In the ordinary criminal case, there is a two-step judgment--guilt and then sentence.

CNN: Sen. Sarbanes' closed-door impeachment statement

And so it is just as likely that local police will find out about these through community policing, their relationships with the community, through ordinary criminal investigations which may bring them - as we had a case in California -into contact with something that turned out to be more than ordinary crime, or through dedicated intelligence activity.

NPR: NYPD Probes Path of Homegrown Terrorists