Prosecutors on Monday agreed to drop murder-for-hire charges against a daughter of Malcolm X in a deal that requires her to abandon her frame-up defense and seek drug and psychiatric treatment.
U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum accepted the settlement in a brief court hearing for Qubilah Shabazz, who had been scheduled for trial Monday morning on charges of plotting to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.The judge asked Shabazz if she understood that signing the agreement, known as a pretrial diversion, meant she gave up her right to a speedy trial.
"Yes, I understand that," Shabazz answered clearly, with defense attorney Percy Sutton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanne Graham standing at her side.
No details of the settlement were discussed in court.
"The settlement involves an affidavit where she accepts responsibility for her participation in the plot to kill Louis Farrakhan," said a source close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source said the trial has been deferred for two years on the condition that Shabazz participate in a two-year psychiatric and chemical dependency program. Shabazz would spend the first three months in a residential treatment program in Texas.
If Shabazz completes the program and remains law-abiding, the indictment would be dismissed.
If convicted, Shabazz would face up to 90 years in prison and a $2.25 million fine. She has been free on $10,000 bail.
Shabazz, who saw her father gunned down 30 years ago, is accused of trying to have Farrakhan killed because she believed the fiery minister had a hand in her father's assassination and was a threat to her mother.
The prosecution's case centered on secretly taped telephone conversations between Shabazz, 34, and an informant and a statement that Shabazz gave to FBI agents on Dec. 20.
The deal involves an acknowledgment that the FBI conducted a good-faith investigation, said the source.
"She acknowledged that her confession to the FBI was voluntary and substantially true," the source said.
In pretrial proceedings, the defense argued that the government informant, Michael Fitzpatrick, lured Shabazz into the plot.
Qubilah Shabazz was 4 when she and her three sisters accompanied their mother on Feb. 21, 1965, to New York City to hear Malcolm X speak. As they looked on, he was shot and killed.