Taliban John Pleads Guilty to Two Charges

July 15, 2002

ALEXANDRIA, Va.  — John Walker Lindh, the California man captured while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to two charges Monday in a surprise deal that will spare him from spending the rest of his life in prison.


"There is a change in plea," defense attorney James Brosnahan told a surprised U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III on Monday morning.

Walker pleaded guilty to one charge of supplying services to the Taliban and another charge, not originally in the indictment, that he carried explosives in the commission of a felony.

Under terms of his deal with prosecutors, Walker, 21, will be out of jail before he turns 42. He has agreed to serve two 10-year prison sentences and will cooperate fully with U.S. authorities in their terror investigation.

Walker, who was captured in early December, had been charged with 10 federal crimes, including conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, contributing services to Al Qaeda and the Taliban and using firearms during crimes of violence.

Three of the 10 counts could have carried maximum terms of life imprisonment for Walker, who was transferred to civilian custody in late January. His trial was set to begin on Aug. 26.

Brosnahan told the court a deal was completed late Sunday night, on the eve of a hearing that was going to determine whether statements Walker made to interrogators after his capture would be admissable in court.

Brosnahan did not immediately detail the specific pleas to each count or the terms of the deal, and the judge was explaining the consequences of a guilty plea to Walker before any pleas were accepted.

The stunning announcement came as Walker's lawyers prepared to make a critical attempt to disqualify his own statements about Al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden from the case.

The judge had opened the hearing by discussing procedures for protecting the identity of confidential witnesses in the proceedings planned for this week.

Ellis stopped when the defense attorney announced the plea change.

With his parents and younger sister seated behind him, Walker rose in his green prison jumpsuit to face the judge, who asked him whether he wished to waive his right to trial.

"Yes, sir," Walker responded.

Ellis then declared, "the court finds John Lindh fully capable and competent."

The judge asked Walker a series of standard questions about his background.

"I attended some college in California as well as Yemen," Walker explained in a soft voice.

The judge asked him to speaker louder. "Do you feel as though you can make a decision about your future today?" Ellis asked.

"Yes," Walker said.

Lindh, 21, from Marin County, Calif., broke onto the American scene in December when he was discovered among Taliban prisoners captured in Afghanistan.

With long hair and a beard, he gave a hospital bed interview to a freelance TV reporter describing his allegiance to the Taliban.

In military interrogations, he also claimed to have met Usama bin Laden, government lawyers claim.

It was those statements that his lawyers were seeking this week to keep out of the trial before the deal was reached.
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