Judge delays sentencing Ohio man who plotted US attacks

COLUMBUS (AP) — A federal judge on Friday delayed by a few days the sentencing of an Ohio man who plotted to kill military members in the U.S. following a delay in the case when a previous judge withdrew.

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, who was born in Somalia and came to the U.S. as a child, was arrested in 2015 and pleaded guilty to plotting those attacks after becoming radicalized in Syria. The attacks were never carried out.

Judge Michael Watson said without explanation he was delaying sentencing until Monday morning. Mohamud's attorney, Sam Shamansky, said it was a complicated case that needed a few more days.

The government said Mohamud became a citizen to obtain a U.S. passport. He bought a ticket to Greece with a stop in Turkey, where he disembarked before going to Syria, prosecutors said in court documents. They said he never intended to go to Greece.

Prosecutors, who are seeking a 23-year sentence, said Mohamud wanted to travel to Texas and capture three or four soldiers and execute them. They said Mohamud, now 26, was trained in Syria and tried to cover up dangerous terrorist activity.

Shamansky, in asking for leniency, has said Mohamud had realized "the immoral and illegal nature of terrorist ideology" and abandoned any plans to engage in terrorism.