DETROIT (AP)  The man accused of trying to destroy an airliner on behalf of al-Qaida has entered a Detroit courtroom for the first day of trial.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab said nothing Tuesday as he settled into his seat next to defense attorney Anthony Chambers. He faces life in prison if convicted of trying to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit plane with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009.
Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds asked a Detroit-area attorney to leave the courtroom before opening statements were to begin because he could be called as a witness for Abdulmutallab. Kurt Haskell was a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
The judge also denied a defense request to prevent prosecutors from using the word “bomb.” She then called a brief recess.
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