Man in Wrigleyville Bomb Plot to be Sentenced

Its now up to a federal judge to decide the fate of a 25-year-old Lebanese immigrant who planted a fake bomb in Wrigleyville more than two years ago.

Sami Samir Hassoun headed to his sentencing hearing Thursday after pleading guilty to two explosive charges as a part of his plea deal with the government, according to the Huffington Post Chicago. Before accepting the deal, he would have faced a maximum life sentence, but now he faces 20 to 30 years in prison.

Undercover FBI agents gave the fake bomb to Hassoun in September 2010, then watched him drop it into a trash bin near Sluggers World Class Sports Bar just steps from Wrigley Field. They arrested him moments later.

The defense depicts Hassoun as a gullible young man talked into the terrorist plot by FBI agents during an alcohol-fueled stretch of his life, the Associated Press writes.

But according to the defense, Hassoun had a hand in the attack and chose Sluggers because it would inflict the most amount of damage.

"He selected the day and time at which to strike – midnight on a Saturday night – to maximize the number of prospective casualties," a prosecutor said. They added that he walked away expecting "chaos and carnage."

Read the rest of The Huffington Posts’ story here.