Murder not a ‘crime of violence,’ Federal judge rules in terrorism case

Murder is not a crime of violence — at least not as a matter of federal law, a Brooklyn judge has ruled as he dismissed two charges in a possible death penalty case against a terrorism suspect.

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian Cogan made the head-scratcher of a pre-trial ruling Feb. 6 in an international terrorism case where the suspect is accused of planning a brutal November 2015 assault rifle and grenade attack on a hotel in Mali that killed 20 people, including a U.S. citizen.