AKRON, Ohio - A federal prosecutor began her opening statement in the trial of a former FBI informant turned terrorism suspect in a way clearly designed to elicit a sense of unrest in the jury.

"Erick Jamal Hendricks was trying to build a terrorist cell in the United States," Justice Department attorney Rebecca Magnone told jurors Thursday morning.

Hendricks, 37, of North Carolina is charged with conspiring to provide support to the Islamic State. He was arrested in August 2016, and authorities say his mission was to recruit and train sympathizers of ISIS to carry out attack on U.S soil. He vetted people to see if they were suitable to join his cell and told others to vet more possible recruits through social media, authorities say.

Magnone said evidence will show that Hendricks, a devout Muslim, espoused radical views and tried to find others who shared them. He distributed training material with lines such as "never leave your home without your AK-47 or your M16." He had plans to buy land off the grid in rural areas in California and New Mexico to train recruits, Magnone said.

Jury selection began March 2 in U.S. District Judge John Adams' courtroom at the federal courthouse in Akron. Hendricks, a tall, bearded man, sat in a black suit flanked by two attorneys and a social media specialist.

His attorney David Doughten argued that Hendricks was not the man the FBI said was behind various social media accounts used to reach out to potential terrorist cell recruits.

The trial could last as long as three weeks.

A large part of the government's case centers on Hendrick's connection to one of two gunmen who opened fire at "The First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" in Garland, Texas in May 2015, according to investigators. Elton Simpson and Nadir Hamid Soofi drove from Phoenix to Garland, which is outside Dallas. They wounded a security guard before a police officer and killed them.

Hendricks did not plan or participate in the attacks, but he was "unequivocally tied to this attack," Magnone said. He was in touch with Simpson before the attack and connected an undercover FBI agent to Simpson and instructed the agent to vet to the Arizona man as a potential recruit.

Hendricks used a messaging app to instruct the agent to travel to Garland, Magnone said. She then showed a jury a screenshot of a text chain that she said showed Hendricks telling the agent that "I wish someone could go to (Texas) and harass them during the night."

Once the agent arrived in Texas, Hendricks grilled the agent about security measures at the event. He said the agent should "make your 'voice' heard" against Pamela Geller, who organized the event. In another chat, Hendricks referred to her as "that pig Pam," Magnone said.

After the shooting, Hendricks also posted a manifesto claiming responsibility for the thwarted attack, Magnone said. But the case involves much more, as Hendricks reached out to at least six potential recruits between December 2014 and May 2015, she said.

Around the time he texted with the undercover agent about Garland, FBI agents in Baltimore photographed Simpson talking to a potential recruit for his cell, the prosecutor said.

Doughten told the jury that "things aren't always what they appear to be."

He acknowledged that a lot of what Magnone said was accurate, but all the evidence needed to be seen in context. Doughten also said the person undercover agents and informants spoke to online was not Hendricks.

Despite Magnone's attempt to downplay Hendricks' time as a paid FBI informant, Doughten said Hendricks served as one for about four years and was paid $20,000 to $30,000 for his services in Virginia and South Carolina.

Doughten also cautioned the jury against believing the word of the informants, saying their motivations were monetary or for leniency in their own criminal cases.

The case is being tried in Northeast Ohio largely because Hendricks is accused of reaching out to Sheffield Lake man Amir Al-Ghazi on social media in order to get him to recruit others.

Al-Ghazi testified Thursday that he and another man conversed on an encrypted messaging app and that the other man spoke of carrying out violent acts that Al-Ghazi believed were in the name of ISIS, Al-Ghazi said.

The government said the man who reached out to Al-Ghazi was Hendricks.

Al-Ghazi, who bought an AK-47 assault rifle in pursuit of supporting ISIS, was arrested in June 2015 and pleaded guilty to federal charges.

The undercover agent is also expected to testify. Adams has approved a set of unusual measures to protect his identity, which includes having the agent use a pseudonym and wear a light disguise. The courtroom will also be closed to everyone other than the judge, jury, attorneys, defendant and other essential court personnel.

Others will be put in another room to listen to an audio feed of the testimony.

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