Justices uphold conviction for ‘millenium bomber’

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a man convicted of conspiring to detonate explosives at Los Angeles International Airport during the millenium holiday travel rush.

In its 8-1 decision, the court upheld Ahmed Ressam’s conviction on an explosives charge, one of nine convictions that resulted in a 22-year prison sentence. At issue was whether Ressam should be convicted of carrying explosives during the commission of another serious crime, in Ressam’s case, lying on a U.S. Customs form when he crossed the border at Port Angeles, Wash., in December 1999.

Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said that “the most natural reading” of federal law goes against Ressam.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had set aside Ressam’s conviction on the explosives count. The appeals court said the law required proof that the explosives were carried “in relation to” the underlying crime of filing a false form. Prosecutors established no such relationship, the appeals court said.

The case is U.S. v. Ressam, 07-455.