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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015
PAGE 3
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One of every four KU graduates has participated in Study Abroad. Check out the KU Study Abroad Fair tomorrow in the Kansas Union from 10:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m.
Defense claims entrapment in airport bomb plot
ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press
Associated Press
WICHITA — An FBI agent who befriended a man now accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack at a Wichita airport radicalized him and induced him to commit the crime, defense attorneys argued Monday.
Terry Loewen, a former avionics technician, was arrested in December 2013 when he allegedly tried to
bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at Mid-Continent Airport. His arrest capped a sting operation in which undercover FBI agents posed as coconspirators.
Loewen has pleaded not guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to use an explosive device to damage property and attempting to give material support to al-Qaida.
Defense attorneys contended
in a court filing Monday that the evidence of government entrapment is so strong that the indictment should be thrown out even before the case goes to a jury. They argued Loewen had no predisposition to commit the crime when the government began its investigation in June 2013.
Court documents detail Loewen's alleged conversations with undercover FBI agents. The discussions began with vague sentiments about his desire to commit "violent jihad" against the U.S. before turning into a detailed, concrete plot in which agents recruited him to use his airport access to plant a bomb in a martyrdom operation.
Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas, said prosecutors will review the defense filings and respond to the court.
The defense noted that Loewen told the first undercover agent that he was
the only person with whom he had had any contact with about jihad. Loewen also told the undercover agents he knew nothing about explosives.
Defense attorneys also argued that the indictment should be dismissed due to violations of Loewen's First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion and association.
In a separate filing, his attorneys asked the court to suppress any evidence seized from his vehicle on the day of
his arrest, because they say the search warrant wasn't good for that day.
In a third filing, Loewen's attorneys argued that because the explosives were inert and the bomb would not explode, the weapon did not meet the legal definition of a "destructive device." They asked the court to dismiss the counts related to the attempted use of weapon of mass destruction and attempted use of explosive device.
Kansas activists push to ban abortion procedure
TOPEKA — Kansas abortion rights activists say a proposal to ban a specific abortion procedure could end up establishing broader restrictions.
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee conducted a hearing Monday on a bill that would ban the procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Kansas already bans most abortions at or after the 22nd week of pregnancy. The new measure could prevent some pregnancies from being terminated earlier.
Kathy Ostrowski of Kansans for Life told the committee the procedure was cruel to the fetus and should be banned.
Julie Burkhart of the Trust Women Foundation said the ban would endanger women's health and lead to additional costs due to legal challenges.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has said that he would sign the bill if it passed.
NICHOLAS CLAYTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Associated Press
Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director for the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life, holds up a model of fetus during a Kansas Senate committee hearing Monday at the Statehouse in Topeka. Her group is pushing a bill to ban a procedure that it describes as "dismembering a fetus."
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