U.S. judge: mistrial in Islamic charity case

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

DALLAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. District Court judge declared a mistrial on Monday on almost all of the counts against an Islamic charity accused of illegally funneling money to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

"You are at the end of your service in this case," presiding Judge A. Joe Fish told the jurors in a Dallas court before declaring a mistrial on the vast majority of the nearly 200 counts applying to the six accused, including the Holy Land Foundation itself.

One of mistrials involved defendant Mufid Abdulqader, after the judge initially read a verdict of not guilty on all 32 counts against him. But at least one juror signaled disagreement with the verdict that had been read in Abdulqader's case.

The prosecution indicated it would seek a retrial in the case.

The U.S. government had viewed the case as part of wider efforts to curb financing of terrorism.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22460626.htm

[McCamy Taylor]

1. WTF? One juror wanted a guilty vote so they will retry the case?

This is insane! This case was a crock to begin with. The second trial will be no different than the first. It is freedom of religion versus the Bush administration's attempt to make all Muslims out to be Terra-ists.

[gratuitous]

5. They might retry the case

Some prosecutors aren't too anxious to try a case again after a mistrial. The defense has seen all the evidence, all the "surprise" witnesses and testimony, and so forth, and now has the opportunity for a full rebuttal of every allegation, statement of fact, opinion, and conclusion that could be drawn from the proceedings.

We'll see, but I would guess this case quietly goes away, perhaps after the extortion of some fine against the Foundation so the prosecutor doesn't come out of this totally empty-handed.

[PunkPop]

2. Welcome to Dallas

where the pool of rightwing nuts with an ax to grind is endless. If I had to guess I'd say it's probably some kook who's going to singlehandedly redeem Asswipe's sham 'war on terror' and do his part to battle the evil Muslim terrorists (without actually endangering himself of course).

[dkofos]

3. That article sure didn't clear up the confusion.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. From what I can understand

There were three jurors who changed their verdicts when they were polled. If it were one I might be able to understand, but three? When they were sent back to figure out what their verdicts were it would appear that there was some serious dissent since 11 out of 12 didn't think they'd be able to resolve their issues.

It could be as simple as a bad foreperson or poor jury instructions. Whatever the reason behind their confusion the case will once again be tried.

The outcome came about an hour after a confusing scene in the courtroom, in which three former leaders of the group were initially found not guilty of most counts involving funneling money to terrorists. But when jurors were polled, three jurors said those verdicts were read incorrectly.

U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish sent the jury back to resolve the differences, but after about an hour he said he received a note from the jury saying 11 of the 12 felt further deliberations would not lead them to reach a unanimous decision. Then, he declared a mistrial.

The jury forewoman said she was surprised by the three jurors' actions.

``When we voted, there was no issue in the vote,'' she said. ``No one spoke up any different. I really don't understand where it is coming from.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7015790,00.html

[dkofos]

7. Thanks for the link to the Guardian.

Still pretty confusing.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. Fort Worth paper reports jurors who changes their minds exposed to outside influences

It quotes a trial lawyer as saying that the delay between them reaching their verdict and then them being sent home free to talk to family, friends and be swayed by things not brought up in the trial could have affected what they said in the courtroom Monday.

http://www.star-telegram.com/dallas_news/story/277213.html

Evans said he believed that because the verdict was turned in Thursday and sealed until Monday, jurors had ample time to reflect on their votes -- and perhaps change their minds -- and talk to many people about the case.

"It's very unfortunate that the verdict was not last week," said Evans, who tried to attend the verdict reading but couldn't make his way through the crowds at the federal courthouse in Dallas. "It appears they would have had complete verdicts on some people.

"They told the foreman that was their verdict, then they had all weekend -- they weren't sequestered and had all that time to reconsider and talk to people," he said. "There are such things as juror remorse."

