty, CNN reports. The government alleges that LaRose used the Internet to recruit people for violent global Jihad, and that she planned to murder the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.
“She is going to plead guilty,” LaRose’s lawyer Mark Wilson told CNN on Friday. A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for today in a Philadelphia federal court. Wilson said he still expects LaRose to be sentenced to prison.
LaRose was indicted in 2009 and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft.
Vilks, the cartoonist, drew Mohammed with the body of a dog in 2007.
A source told CNN that LaRose has been held in a special housing unit of a federal detention center since October 2009, and spends 23 hours a day isolated in her cell.
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Eric Lach
Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website’s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl(at)talkingpointsmemo.com
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