New Plea Expected For Md. Bomb Plot Suspect

Published January 26, 2012 8:27AM (EST)

BALTIMORE (AP) — A man accused of trying to detonate a phony bomb at a military recruiting center in suburban Baltimore is expected to enter a new plea.

Antonio Martinez, who was charged with attempted murder of federal officers and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, is scheduled for rearraignment Thursday in federal court. The 22-year-old originally pleaded not guilty, but rearraignments tend to indicate plans for a new plea.

Court documents detail a sting that allegedly caught Martinez trying to detonate a fake car bomb provided by the FBI in 2010.

Martinez's attorneys sought the dismissal of the charges, arguing that a lack of recordings of early meetings with an informant deprived him of potentially exculpatory evidence. Prosecutors said that statements recorded later corroborate his "guilty state of mind."


By Salon Staff

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