Ex-Coast Guard officer seeks review of terrorism sentence

<p>RICHMOND, Va. &mdash; A former Coast Guard lieutenant accused by prosecutors of plotting to kill members of Congress to advance a white nationalist agenda is asking an appellate court to vacate his guilty plea after a judge ruled that his crime was an act of terrorism.</p>
<p>Christopher Hasson of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty in 2019 to firearms offenses. But at his sentencing hearing, the judge applied a “terrorism enhancement” that resulted in a 13-year prison sentence. Without the terrorism enhancement, sentencing guidelines would have resulted in a term of about four years.</p>
<p>Hasson was never charged under a terrorism statute, and his lawyers say the terrorism enhancement was wrongly applied. They say he never intended to carry out any killings.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say that plotting to kill members of Congress is exactly the type of crime for which a terrorism enhancement should apply.</p>
<p>Hasson’s lawyers are scheduled to make their case Friday afternoon to a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. In court papers, they ask the panel to either vacate Hasson’s guilty plea or order a new sentencing hearing. </p>