National Security

NATO trial openings ask: Terrorists or goofs?

By Associated Press
Published January 22, 2014 5:00am ET
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NATO trial openings ask: Terrorists or goofs?
FILE - This combo made of undated file photos provided by the Chicago Police Department shows from left, Brent Vincent Betterly, of Oakland Park, Fla., Jared Chase, of Keene, N.H., and Brian Church, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, at Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago at the trial of the three men, who are charged under Illinois terrorism statutes with plotting Molotov cocktail attacks during the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago. (AP Photo/Chicago Police Department, File) | AP

CHICAGO — Three activist defendants were portrayed by prosecutors in Tuesday’s opening statements for the first trial under Illinois terrorism statutes as serious terrorist wannabes, and their defense team painted them as alcohol-addled mopes who, at worst, contemplated an act of vandalism.

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Associated Press Chicago Illinois Terrorism