"Millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, whose original 22-year prison term was deemed too lenient by an appeals court, was re-sentenced to 37 years behind bars on Wednesday for a foiled New Year's Eve 1999 plot to set off explosives at Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal prosecutors who appealed the original punishment had asked the Seattle-based district judge presiding over the case to impose a new sentence that would require Ressam, an Algerian national, to spend the rest of his life in prison.
They argued Ressam deserved a much harsher penalty because he had reneged on an agreement to assist in the prosecution of other suspected militants and later recanted all his testimony and other statements to authorities.
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