Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of all nine charges. Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco reversed his conviction on one of the charges and sent the case back to a lower court to issue a new sentence and explain the rationale behind the 22-year term.
The decision does not necessarily mean Ressam will get a shorter term. Federal judges are given wide latitude to sentence defendants as they see fit.
Two of the three appellate judges said Ressam was improperly convicted of carrying an explosive while committing a felony: lying on a customs form.
The government failed to show the "explosives somehow aided or emboldened" him to provide a false name at the border, Judge Pamela Rymer wrote.
Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for US attorney John McKay in Seattle, said the government was considering whether to ask the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case with 15 judges. Prosecutors maintain Ressam should get 35 years in prison.
Defense attorney Thomas Hillier II said the reversal might not reduce his client's sentence but "helps in fending off the government's argument that the original sentence was too lenient."
After his conviction in 2001, Ressam began cooperating with authorities in hopes of winning a reduced sentence. He faced a maximum of 65 years in prison.
But Ressam's cooperation came to a halt by early 2003, resulting in charges being dropped against two other co-conspirators. His lawyers said years of solitary confinement had corrupted his memory.
