Adel Daoud, 18, is charged with plotting to bomb a downtown bar. (Credit: CBS)
Updated 10/11/12 – 3:43 p.m.
CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban teen has pleaded not guilty to allegedly trying to set off what he thought was a car bomb next to a Chicago bar.
Dressed in orange jail clothes, Adel Daoud looked cheerful during Thursday’s arraignment. He even joked to Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman about the maximum life sentence he faced, telling her it couldn’t be longer.
Asked how he pleaded, the bushy-haired Hillside teen said politely, “Not guilty.”
The FBI arrested the 19-year-old in a sting operation last month. He allegedly believed the U.S. was at war with Muslims.
In court, he smiled and waved at his parents. His teary-eyed father, Ahmed Daoud, told reporters later his son is a good kid.
Attorney Thomas Durkin says he’ll argue the plot was the idea of agents, not his client.
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