Headley pleads not guilty for role in 26/11

New York: The American 26/11 terror suspect David Coleman Headley made his first appearance in an open US court on Wednesday, since his arrest on October 3 at Chicago's O'Hare international airport.

He has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against him in connection with the November 26 Mumbai attacks and the terror plot against Denmark.

Headley’s lawyer John Theis said, “He's charged with certain acts arising out of things that happened in Denmark and in India. These are very serious charges. We're treating them very seriously. Today he entered a plea of not guilty to all of the charges.”

The hearing was over in about 5 minutes. Headley was wearing a orange jump suit and his feet was shackled. His attorney said that he was reviewing the allegations against him and declined to speculate if he would eventually plead guilty.

His defence lawyer declined to speculate on the possibility of changing his plea to guilty even though Headley is cooperating with the investigation and had waived his right to a grand jury indictment and has not asked for bail – all signs pointing to an eventual guilty plea.

Headley faces 12 criminal counts, of which 10 relate to the Mumbai attacks, including the conspiracy to bomb places of public use in India, for which he could receive the death penalty if convicted.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for January 12 and Headley's appearance at that hearing is likely to be waived.

As for India's interest in having Headley extradited, his lawyer John Theis says he has not been notified of any such request, and that in his experience, if a person is convicted, the US would expect him or her to serve out their sentence here before considering an extradition request by another country.

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