Biography
October Martinique Lewis was part of the Portland Seven, a homegrown cell whose members studied books and films about jihad and also participated in firearms and militia training before 9/11. Lewis was the ex-wife of the group’s ringleader, Jeffrey Leon Battle. The group’s activities were discovered when a sheriff’s deputy in Washington state questioned several people as they held target practice. The FBI introduced informants, and they recorded the group talking about joining the Taliban by flying to China and then traveling to Afghanistan. Lewis wired money to Battle as part of his conspiracy to enter Afghanistan in October 2001 to fight with the Taliban. Lewis cooperated with authorities and received a lighter penalty.
Case characteristics: FBI sting operation, FBI confidential informant, cooperated with prosecutors. Organization referenced in charging documents: Taliban.
Case data and description from The Intercept's Trial and Terror project (Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams), licensed CC BY-NC. Source: https://github.com/theintercept/trial-and-terror-data
Photo: FedRAP Network; original photographer not identified. Original-image crop; identified by the source (portrait attached to OCTOBER MARTINIQ LEWIS, prisoner 96641-011). Source: https://fedrap.com/terror . Non-free image used at low resolution under this site's educational/memorial fair-use rationale; not an open-license or permission claim.
Pistole’s April 14, 2004 FBI account distinguishes the Portland defendants’ October 3, 2002 indictment from the October 4 arrests in Portland of Battle, Ford and Lewis. It reports guilty pleas and a group sentence range of three to eighteen years without supplying each person’s actual discharge or complete served interval. Alleged organizational and training links are the FBI’s characterization, not a new independent factual finding. Source: https://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/9-11_commission/040414-pistole.pdf#page=13
