Ahmed Abu Khattala, Benghazi suspect, convicted on 4 of 18 criminal charges

A federal jury acquitted Libyan militant Ahmed Abu Khattala of the most serious murder charges stemming from the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi but found him guilty Tuesday of other crimes, including providing material support to terrorists.

The mixed verdict found him guilty on four of the 18 charges, including maliciously destroying American property and carrying a semi-automatic weapon during a crime of violence. The convictions could earn him a lifelong prison sentence.

The trial was seen as a test for the civilian court system’s ability to handle a terrorism case, and even though Abu Khatalla was not convicted on all 18 counts, legal observers say, the case shows regular courts can handle these matters.

“There is nothing in the code of criminal justice that says all defendants have to be found guilty on all criminal charges,” said Karen J. Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law. “It shows that the system works and that juries can consider evidence separate from the political environment.”

Four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the mission compound and a mortar attack on a nearby CIA facility.

The assaults reverberated in Washington politics for years. Republicans faulting then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration of setting the stage for the violence and misleading the public afterward about terrorists’ involvement and the speed of the U.S. response.

Prosecutors said Abu Khattala orchestrated and encouraged the attack, directing his “hit squad” to storm the compound because he hated that Americans were operating a spy facility in his country.

The case against Abu Khattala relied in part on testimony from cooperating witnesses who claimed to have an understanding of his motivation. Evidence that tied him to the site of the attack was limited to grainy surveillance video of the compound, which showed him present at the mission only after its walls were breached, and cellphone records that indicated he was in constant contact with others seen on site during the attack.

The defense team countered that the 46-year-old Libyan mechanic went to the U.S. compound only to see what was going on after the security gates were breached and said there was no physical evidence tying him to the attack.

Michelle Peterson, his attorney, said it made no sense for Abu Khattala to hate America because he had fought alongside the U.S. against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Rather, she said, he was a deeply religious man who wanted Shariah law in his country.

“They want you to hate him. That’s what this case is about — presenting evidence in a way designed to get you to hate Mr. Abu Khattala,” Ms. Peterson previously said.

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and State Department information management officer Sean Smith died after the diplomatic compound was set on fire. Security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed in a separate mortar attack on a nearby CIA-run compound, where the evacuees from the mission took shelter.

Prosecutors charged Abu Khattala with four counts of murder of the Americans, but after five days of deliberation, jurors acquitted him of those charges.

Abu Khattala, who stared straight ahead in the courtroom as the verdict was read, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for four convictions. He was the first person to go on trial in the Benghazi attack.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boente said Abu Khattala’s arrest and prosecution were critical steps in the effort to identify and hold others responsible.

“Our work is not done,” Mr. Boente said. “We will not rest in our pursuit of the others who attacked our facilities and killed the four courageous Americans who perished that day.”

A second man, 46-year-old Libyan national Mustafa al-Imam, was captured in Libya as Abu Khattala was on trial and was brought to the U.S. to face three criminal charges related to the attack.

Mr. al-Imam was indicted this month on one count of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond.

Matthew G. Olsen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the Abu Khattala verdict shows the American criminal justice system “is fair, independent and tough when it comes to dealing with terrorists and that no one can escape justice if we put faith in our laws and institutions.”

In a statement issued after the verdict, CIA Director Mike Pompeo called the decision “a small measure of justice.”

“It took intelligence to find him, soldiers to assist in capturing him, law enforcement to interview him, and a legal team to put him away,” Mr. Pompeo said. “Khattala’s sentencing is to follow; but no term in prison will bring our people back.”

During the seven-week trial, one of the prosecution’s witnesses, who appeared under the alias “Ali,” testified that he received $7 million from the government for befriending Abu Khattala after the attack, providing details about his whereabouts and ultimately arranging the 2014 trip during which the military captured him.

Ali testified that he grew tired of working for the government and suggested at one point that he could just kill Abu Khattala instead of spying on him.

“If you are willing to kill for the United States government, is it that much of a stretch to say you would be willing to lie for them?” Ms. Peterson said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. DiLorenzo had argued that although Abu Khattala did not fire a shot during the attack or light the deadly fires, he helped direct the actions of others on the ground.

“There may be other participants, but they are acting in concert with his men,” Mr. DiLorenzo said during closing arguments in the case. “His army, his militia that operates outside the law, is the tip of the spear in this attack.”