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Still trying to understand why Republicans thought this was a game changer.
Now we can move on and act like it never happened
Anti-Islam Filmmaker Sentenced To One Year In Prison
Posted: Nov 07, 2012 6:36 PM CST
Updated: Nov 07, 2012 7:05 PM CST
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The filmmaker behind an anti-Islam YouTube video that was initially blamed for sparking deadly protests in the Muslim world admitted today violating his probation and was sentenced to a year in federal prison.
Mark Basseley Youssef, 55, who previously used the name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, admitted four allegations of using false iden ies, including having a California driver's license with a fake name. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors dropped four other allegations.
He had faced a possible sentence of two years behind bars for the eight probation violations.
Youssef pleaded no contest in 2010 to bank fraud charges for using phony Social Security numbers to open bank and credit card accounts, according to court do ents. He was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without prior authorization.
He was also prohibited from using fic ious names during his supervised release.
In court today, U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder said Youssef must spend 12 months behind bars, followed by four years of supervised release. Youssef has already been in custody for about five weeks.
As part of his plea deal, Youssef agreed to a proffer in which he would discuss with prosecutors his finances in detail, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale said.
While denying the 14-minute video clip "Innocence of Muslims" -- also known as "Desert Warrior" -- had anything to do with the probation matter, Dugdale said Youssef had "betrayed" the actors who appeared in the film by not telling them he was a "recently released convicted felon."
Also, before uploading the film -- which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and child abuser -- Youssef had dubbed inflammatory dialogue in place of words actually spoken by the actors, Dugdale said.
"He made that choice for other people," the prosecutor said.
Such behavior illustrated Youssef's "long-standing pattern of deception," Dugdale said.
According to papers filed in a separate case, Youssef, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian, wrote and produced the trailer, uploading the English-language version on YouTube on July 2, followed by a version dubbed in Arabic on Sept. 11.
"His deception actually caused real harm to people," Dugdale told the court, adding that at least one actress from the film feared for her life.
Others, he said, "believe their careers are ruined" as a result of their involvement in the video.
Defense attorney Steve Seiden, however, argued that as the prime mover behind the film, Youssef had the right to change dialogue, les and other facets of the production.
"The actors signed releases," he said.
Before his September arrest in Cerritos, Youssef had been in hiding as a result of deadly violence across the globe said to have been sparked by his film clip.
Protests that were initially blamed on the video broke out in August -- first in Egypt, then Libya, then throughout the Muslim world, including Pakistan, and dozens were killed in the unrest.
The clip's impact is in dispute. It was initially blamed for an attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11. But U.S. government officials have since blamed their deaths on terrorism coinciding with the anniversary of the 9/11 terror strikes.
At a previous probation hearing, Youssef denied using aliases or making false statements to the officer overseeing his court-ordered probation.
Federal prosecutors said Youssef lied when he told his probation officer that his role in the film was limited to writer.
Dugdale said today Youssef's criminal history also includes a previous drug conviction.
Read more: http://www.myfoxla.com/story/2003629...#ixzz2Bef0gQUi
Still trying to understand why Republicans thought this was a game changer.
clearly there are some hurt feelings that it wasn't.
The economy wasn't even a game changer. This was a values-based election -- the left's values.
So more people have those values. Get over it.
I want to know what board Republicans hoped this incident would do for their chances.
they had, and have, nothing on Bronco, so Fox Repug Propaganda machine starts spewing fabrications to slander Bronco with any old .
They were outraged that Obama didn't call it terrorism 5 minutes after it happened... not exactly sure why the whining, apparently the red team felt that it was a big deal.
Well, it was sort of a big deal. US embassies are US soil; the US came under attack; Americans died.
Neither Romney impromptu response nor Obama's shifting one did him credit. Otoh, the hysterical, media driven outrage and blithe conclusions of Obama's critics earned them little credibility either.
The GOP should think about that next time they decide to make those values issues. I guess it might be surprising to some that gay marriage and abortion aren't going to win you elections forever.
The latching onto this issue by the GOP and conservatives in general shows just how weak their case for Romney being better than Obama actually was. It was grasping at straws. I said the average voter didn't care about this and they still don't. Whether or not they should is debateable but the reality of the situation is that its not.
The economy might have been a more important issue if anyone had any clue how Romney/Ryan intended to fix it.
Tax cuts mother er.
5 point plan. Next time go with 6.
nothingburger offered; not accepted
Closing loopholes (but lets not worry about semantics like which loopholes), !
Yeah, the Republican primaries did a good job of making it a values based election. I said last year that Mitt Romney would probably win assuming two things, 1) he didn't have to talk about social issues in the primaries (I placed the chances of that at below 0) and 2) the job market stayed essentially flat, adding <100k jobs a month (in other words, if we were just treading water and the trend didn't start moving upward).
well neither requirement was met and so he lost.
The likes of Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Rick Santorum, etc. did their part scaring the left into defending their values. Sucks to suck.
Maybe the GOP will learn from it.
The attack itslef was a huge deal..
it was the 'outrage' about whether Obama called it a terrorist act or not was confusing to me... That line of whining never made sense to me..
GOP Senator Promises To Obstruct Obama Appointments Based On Non-Scandal
GRAHAM: I do reserve unto myself and other members of congress the ability to say no when justified. I cannot imagine promoting anybody associated with Benghazi at this point. …
SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean, would you try to lead a move to block her [Ambassador Rice] from getting the nomination if in fact she is nominated?
GRAHAM: I’m not entertaining promoting anybody that I think was involved with Benghazi debacle.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/20...tate-benghazi/
Repug pols are flaming, obstructionist, bloody minded ASSHOLES.
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