Pride terror suspect’s case to stay in adult court, judge rules

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Maricopa County judge has ruled the case against a teen charged in a terror plot to attack the 2024 Phoenix Pride Parade will stay in adult court.

An attorney for 17-year-old Marvin Aneer Jalo attempted to get the case moved from Maricopa County Superior Court to juvenile court. Jalo is charged with one count of terrorism and one count of conspiracy to commit terrorism.

He was arrested on Oct. 18, 2024, the first day of a series of events celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride in Phoenix, culminating with the annual parade on Sunday, Oct. 20.

Judge Joseph Kiefer denied the effort to move the case, saying, “The seriousness of the offenses does not support that public safety is best served by defendant’s case proceeding in juvenile court.” The judge said Jalo showed “a very concerning level of participation and planning toward possible attacks in multiple U.S. cities.”

Before deciding to keep the case in adult court, Judge Kiefer held two days of evidentiary hearings in January, where a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office detective testified to some of the evidence uncovered in the case.

Investigators said Jalo started communicating in 2023 with people he described as extremists who were recruiting him on the messaging platforms Discord and Telegram. In the hearings, messages were read from accounts that were linked to Jalo. In the messages, Jalo talked with several other people from other states about possible attacks on Pride Parades in Phoenix and Los Angeles and another separate event in New York City.

Authorities believed, based on his chat messages, that Jalo planned to create a “bomb drone” using a remote-controlled vehicle. Prosecutors and their witness from the county attorney’s office said that Jalo detailed how he wanted to place TATP and C4 explosives around buildings to create an explosion, and once crowds fled, he would use an RC (remote-controlled) drone.

It was also mentioned in court that there is evidence that substances were bought from Amazon to make the explosive TATP. An investigator said they believe photos taken in January 2024 showed the compound being made in what they believe is Jalo’s mother’s kitchen.

The detective with the county attorney’s office said in one of the chats that Jalo shared a video of a person showing how to make TATP.

Jalo’s attorney suggested to the judge there was no indication that the teen was going to go through with any plot, and the chatrooms were all talk and full of messages including “lol.” He suggested that the photos of the alleged TATP explosive described by a detective as constructed in a bowl in his mother’s kitchen was a “science experiment,” and the amounts were not enough to make a bomb.

Prosecutors said it was no experiment and was proof Jalo was making an explosive to follow a plan that he had seen in an ISIS video. They also said there is no evidence Jalo is not intent on “becoming a jihadi,” and at no point did he disavow pursuing Jihad.

The judge said Jalo’s chat messages weren’t simply “Should we engage in this conduct” or “What would it be like to engage in this conduct,” but instead focused on “how the group would actually prepare for and accomplish these attacks.” Judge Kiefer said while it is possible that Jalo was “posturing” or “embellishing,” his role in the chats was “significant.”

The case has been assigned as a “complex” case and will have a hearing in late February to assign a possible trial date.

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