LITTLE ROCK, AR - In a letter to FOX16 reporter David Goins, accused soldier killer Abdulhakim Muhammad says he is renouncing his U.S. citizenship. This ahead of his capital murder trial set to begin in Pulaski County next week.
Writing to me on his 26th birthday from the Pulaski County jail, Abdulhakim Muhammad says right on the envelope this is his "last public statement".
In the handwritten letter, the accused soldier killer says: "before this bogus upcoming sham trial that will most certainly end with me on death row, I publicly renounce my citizenship of America."
It's the latest in a long-string of letters and statements and interviews from the Nashville, Tennessee native, who was born Carlos Bledsoe.
Muhammad has admitted several times to reporters that he pulled up in front of the Army recruiting center on Rodney Parham in June 2009 and intentionally opened fire on two U.S. soldiers, killing Pvt. William Long of Conway and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville.
Muhammad has claimed various allegiances over the last two years of incarceration including to Osama bin Laden & al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula.
In his letter dated July 9th to me he now says: "I pledge my allegiance to Mullah Omar." Omar is the reputed spiritual leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
No matter his reported allegiance, his next stop in the legal system is an Arkansas courtroom.
I read the letter to Pulaski County prosecutor Larry Jegley over the phone Monday evening. Jegley said he didn't want to say anything that could cause any more delays for his case against Muhammad.
Claiborne Ferguson, one of Muhammad’s defense attorneys based out of Memphis, said the letter would have no effect on the trial that begins with jury selection on Monday.
The U.S. State Department says if a citizen wants to renounce their citizenship they must do it before a U.S. consular in a foreign country.
