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Walker Lindh plans to speak in courtPlea agreement forbids him to sell his story
From Susan Candiotti (CNN)
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- John Walker Lindh plans to address the court Friday at his sentencing hearing before he finds out how long he will spend in a federal prison, CNN has learned. The Justice Department has asked the court to order Walker Lindh to spend 20 years behind bars. The defense has said it will not ask Judge T.S. Ellis for less time. Friday's hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EDT. According to Walker Lindh's lawyers, the 21-year-old, who's come to be known as the "Taliban American," will exercise his option to address the court before hearing his sentence. The attorneys would not say whether he would offer an apology for his actions and declined to characterize his remarks in any way. On Thursday, Walker Lindh met with his parents, brother and sister at the jail where he is being held. He was the first American taken prisoner in Afghanistan as a Taliban fighter. In secret documents summarizing Walker Lindh's interrogations by U.S. troops and FBI officials, which were obtained by CNN, Walker Lindh said he turned down an offer to take part in suicide attacks against the United States, but he believed that as many as 50 operatives had been sent on missions against the United States and Israel. (Full story) Last July, Walker Lindh changed his plea to guilty to one count of supplying services to the Taliban and a criminal information charge that he carried a rifle and two hand grenades while fighting on the Taliban's front lines in Afghanistan against the Northern Alliance. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. If he had gone to trial and was found guilty of the government's original indictment, he could have spent the rest of his life behind bars. In return for the guilty plea, the government dropped all but one count of a lengthy criminal indictment including one of the most serious charges -- conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. CIA officer Johnny Michael Spann was killed during an uprising at a prison in which Walker Lindh and others were being held after their capture. Ellis is expected to rule from the bench on a motion from Spann's father to address the court during Walker Lindh's sentencing. Prosecutors have said Walker Lindh has been cooperating fully with the government since pleading guilty. Walker Lindh was returned to the United States last January. Under the terms of plea agreement, neither he nor any member of his family can accept money for selling his story. "The defendant hereby assigns to the United States any profits or proceeds which he may be entitled to receive in connection with any publication or dissemination of information relating to illegal conduct alleged in the Indictment, " states the agreement.
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