A federal judge on Friday reluctantly knocked more than eight years off the sentence of "a professional terrorist" arrested while transporting explosives on the New Jersey Turnpike.
U.S. District Judge Alfred J. Lechner said he "disagreed very, very seriously" with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Lechner had exceeded sentencing guidelines in 1989 when he sentenced Yu Kikumura to 30 years in prison.Kikumura sat slumped in a chair when Lechner handed down the maximum sentence allowed by the appeals court: 21 years and 10 months.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lacey argued that the sentencing guidelines were inadequate and asked Lechner to consider bumping the sentence back up to 30 years.