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Attempted bombing suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab fired his lawyers back in September. He will represent himself.
Detroit, Michigan -- A court hearing Thursday for Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab will be the first one since the suspect, accused of a Christmas attempted terror attack, decided to fire his lawyers and represent himself.
The morning pretrial hearing in Michigan comes after a federal judge delayed court proceedings for about a month to give AbdulMutallab time to prepare his legal defense.
In September, AbdulMutallab decided that he no longer wanted to be represented by federal defenders and would act as his own attorney.
Judge Nancy Edmunds granted his request and appointed standby counsel for him.
AbdulMutallab, the British-educated son of a Nigerian bank executive, is accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear aboard a plane from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.
At the hearing in September, he spoke softly but clearly about what he wanted.
"I prefer to represent myself," AbdulMutallab told the court. "I don't feel any representation I get would suit -- would represent me in a way that is in my best interest."
AbdulMutallab faces six federal charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and willful attempt to destroy an aircraft. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane.
At one point during the hearing in September, he asked the judge: "If I want to plead guilty to some counts, basically, how would that go?"
The judge responded that his standby counsel should be able to help.
AbdulMutallab is not the first high-profile terror suspect who has requested to represent himself in a U.S. court. Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man charged in connection with the September 11, 2001, attacks, similarly asked and was allowed to act as his own counsel.
A judge later stripped him of that right after warning Moussaoui to stop filing what she termed frivolous and disrespectful court orders