I am not a lawyer, but if it is true that the jurors who changed their votes were exposed to outside influences between Thursday and Monday, then the defendants could file an appeal to have the sealed verdict read as the final verdict, and that appeal would have to be heard before the Bush administration could retry them on the charges that would have been acquittals if not for the jurors who had changes of heart over the four day weekend.

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Support our Oops! (n/t)

[eppur_se_muova]

8. U.S. Prosecution of Muslim Group Ends in Mistrial

Source: NY Times

By LESLIE EATON
Published: October 23, 2007

DALLAS, Oct. 22 — A federal judge declared a mistrial on Monday in what was widely seen as the government’s flagship terrorism-financing case after prosecutors failed to persuade a jury to convict five leaders of a Muslim charity on any charges, or even to reach a verdict on many of the 197 counts.

The case, involving the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and five of its backers, is the government’s largest and most complex legal effort to shut down what it contends is American financing for terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

President Bush announced he was freezing the charity’s assets in December 2001, saying that the radical Islamic group Hamas had “obtained much of the money it pays for murder abroad right here in the United States.”

But at the trial, the government did not accuse the foundation, which was based in a Dallas suburb, of paying directly for suicide bombings. Instead, the prosecution said, the foundation supported terrorism by sending more than $12 million to charitable groups, known as zakat committees, which build hospitals and feed the poor.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/us/23charity.html

---

ON EDIT: Just to emphasize, that's:

197 counts

0 convictions

Can't wait to see how that job performance review comes out.

[Old and In the Way]

9. What a joke this administration's "War on Terror" is.

Meanwhile, Mother Nature continues her Jihad on the West Coast.....

[PDJane]

10. Let's see if the administration is as quick

to give the cash back as they were to freeze it in the first place.

My sense is probably not.

I'm very glad the group managed this much; they are a group that does much good.

[pattmarty]

11. What is this now? Gov't 0, Democracy 10?

[Scurrilous]

12. Holy Land trial third major setback for prosecutors

<snip>

"The failure to win any convictions against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was the third major setback for federal prosecutors after charging individuals in this country with providing aid to foreign terrorists.

- In 2005, former college professor Sami Al-Arian was acquitted on eight counts of aiding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. After a six-month trial, jurors deadlocked on nine other counts. Al-Arian pleaded guilty to one count of providing services to members of the terrorist group rather than face a retrial. He was sentenced last year to four years and nine months in prison and will be deported after serving the sentence.

- This year, a jury in Illinois acquitted Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar of operating a terrorist recruiting and financing cell. Salah was sentenced in July to 21 months in federal prison for lying in a civil lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by parents of an American teenager murdered in Israel by Hamas gunmen — Holy Land was a defendant.

- On Monday, a federal court jury in Dallas failed to reach a verdict after a two-month trial in which Holy Land was accused of aiding the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The judge declared a mistrial, and the lead prosecutor said he expected the government to retry the case. One of five defendants was acquitted on 31 of 32 counts against him but could be retried on that single count."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5235568.html


<snip>

"The case presented to a Texas jury of eight women and four men relied heavily on Israeli intelligence and involved disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by federal agents over a span of nearly 15 years. Fish's order ended a two-month trial and 19 days of jury deliberations over allegations that Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and five of its former leaders provided financial aid to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

President Bush announced in December 2001 that the Texas-based charity's assets were being seized, and in a Rose Garden news conference accused the organization of financing terrorism. Monday's outcome, however, raised serious questions about those allegations as well.

"I think it is a huge defeat for the government," said David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor specializing in 1st Amendment cases and terrorism prosecutions.

"They spent almost 15 years investigating this group, seized all their records and had extensive wiretapping and yet could not obtain a single conviction on charges of supporting a terrorist organization."

According to one juror interviewed Monday afternoon, the panel was evenly split on most of the disputed charges and not close to convicting anyone.

Juror William Neal, 33, who said his father worked in military intelligence, said that the government's case had "so many gaps" that he regarded the prosecution as "a waste of time."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-holyland23oct23,1,1922726.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true