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Headley will change his plea to guilty

Narayan Lakshman

Uncertainty over which charges will be taken up

WASHINGTON DC: David Coleman Headley, accused of doing background planning for the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, will change his plea to guilty on federal charges, a United States district court said.

Headley originally pleaded not guilty to 12 charges in connection with attacks in India; he is further charged with a plot to attack Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, which published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed. The attack, however, did not take place.

Headley was arrested by FBI agents in Chicago last October while trying to board a plane for Philadelphia

In a one-paragraph filing, the court said on Wednesday that Headley was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing for Thursday before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber. However, the filing offered no further clarification on which charges Headley would change his plea for.

Reports quoted John Theis, Headley's lawyer, as saying he and Headley “have been in discussions with the government,” and Thursday's action would reflect the results.

Deal for lenient sentence?

Vinay Kumar reports from New Delhi:

Fearing that a guilty plea will get him a lighter sentence, government sources say it will only strengthen suspicion that Headley, 49, may well have been a “double agent” working for U.S. agencies as well as for Pakistani terror outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The sources said such a sentence would be a matter of concern to India. If Headley's move of plea bargain succeeded, he might escape the maximum death penalty.

Headley, 49, had pleaded not guilty to the 12-count superseding indictment filed against him on January 14. He also faces six counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India and providing material support to foreign terrorist plots.

The sources said the deal being struck between Headley and the U.S. agencies was under a proffer agreement which allows the accused to strike a deal with the federal prosecutors — in this case the FBI — to get a lenient sentence in exchange of giving information.

A proffer agreement is a written one between federal prosecutors and individuals under criminal investigation. This permits these individuals to give the government information about crimes with some assurances that they will be protected against prosecution. Witnesses, subjects or targets of a federal investigation are usually parties to such agreements. However, proffer agreements are not complete immunity agreements.

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