Though the story has dropped off most mainstream radars, Abdulhakim Muhammad continues to navigate the judicial system to trial.  Muhammad is accused in the 2009 killing of a US Army Soldier and the wounding of one other in a shooting outside a military recruiter’s office in Arkansas.

Muhammad is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2009 shooting death of Pvt. William Long and attempted capital murder in the wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula. He has told The Associated Press the shooting was revenge for American killings of Muslims.

Muhammad has indicated he wanted to start a terrorist cell in the US.  The claim appears to be an effort to move his trial to federal court.

When Muhammad was arrested minutes after the shootings, he told police that he was acting alone and that the ambush was a “jihad” in retaliation for what he believed was a war on Islam by the U.S. Seven months later, in a letter from jail, he claimed to be linked to a Yemen-based al-Qaida affiliate.

The local prosecutor has dismissed Muhammad’s assertions as “ridiculous.”

“He’s nothing but a street thug and this is just a drive-by shooting. That’s our position and we’re sticking to it,” [Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry] Jegley told The Associated Press.