Prosecutor: Taheri-Azar Cannot be Charged with a Terrorist Offense

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

I've blogged a couple of times (here and here) about how, in my judgment, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar couldn't be prosecuted for a terrorist offense. I reasoned that North Carolina doesn't have a terrorism statute that can be brought to bear against him, and the federal sentencing enhancement for terrorism is inapplicable because no federal crime was committed. On Thursday, the district attorney who will be prosecuting Taheri-azar confirmed this analysis. A local news channel reports:

A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate will not face terrorism charges. Mohammad Taheri-Azar plowed his car through a popular student hangout earlier this month and injured nine people. Although some have called the incident an act of terrorism, Taheri-Azar will not be charged because North Carolina doesn�t have a terrorism statute. . . . [District attorney Jim] Woodall said Taheri-Azar will be charged to the full extent of North Carolina criminal law, but cannot charge him without statutes concerning terrorism. When asked if he thinks North Carolina should add terrorism laws, Woodall said he would leave that up to state legislators.

I've expressed skepticism about whether Taheri-azar truly had terrorist motivations. Nonetheless, his own words suggest that he very well may have. I believe the prosecutor should have the ability to charge him with a separate terrorist offense or seek a sentencing enhancement if Taheri-azar's motivations prove to be related to terrorism. Hopefully state legislators -- not just in North Carolina, but in other states as well -- will indeed take this issue seriously. A chart produced by the American Prosecutors Research Institute in October 2003 suggests that at least 22 states beyond North Carolina lack terrorism statutes that could apply in cases such as Taheri-azar's.

There may well be future terrorist acts or attempts in which no federal law is violated. In such cases, the states should be prepared to seek greater punishment for those with terrorist motivations.

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