Plea Bargain for Somali Pirate

April 22, 2009 (GBN News): In an unexpected development, the Somali pirate who was brought to New York to stand trial for hijacking the merchant ship Maersk Alabama has agreed to a plea bargain. Rather than face a potential life sentence, the pirate, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, will instead perform community service for the NY City Department of Education. Federal prosecutors reportedly offered the plea bargain at the urging of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who was said to feel that Mr. Muse’s skills would be wasted in jail, and that he would be much more effective at the DOE.

While Mr. Muse’s role at the DOE has not been officially announced, officials close to the situation have indicated that he will likely be involved in the process of converting public schools into charter schools. Mr. Muse, in fact, is seen by Mr. Klein as a “transformative figure” who, by hijacking public schools and holding them for ransom, can raise millions of dollars and thus provide the resources to remake them into successful charter schools.

J. Fredrick Runson, Dean of the Manhattan University Law School and an expert on school piracy, told GBN News that, while this is an unusual arrangement, it is a logical extension of DOE policy. He also added, “I’m sure that Joel Klein sees a lot of himself in Mr. Muse. After all, the Chancellor hijacked an entire school system.”

Mr. Muse is also expected to earn a high school diploma through his community service. Under the DOE “credit recovery” policy, he will be credited with “seat time” towards his diploma for any days he spends actually inside a school that he is hijacking.