Sami Samir Hassoun Sentenced: Would-Be Wrigleyville Backpack Bomber Gets 23 Years

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Sami Samir Hassoun Sentenced: Would-Be Wrigleyville Backpack Bomber Gets 23 Years

CHICAGO — A federal judge raised the specter of the Boston Marathon Thursday as he sentenced a young Lebanese immigrant to 23 years in prison for placing a backpack he believed contained a powerful bomb along a bustling city street near the Chicago Cubs' baseball stadium.

Everyone observing Sami Samir Hassoun's sentencing at a crowded federal courtroom in Chicago could not help but think of the bombs that went off a month ago concealed backpacks on the East Coast, killing three people and wounding hundreds more, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said.

"Let's give the elephant in the room a name: It's called the Boston Marathon," he said. "What would have happen had (Hassoun's) bomb been real would have made Boston look like a minor incident."

Earlier, prosecutor Joel Hammerman held up the ominous-looking but harmless device fashioned from a paint can that Hassoun put in a trash bin near Wrigley Field, placing it in front of the judge. Hassoun was told by agents, the prosecutor said, that it would destroy half the city block and kill dozens of people.

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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/30/sami-samir-hassoun-senten_n_3359234.html