19-year-old Bolingbrook ISIS suspect considers plea deal

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A possible plea deal is in the works for suburban terror suspect Mohammed Hamzah Khan, the Bolingbrook teenager charged in a plot to join ISIS.

Khan was stopped at O'Hare Airport last fall headed overseas with his younger brother and sister.

With federal terrorism charges against his younger brother and sister hanging in the balance, 19-year-old Khan is considering a plea deal that is likely to include a reduced sentence - and it could result in letting his siblings off the hook.

Court records filed Thursday afternoon in Chicago reveal that khan's attorney and federal prosecutors have until Aug. 6 to consider whether they will avoid trial by striking a plea deal.

At O'Hare when the FBI busted Khan, his 16-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister, the trio had travel plans to get to Syria and an agenda to join ISIS once they got there, according to federal authorities.

Investigators say Khan had spent months honing his jihadist views via social media. On his YouTube account, they point to one of Khan's favorite videos from Syria: "We shall chop off their heads with swords... and by Allah we shall make the ground spit out their corpses," referring to the infidels who don't tote the ISIS line.

The prospect of a guilty plea must rattle Khan's parents, who blamed radical Muslim leaders for trying to recruit vulnerable American teens.

"The venom spewed by these groups and the violence committed by them find no support in the Quran and are completely at odds with our Islamic faith... Leave our children alone," said Zarine Khan, mother of the suspect.

"They are Americans and they are kids, maybe somewhat misguided but they are Americans," said Tom Durkin, defense attorney.

From the beginning, Durkin held that Khan was a victim of ISIS being persecuted by the government.

"I think it's a bogus case, if kids are being brainwashed, I don't think they that's sufficient evidence of providing material support," Durkin said.

Durkin says there have been some plea discussions, supported by a court filing late Thursday citing the next court date in early August so "defense counsel has adequate opportunity to consider the pretrial motions and whether the case should be set for trial."

Khan's siblings have not been charged with any crimes, even though their bags were packed, plane tickets were in their hands and they were about to board the plane with their brother at O'Hare.