A New York City man charged with building homemade bombs to attack soldiers, police or even the George Washington Bridge has pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge.

Jose Pimentel entered the plea Wednesday to attempted criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism. It was less than a week before his scheduled trial in a rare state-level terrorism case.

The 29-year-old has been promised a sentence of 16 years in prison. He would have faced a minimum of 15 years to life if convicted of the top charge, a high-level weapons possession offense as a terrorism crime.

Jury selection had been due to start Monday.

Authorities called the case a dramatic example of the threat of homegrown, one-person terrorism plots. Pimentel's lawyers have portrayed it as an example of overzealous policing in the years since Sept. 11.