The Muslim convert allegedly caught building a nail-filled pipe bomb with parts from Home Depot and Target stores in a heralded November arrest would never see daylight again under an indictment unsealed yesterday.
If convicted of the most serious charge against him — criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree as an act of terrorism — José Pimentel could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The Manhattan man also faces lesser charges of attempted weapons possession as an act of terrorism — a possible hedge against the loophole defense that his alleged “weapon” was just short of completion.
He is additionally charged with conspiracy as a crime of terrorism.
Defense lawyers decried the DA’s aggressive prosecution as “overreaching” and “manipulation,” claiming that the undercover cop who worked at Pimentel’s side led the “uneducated” suspect astray.