Court won’t rehear appeal in Portland car-bomb plot

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A federal court says it won’t rehear an appeal from Mohamed Mohamud, the Somali American sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to bomb downtown Portland during the annual lighting of a Christmas tree.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mohamud’s conviction in a December ruling.

Mohamud’s attorneys sought to have the appeal heard before the entire bench, but the court denied the request Thursday.

Mohamud pressed a cellphone button in November 2010, believing it would set off explosives in a van. The bomb, however, was a fake provided by FBI agents posing as terrorists.

Mohamud’s attorneys say the teenager was a victim of entrapment – that he had no intent to commit domestic terrorism until he was persuaded by the agents.