Would-be Miami synagogue bomber negotiating plea deal

A South Florida man charged with plotting to bomb a Miami-area synagogue and Jewish school is negotiating a plea agreement, his defense attorney says.

James Medina, 41, has been negotiating with prosecutors on a proposed guilty plea, The Associated Press reports, citing court papers filed last week. He originally had pleaded not guilty.

The FBI arrested Medina, a convert to Islam from Hollywood, on April 29, 2016, while he was approaching the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center with what he believed was a bomb. An FBI informant had furnished Medina with the real looking but fake bomb.

Medina’s family and attorney have said he is mentally ill and has previously been committed to a psychiatric hospital.

— JTA