David Headley’s plea bargain in US bars extradition to India, Pakistan, Denmark

MUMBAI: “Mr Headley is a terrorist,” Judge Harry Leinenweber of the US district court, Northern District of Illinois (NDI), had said while sentencing the US national of part Pakistani descent on January 24, 2013. David Headley, then 52, was given 35 years in jail followed by five years of supervised release.
Headley has been behind bars since his arrest on October 3, 2009.He will be in his 80s upon his release. The US court said Headley will get no federal parole and he must serve at least 85% of the sentence, which means he could be out slightly earlier.
Headley’s deposition on video aside, he will be out of India’s reach despite his crucial role in 26/11. In a plea bargain agreement between Headley and Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney for NDI, where Headley used to reside while in the US, the terrorist pleaded guilty to all 12 charges against him, including plotting 26/11 and for conspiracy to murder and maim in Denmark. The agreement, signed in March 2010, not only helped him escape the death penalty, but also ensured that he had to pay a mere $1,200 in “criminal monetary penalty” against the maximum fine of $3million that his offences attracted.
ing with the US government since his arrest and has provided substantial assistance in terror probes; he agreed to “fully and truthfully cooperate in further proceedings”. In view of his past and expected future cooperation, the US attorney general had authorised the attorney general for NDI not to seek the death penalty against him. His deposition via video conference to an Indian court is part of his expected cooperation. The plea bargain referred to article 6 of the extradition treaty between the US and India, and other countries, and said Headley would not be extradited to “India, Denmark or Pakistan for any offences for which he has been convicted under the plea, including conspiracy to bomb places of public use in India.’’
The US has a set of sentencing guidelines that are advisory in nature. The 26/11 terror plot had a base level of 43 (applicable to first degree murder, which attracts the death sentence) but since Headley had ”intentionally selected victims and targets on the actual and perceived religion, national origin and ethnicity of persons (targets selected because they were in India) it merits a 3-point enhancement” (as per the prosecution) and because it involved a “federal crime of terrorism” an additional 12 points, and because of his special training and restraining of victims, attracted four more points, taking the matter to level 62.
But because Headley admitted to his guilt, the government sought a much lesser sentence (of 30-35 years) than the 62 points merited, arguing, “There is little question that life imprisonment would be an appropriate punishment for Headley’s incredibly serious crimes, but for the significant value provided by his immediate and extensive cooperation.”
Headley had been convicted in the US in 1988 of conspiracy to import heroin and sentenced the following year to four years’ imprisonment. Again, in 1997, he was sentenced by a New York court to 18 months for a drug import conspiracy.