A former Warren Central High School honors student and her boyfriend accused of plotting to join the terrorist organization the Islamic State are set to stand trial next month.

Jaelyn Young, 20, of Vicksburg and Mohammed Dakhlalla, 22, of Starkville waived arraignment this week after indictment by a federal grand jury for charges related to what the FBI says was a months-long plot to join the terrorist organization fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock set trial for Oct. 26 in Aberdeen.

Young and Dakhlalla did not appear in court and both pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

If convicted, both face up to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of probation.

Young is represented by Kenneth Coghlan, and Dakhalla is represented by Gregory S. Park.

Their lawyers did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment late Tuesday. In a letter filed Tuesday mainly requesting copies of evidence, Dakhlalla’s attorney also requested the “opportunity to possibly engage in plea negotiations at the appropriate time.”

Young is a 2013 honors graduate of Warren Central High School. She was a sophomore chemistry major at Mississippi State University and living in Starkville, but she did not register for fall class, university spokesman Sid Salter said.

While in high school, Young was an honor roll student, a senior homecoming maid and a member of TEAM 456 Siege Robotics.

Her father, Leonce Young, has been with Vicksburg Police Department for 17 years and is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Leonce Young has declined to comment.

Dakhlalla is a 2011 psychology graduate of Mississippi State who grew up in Starkville, a son of a prominent figure in the college town’s Muslim community and a caterer.

In documents released by the FBI, Young is accused of telling an undercover agent that Dakhlalla’s family did not support the Islamic State.

The pair was arrested Aug. 8 at Golden Triangle Airport in Columbus just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul.

Authorities said the two began seeking online help in traveling to Syria as early as May, not realizing they were actually chatting with undercover federal agents.

Young and Dakhlalla had undergone a nikkah, or Islamic marriage ceremony, and planned to pose as honeymooners on their trip, authorities say.

Despite her father’s service to Vicksburg and the U.S. military, federal authorities say Young expressed happiness online after Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez killed four Marines and a sailor at a Chattanooga, Tenn., military recruiting facility in July.

Young of volunteered to be a medic for the Islamic State, while Dakhlalla had volunteered to produce Internet media for the group or even to serve as a fighter, according to an arrest affidavit prepared by the FBI.

Authorities said that both confessed their plans to FBI agents after their arrest and that both left behind letters to their families admitting what they were doing.

The letters are mentioned in court documents, but are not available for public viewing.

The two are being held without bail in the Lafayette County jail. Federal prosecutors argued against their release, and U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allen Alexander sided with them following a two-day hearing in early August.

The judge said that even under tight supervision at home, she feared the two would seek to commit terrorist acts.

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.