Jury to resume deliberations in New York City bombing trial

The Afghanistan-born Rahimi is charged with setting off a bomb in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood on Sept. 17, 2016, that injured 30 people and planting another bomb four blocks away that did not go off. (Photo By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use)

NEW YORK — A jury that says it is close to a verdict is set to resume deliberating the fate of a man charged with setting off a bomb in Manhattan last year that injured 30 people.

Jurors will return to work Monday morning in the trial of 29-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahimi, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. They told Judge Richard M. Berman late Friday that they were close to a consensus before going home.

The Afghanistan-born Rahimi is charged with setting off a bomb in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood on Sept. 17, 2016, that injured 30 people and planting another bomb four blocks away that did not go off. Prosecutors said a pipe bomb he placed along a charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, was part of his plan to kill Americans with weapons of mass destruction. The New Jersey bomb did not injure anyone, in part because the race was delayed by late entrants.

Rahimi pleaded not guilty after his arrest two days after the September 2016 attacks following a shootout with police in New Jersey that left him hospitalized for weeks. He has been held without bail since his arrest.

Sabrina Shroff, one of his defence lawyers, has told jurors that he should be acquitted of at least three of the eight charges against him. If he is not, he could face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors said Rahimi was inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida to plan the bombings after he began following terrorist propaganda in 2012.

Jurors were shown dozens of videos that captured Rahimi walking the streets of Manhattan to where each of the bombs was placed. Prosecutors said he paused three times along the way because the bombs contained timers and he needed to meet the schedule he had set.