Alexandrians withstood the sentencing of John Philip Walker Lindh with a minimal amount of disruption, according to city officials.
Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his sojourn in Afghanistan as a member of the Taliban and for taking up arms against America. The hearing took place at the federal courthouse in Alexandria on Oct. 4.
“Even though Jamieson Avenue was closed all day on Friday, traffic moved fairly smoothly and things went well,” said Barbara Gordon, the city’s public information officer.
About 100 members of the media attended the sentencing hearing and the press conference after the hearing which was held outside at what will be the media center.
“We had about 12 to 15 satellite trucks and other transmission vehicles parked on the lot and everyone seemed to be quite satisfied,” Gordon said.
By 7p.m. on Friday, the media was gone and traffic was back to normal. That is, until June, when another accused terrorist, Zacarias Moussaoui, will have his day in court.