A school shooter in Virginia is one of many ISIS acolytes who received seemingly soft sentences for a federal terrorism charge, according to data obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Mohamed Jalloh died after killing an ROTC instructor and attacking Army cadets at Old Dominion University (ODU) on March 12. He was released from prison early after providing material support to foreign terrorists. Judges have given pro-ISIS defendants an average sentence of 15 years for Jalloh’s same crime since 2014, five years below what sentencing guidelines typically recommend, the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) told the DCNF.
NCITE’s data stems from a broader January study on federal ISIS-related prosecutions between 2014 and 2025 that found cases have steadily increased since 2023, the federally-funded think tank told the DCNF. The “material support” charge made up 73% of ISIS cases, the study found.
That crime should lead to about 5 to 12 years in prison if the offender does not kill anyone, according to federal sentencing guidelines. However, prosecutors can request a terrorism enhancement to the sentence that brings non-lethal cases to 19.5 years or the maximum 20 allowed. A 15-year average for ISIS supporters suggests courts routinely sentence below the guidelines.
