A judge appointed by Barack Obama did not convict Elton Simpson of terrorism charges in 2011, allowing him to walk with three years’ probation and a $500 fine for lying to government officials. A year before, a grand jury indicted Simpson for lying about going to Somalia to engage in terrorism. But the judge alleged the FBI didn’t make it clear what Simpson meant when he said he admired people who “fight” infidels and when he described a “battlefield” in Somalia. She found that he lied, but she didn’t consider why he lied. In her decision, then-U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia wrote, “It is not uncommon for (and perhaps it is an obligation of) the FBI to make these inferential leaps when conducting their investigations, but the limited evidence presented at trial does not permit the Court to make them to enhance the Defendant’s sentence.” But Simpson’s meaning was made clear on Sunday when he opened fire outside the art show and contest in Garland, Texas. This time, though, government investigators believe he was further emboldened by the propaganda of the Islamic State. In an odd twist, by keeping him in the States, the judge only created a situation where Simpson carried out an attack here. More…