April 7th, 2010
02:42 PM ET

Colorado mom pleads not guilty in terror case

A Colorado woman indicted on terror charges pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Wednesday in federal court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez faces federal charges that she conspired to support terrorists overseas.

She was mostly expressionless at the hearing and nodded her head to indicate her not guilty plea rather than saying it aloud. She was wearing a green jumpsuit. Her attorney said she is 12 weeks pregnant.

Paulin-Ramirez, who was indicted Friday, is being held in a federal detention center in Philadelphia.

She had been arrested in Ireland in March, reportedly as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder. She was released without charges after that arrest.

The U.S. indictment against her also charges Colleen R. LaRose, a Pennsylvania suspect known as "Jihad Jane," with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. The indictment is a superseding document to a previous indictment that charged only LaRose.

She was arrested Friday afternoon in Philadelphia after voluntarily flying to the United States from abroad, authorities said.

Her lawyer, Jeremy Ibrahim, told CNN that his client "did what any law-abiding citizen would do if they knew they were facing charges back home - she came back with her (6-year-old) son."

Paulin-Ramirez, of Leadville, Colorado, had briefly appeared in court Friday.

She and LaRose are accused of traveling to Europe to support and participate in a "violent jihad," according to a statement from federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where the charges were filed.

Ibrahim told CNN that Paulin-Ramirez is pregnant. He said she married a man when she arrived in Ireland last fall, after meeting the man through the Internet.

Ibrahim said the man "courted her and told that he would take care of her and her son."

On Tuesday, the government filed a motion for a continuance in the trial of Paulin-Ramirez and LaRose, citing the complexity of evidence in the case, including the seizure of several computer hard drives. The trial was originally set for May.

The government's motion also called for a court order to schedule a pretrial conference among parties of the case to discuss discovery materials under the Classified Information Protective Act, known as CIPA.

Meanwhile, Paulin-Ramirez's son is in the custody of Pennsylvania Child Services.

Ibrahim has said Paulin-Ramirez is distraught over the welfare of her son. Her attorney said he has not yet been able to see the boy to check on his condition on behalf of his mother. He said he is trying to make arrangements for a phone call between mother and son. - CNN's Miguel Susana contributed to this report.

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Filed under: Terrorism • U.S.
soundoff (One Response)
  1. philipe12

    This gal is getting more attention than Osama BinLaden.

    April 7, 2010 at 5:57 pm | Report abuse |