A federal judge has ruled that a Rhode Island man sentenced to 15 years in prison for participating in a plot to behead a blogger on behalf of the Islamic State group will be released early because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The judge ordered Nicholas Rovinski’s release this week after Rovinki’s lawyers argued that his medical conditions, including cerebral palsy and hypertension, make the 29-year-old particularly vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19.
Rovinski was sentenced in 2017 after pleading guilty to conspiracy for his role in the plot to kill Pamela Geller, who organized a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, in 2015.
Rovinski testified against David Wright, who prosecutors called the “mastermind” of the plot.
