![Americans charged with planning LA terror attacks plead not guilty](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] Levar Haley Washington and Gregory Vernon Patterson, both pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that they planned terrorist attacks in Los Angeles [JURIST report]. Washington said that he pled not guilty "[i]n the name of Allah." The two were held without bail after their pleas were heard. The intended targets in the LA area are said to include military facilities and the Israeli consulate. Hammad Riaz Samana and Kevin James, a prisoner in California, also face counts that include conspiracy to wage war against the US government through terrorism together with Washington and Patterson. The prosecution's theory of the case asserts that James, the founder of radical Islamist prison group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh [Los Angeles Times report], was the mastermind behind the plot and recruited the others to survey military sites, synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and El Al airlines in the LA area. All four men are American born. AP has more.