Judge sentences would-be Chicago bar bomber to 16 years

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has handed an Illinois man a 16-year prison sentence for trying to kill hundreds of people by detonating a car bomb outside a Chicago bar in 2012, saying she factored in his mental health in imposing a sentence much lower than prosecutors requested.

The sentence announced Monday in Chicago for 25-year-old Adel Daoud includes time for later attempting to have an FBI agent killed and for slashing an inmate with a shiv for taunting him with a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad.

Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman criticized the FBI for appearing to take advantage of Daoud’s extreme immaturity in 2012, when he was 18. And she said prosecutors were wrong to continually challenge clear indications Daoud suffered from mental illness.

Prosecutors wanted a 40-year term. The defense wanted him released as soon as 2021.