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Trial for Flint airport stabbing suspect begins this week

U.S. Dept. of Justice

Nearly a year and a half after an airport policeman was stabbed in Flint, the trial of the man accused of wielding the knife is set to begin.

Amor Ftouhi is facing several charges, including committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. He faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday and will likely take a couple days.

Prosecutors expect to take three to four days to present their case. They accuse Ftouhi, who has dual Canadian-Tunisian citizenship, of leaving his home in Montreal in June 2017 to travel to Flint. Prosecutors allege he stabbed an airport policeman. Lt. Jeff Neville survived the attack.

Ftouhi’s defense attorney expects it will take her maybe a day to lay out her case.

At a pretrial conference last month, Ftouhi maintained he’s innocent. It also came out that Ftouhi turned down a prosecutor offer for a plea deal. The deal would have required Ftouhi to plead guilty and serve life in prison.

The way Ftouhi will hear the government’s case against him will change. He’s requested a French interpreter for the trial, after using an Arabic interpreter through his preliminary hearings.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.
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