Soldier convicted in Fort Hood bomb plot fires lawyers July 12, 2012 -- Updated 2130 GMT (0530 HKT) Naser Jason Abdo will represent himself during sentencing The Army PFC wanted to bomb a restaurant frequented by Fort Hood soldiers, prosecutors say "I felt like the only way to freedom or justice was martyrdom," he told a TV station (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier found guilty in a plot to blow up troops from the nation's largest Army post fired his lawyers during a court hearing Thursday. Naser Jason Abdo will represent himself during sentencing, which is scheduled to happened in U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas, on August 10, according to a court document. Abdo told U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith he wanted to dismiss his two lawyers, the document said. "The Court explained the problems the defendant can encounter by proceeding without an attorney," the document said. The defendant wishes to represent himself and the Court will allow him to do that. Abdo was found guilty of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of federal employees and weapons charges on May 24, the U.S. attorney's office in Waco, Texas, said. Prosecutors said the 22-year-old private first class wanted to bomb a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas. Abdo was absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was arrested in Texas in July 2011. Prosecutors said he was in the process of building a bomb when he was caught. The Muslim-American paratrooper had been granted conscientious objector status after refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. In May 2011, he was charged with possession of child pornography, and he went AWOL the following month. In a November 2011 interview with CNN affiliate WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee, Abdo said he originally planned to attack his own post, hoping to kill "a high-ranking member of my chain of command" who had served in Afghanistan. But he said he went AWOL after military police learned he had visited gun stores and bought a variety of tools he planned to use in that attack, including a cattle prod, handcuffs and shovels. Instead, he turned his attention to Fort Hood, where another Muslim-American soldier, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, is accused of gunning down 13 comrades and wounding more than 30 others. "I felt like the only way to freedom or justice was martyrdom," Abdo told WSMV.