Hamid and Umer Hayat
Hamid Hayat (born September 10, 1983) is a United States citizen of Pakistani descent from Lodi, California. His father, Umer Hayat (born January 5, 1958), was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States in 1976; he is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Together, they were the subjects of the first terrorism trial in the state of California. Both were alleged to be part of, or associated with, a terrorist sleeper cell. In 2019, a judge recommended that the younger Hayat's conviction be overturned, citing an ineffective legal defense for Hayat who was defended by a lawyer who had never previously served in a criminal case in a federal court. The recommendation also cited a coerced confession obtained by the FBI, which one former agent described as the “sorriest confession” he had ever seen. The FBI responded that the portion of the interview critiqued by the former agent had been post-confession. The interview had continued beyond the confession in an effort to gain a better understanding of any terrorism threats and to fill in the intelligence picture. The former agent had also been requested, by the defense, to appear as an expert witness on terrorism but was deemed unqualified by the court. Specifically, his submission failed to demonstrate sufficient experience or skill in terrorism matters or investigations to appear on the stand. Terrorism charges and trial In June 2005, Hamid Hayat was arrested and charged with providing material support to terrorists, and of lying about it to FBI agents. The prosecution alleged that Hamid Hayat had spent the better part of two years at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, returning in 2005 with an intent to attack civilian targets in the United States. The defense contended that Hayat was in Pakistan to engage an arranged marriage. On April 25, 2006, a jury voted to convict Hamid Hayat of one count of providing material support or resources to terrorists and three counts of making false statements to the FBI in matters related to international or domestic terrorism. The maximum penalty for these charges is 39 years of imprisonment. Sentencing was set for July 14, 2006, before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. His father, Umer Hayat, was also arrested and charged with two counts of making false statements to the FBI regarding the investigation of his son and of certain members of the Muslim community of Lodi. The elder Hayat's charges ended in a hung jury. When faced with a retrial for the same offenses, he pled guilty in exchange for a release with time served. Debate The younger Hayat's conviction is controversial in some circles. Supporters of the Hayats contended that they were both innocent and had been railroaded by overzealous FBI agents and post-9/11 Islamophobia. They cited the occasionally outlandish nature of the confessions, especially the elder Hayat's in particular in which he described a supposed al-Qaeda training camp populated by a thousand men doing "pole vault" practice in ninja masks (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle masks, according