The man accused of trying to set off a bomb in his shoe while on a transatlantic flight last year plans to plead guilty, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Richard Reid will plead guilty to all eight charges he faces to avoid the publicity of a trial, his lawyer Owen Walker said.

Walker said Reid wants to avoid the negative impact a trial would have on his family.

Richard Reid
Richard Reid

Reid was arrested last December when a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami caught him allegedly trying to light the fuse on a bomb hidden in his sneaker.

There were 197 people on board the flight, which was diverted to Boston. Other passengers overpowered him.

In January, Reid pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder and attempted destruction of an aircraft. He also was charged with attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle, a new charge created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Trial is set to begin Nov. 4. Reid "has no disagreement with the facts asserted in the charges," Walker said on Wednesday. But the lawyer wouldn't say whether a deal had been made.

The FBI alleges Reid loaded explosives in his shoes with the help of al-Qaeda, but he has insisted he acted alone.

Investigators said Reid wrote a note to his mother two days before his arrest saying, "What I am doing is part of the ongoing war between Islam and disbelief."