Federal judge reduces sentence for Oakland terrorism defendant: report

SAN FRANCISCO -
 

A federal judge has reduced the sentence of an Oakland terrorism defendant who talked about wanting to kill 10,000 Bay Area residents by half, the Bay Area News Group first reported. 

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer re-sentenced Amer Al-Haggagi to slightly more than six years, down from the more than 16-year prison term he handed down in 2019. 

Breyer’s decision came Wednesday morning, more than a year after the Ninth Circuit ruled Breyer "abused (his) discretion" in applying a terrorism enhancement to Al-Haggagi’s sentence, the newspaper reported.

The re-sentencing means Al-Haggagi will likely be released within eight months. Breyer urged the Bureau of Prisons to move him to a halfway house. 

The US Department of Justice originally charged Alhaggagi, then 22, in 2017, accusing him of knowingly attempting to provide services and personnel to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, between July and November of 2016, including opening social media accounts for the "use, benefit, and promotion of ISIS." 

Charles Breyer’s decision came just hours after news broke that his brother, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, will be retiring by the end of his term in June.