Lawyers defending four men convicted of plotting to bomb New York synagogues asked an appeals court to consider an unusual argument—that the government improperly exploited a love relationship between the main defendant and the case’s informant.

The four, arrested in an FBI sting operation in May 2009, were each sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of 25 years in prison last year. A Manhattan federal court jury found them guilty after a heated two-month trial in late summer 2010.

At trial, defense attorneys said the men, James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen, were not guilty because they were entrapped in a plan devised by the FBI and orchestrated by the confidential informant, Shahed Hussein.

This week, a new team of defense lawyers told an appeals court that the convictions should be tossed because the men were entrapped and their due process rights were violated.

One of the arguments went a step further. It accused the government of misconduct because investigators had improperly encouraged Hussain to make Cromitie believe the two had a special bond, bordering on love.

“Without the love that Hussain pretended to have for Cromitie, and that Hussain fully exploited, this supposed crime would never had occurred,” the lawyers said.

(Source: Reuters)