THE TELEGRAPH: An American woman who authorities say dubbed herself "Jihad Jane" online pleaded not guilty to charges of involvement in an overseas terrorist plot.
Colleen LaRose, 46, from Pennsburg near Philadelphia, appeared before a federal court wearing a green jumpsuit and with corn rows in her blonde hair.
A May 3 trial date was set.
She was accused of conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war.
Authorities say she wanted to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims, and grew acquainted online with violent co-conspirators from around the world.
They say she posted a YouTube video in 2008 saying she was "desperate to do something" to ease the suffering of Muslims.
She was arrested in October 2009 in Philadelphia while returning to the United States.
LaRose spent most of her life in Texas, where she dropped out of high school, married at 16 and again at 24, and racked up a few minor arrests.
After a second divorce, she followed a boyfriend to Pennsylvania in about 2004 and began caring for his father while he worked long hours, sometimes on the road.
As she moved through her 40s without a job or any outside hobbies, her boyfriend said she started spending more time online.
Though her boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, did not consider her religious, and she apparently never joined a mosque, LaRose had by 2008 declared herself "desperate" to help suffering Muslims in the YouTube video.
"In my view, she sort of slipped sideways into Islam. ... There may have been some seduction into it, by one or more people," said Temple University psychologist Frank Farley. >>> | Thursday, March 18, 2010
