The strange reason why New Jersey Jock pledged allegiance to ISIS: Lawyers

New Jersey player lawyers On charges of pledging allegiance to ISIS He bizarrely claimed that his obsession with the terrorist group stemmed from his desire to be “on a team again” – after a brain injury from football.

Tomascan Jimenez Guzel’s defense team said the 19-year-old defendant, accused of jihad, was vulnerable to brainwashing due to a “long history of traumatic brain injuries” stemming from his exposure as a defensive end on the Montclair High School football team.

Jimenez-Guzel, who was likely headed to Division I college football, lost his sense of purpose, identity and community after he was forced to retire from the sport in 2023 due to his injuries — leaving a void to be filled by other aspiring terrorists, court papers from Monday allege.

“Lost, Tomascan looked to the Internet and religion to understand the world and find connection,” the filing states. “He became socially isolated, spending hours reading about international politics online. He followed online holes into the dark corners of the internet, including a number of live group chats on TikTok where users espoused extremist views and spread ISIS propaganda.”

“He wanted to feel like a member of a team again, closely connected to others, and have a shared sense of purpose,” the lawyers said.

Defense lawyers presented the unusual arguments in an 18-page letter asking Judge Jose Almonte to release Jimenez-Guzel – Son of a UN diplomat who heads a women’s business agency — from the federal prison where he has been held since his arrest in November.

They asked that he be released on $500,000 bail and placed in the home of his retired international development lawyer father in Maryland — plus the added precautions of GPS tracking and monitoring of his online activities, the lawyers suggested.

Jimenez-Guzel would also enter a de-radicalization treatment program called the Parents for Peace Program, under the defense team’s proposal.

Lawyers claimed he suffers from migraines due to a brain injury that is not being properly treated in prison. They insisted that he did not pose a danger to society.

Jimenez-Guzel claims he is being given the wrong medication for migraines that are exacerbated by bright fluorescent lights in his cell, loud periodic alarms, and the “screams and screams” of other inmates nearby, the filing claims.

Before his arrest, Jiménez Guzel was subject to monthly injections for migraines and was ordered to undergo additional tests, which never happened due to his arrest, the lawyers said.

His doctor found he had “objective (cognitive) impairment” and “functional impairment,” court documents allege.

he He was arrested in November on charges of pledging allegiance to ISISHe planned to move to the Middle East to assemble a group of violent jihadists and threatened violence against Jews and other non-Muslims.

Despite his online activity, he has never harmed anyone and never would — especially given the pain he has already caused his family, the document claims.

His history shows “that he is a young man with deep family and community roots, a good student, a responsible son and brother, and someone the court can trust to comply with all conditions, especially given how much his family was already suffering after his arrest and how much he hated to expose his family and those who support him to any additional danger,” the court papers allege.

“To say he was a misguided and immature teenager is not to downplay the seriousness of the allegations, but rather demonstrates to the court that he had no intention of harming anyone, and that in fact he never harmed anyone,” his attorneys wrote.

Jimenez Gozel was arrested alongside Milo Cedarat, 19, the son of a famous Iranian-American poet. He is also from Montclaira leafy suburb about 30 minutes from Manhattan.

Sedrat was allegedly angered by the fact that his mother had Jewish friends, and was accused of claiming he wanted to execute “500 Jews” and force their wives and children into slavery, a criminal complaint alleged.

He also said he wanted to use his car to crush a pro-Israel rally in Montclair — the hometown of New Jersey Gov. Mickey Sherrill, prosecutors alleged.

Cedarat, Jimenez Guzel and another defendant, Saeed Ali Mereh, 19, of Washington state, spoke in online groups with others from around the world — including from Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom — about immigrating to Syria, creating a group of ISIS-inspired terrorists, and carrying out acts of violence against non-believers.

Jimenez Guzel and Mereh are charged with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Siddarat has been charged with two counts of conveying a threat in interstate and foreign commerce and could face 10 years in prison if convicted of both charges.