MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
Quinn Klinefelter of member station WDET was in the courtroom for the arraignment. And Quinn, what can you tell us about the demeanor of Abdulmutallab in court today?
QUINN KLINEFELTER: And the entire situation was one where there was a lot of angst and a very short time to actually have it be shown, as the actual hearing itself was probably three minutes, if that.
BLOCK: And I gather he did not plead not guilty himself, his lawyer entered the plea for him. Is that right?
KLINEFELTER: True. He stood mute, as they would say under a Michigan law, which at times can be taken as almost a type of silent protest against the charges, although there was no mention of that whatsoever in the courtroom. His defense attorney actually entered the plea of not guilty. There were several Nigerian attorneys in the courtroom as well, but they did not do anything on his behalf and said that they were there only observing on behalf of his family.
BLOCK: And the next step? He's been arraigned now, what happens next?
KLINEFELTER: Well, it remains unclear. There will be another hearing set. But many legal experts don't think he'll ever make it there. They believe that the evidence is so overwhelming that he may have to try to take some type of a plea agreement, although there would be nothing mentioned about that at this point in time. One of the defenses that many people brought up is that he could use what's known as a diminished capacity defense, meaning that he, in fact, had been brainwashed and that would somehow mitigate the incident that he had been a part of. However, legal experts say that even if that was the defense, they believe that it may not be sufficient.
BLOCK: Okay. Quinn, thank you very much.
KLINEFELTER: Thank you.
BLOCK: That's Quinn Klinefelter of member station WDET, talking about today's arraignment of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in federal court.