NEW YORK (AP) -- A lawyer for a man accused of plotting to attack the New York City subway system with homemade explosives insists his client is not a terrorist.
Defense attorney Robert Gottlieb says the government is using "inflammatory rhetoric" about al-Qaida and terrorism against his client, Adis Medunjanin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Loonam says the 27-year-old Medunjanin and two former high school classmates "were prepared to kill themselves and everyone else around them" and came close to carrying out the attack in 2009.
Medunjanin, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and providing material support to a terrorist organization. His trial in federal court in Brooklyn began on Monday.
His two friends have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify again Medunjanin in a bid for leniency.