Man gets 24 years for Dallas bomb plot

DALLAS – A Jordanian man caught in an FBI sting trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper was sentenced Tuesday to 24 years in prison after telling the court he was ashamed of his actions and renouncing al-Qaida.

Hosam Smadi, 20, faced up to life in prison but received a reduced sentence after pleading guilty in May to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Just before being sentenced, Smadi addressed the court.

“I’m so ashamed for what I did. I’m very sorry for my actions,” Smadi said. “I could not live with myself if I had hurt anybody.”

Smadi acknowledged leaving what he thought was a truck bomb in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place building in September 2009. Smadi said he parked the truck, activated a timer connected to the decoy provided by undercover FBI agents, then rode away to watch the explosion.

Smadi dialed a cell phone number from the roof of a nearby parking garage. The number was supposed to set off his truck bomb. It instead alerted tactical agents hiding in a stairwell, who swarmed the rooftop and arrested the teenager.