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Underwear bomber’s 2009 guilty plea will stand

FILE - This December 2009 file photo released by the U.S. Marshal's Service shows Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Milan, Mich.
FILE - This December 2009 file photo released by the U.S. Marshal's Service shows Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Milan, Mich. AP Photo/U.S. Marshals Service, File

DETROIT – A U.S. appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Nigerian man who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb in his underwear.

READ MORE: Nigerian underwear bomber gets life in prison for trying to blow up jetliner on Christmas 2009

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab admitted he was outfitted with a bomb on behalf of al-Qaida. But he appealed his guilty plea, claiming a federal judge made a series of improper decisions.

In a 3-0 decision Monday, an appeals court affirmed the conviction and life sentence. The court says the judge did nothing wrong in declining to order a mental health exam.

READ MORE: Meet the lawyer linking police with Toronto’s Muslim community

The court says the complexity of Abdulmutallab’s plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas 2009 shows he was competent to stand trial.

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Abdulmutallab’s explosive caused a fire but didn’t destroy the plane.

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