'Millennium bomber' sentence overturned; feds seek longer one

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted that a lower court did not use federal sentencing guidelines when it sent "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam to prison for 22 years, according to a release from the U.S. attorney's office in the Western District of Washington.

The federal guidelines indicate that Ressam, 41, should have received 65 years to life in prison, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The appeals court ordered the case be sent to a different judge for sentencing, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Circuit Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez dissented with the majority opinion, according to the office.

The court of appeals also said the lower court erred in its sentencing because it adopted the defense's views of Ressam's life history and valued his cooperation with law enforcement although he had recanted it, the statement said. The lower court did not address prosecutors' arguments that a longer sentence is needed to protect the public from Ressam, who would be only 53 at the end of the 22 years, the statement said.