Jury deadlocked in Sears Tower terrorism case

[Scurrilous]

Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0411searstowercase,0,5883781.story

<snip>

"Jurors in the retrial of six South Florida men accused of plotting to blow up buildings in Chicago and Miami told a federal judge Friday they have been unable to reach agreement.

In a note to U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard on their 10th day of deliberations, jurors said they have not reached a verdict for any of the six defendants on any of four terror-related counts, suggesting a second mistrial could be declared in the high profile case.

Lenard denied a defense motion for a mistrial and instructed the jury to continue deliberating.

The defendants, struggling construction workers who hung out in a Liberty City warehouse, are charged with four terror-related counts for conspiring to support terrorism, to destroy buildings and to wage war on the United States. If convicted on all counts, the men face up to 70 years in prison."

Read more: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[Wilber_Stool]

1. For god's sake.

Let theses poor mentally challenged men go. They are not going to destroy the country.

[MaineDem]

2. Are these the guys who didn't have a clue? n/t

[Scurrilous]

3. Yep.

Tall Stories: The Plot to Topple Chicago's Sears Tower Was Not All That It Seemed

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0625-04.htm



Liberty City Seven Trial Travesty

http://news.miaminewtimes.com/2007-11-22/news/liberty-city-seven-trial-travesty/

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. I'd hold out to the end of time

You would never in a million years get a conviction out of me on this bullshit.

[maddezmom]

5. kick

[DeSwiss]

6. Jury hits stalemate in terrorism retrial

Source: Associated Press

Jury hits stalemate in terrorism retrial

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
25 minutes ago

MIAMI - Just as in the first trial, jurors hit a stalemate in the case against six men accused of scheming to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and bomb FBI offices in Miami and elsewhere. They were told to continue deliberating nonetheless.

The jury said Friday in a terse note issued on their 10th day of deliberations that they cannot agree on the guilt or innocence of any of the accused men. "We are unable to come to a unanimous decision on any of the counts for all of the defendants," the note read.

The first trial in the "Liberty City Seven" case also ended in a mistrial in December because of a hung jury for alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the five other defendants. One man was acquitted by the first jury, but the Bush administration intends to deport him to Haiti.

Batiste attorney Ana M. Jhones unsuccessfully asked U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard to declare a second mistrial because of the latest jury stalemate. Instead, Lenard replied with a note of her own.

"Please continue deliberating," said the judge's note.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ap_on_re_us/terrorism_investigation

---

- This is NOT going to look good on someone's resume.

Oh well, the third times the charm. Right???
========================================================================
DeSwiss


http://atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[corporatemedia]

7. ...try, try again. n/t

[BunkerHill24]

8. This case has never been about prosecuting bunch of terrorists

but about scaremongering and feeding lies to the American people by the Justice Dept.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Jury deadlocked in Sears Tower terrorism case

Source: Sun-Sentinel

Jury deadlocked in Sears Tower terrorism case
By Vanessa Blum

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
3:21 PM EDT, April 11, 2008

A federal jury considering charges against six South Florida men accused of plotting to blow up the Chicago Sears Tower and the Miami FBI headquarters reported Friday it has been unable to reach verdicts for any of the defendants.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard instructed the jury of seven men and five women to continue trying to reach agreement.However, news that the panel is at an impasse after 10 days of deliberations raises the possibility that the high profile case could be poised for a second mistrial.

The defendants, struggling construction workers who hung out in a Liberty City warehouse, are charged with conspiring to support terrorism, to destroy buildings and to wage war on the United States. If convicted of all counts, the men face up to 70 years in prison.

An earlier trial in the so-called Liberty City 7 case ended in a mistrial Dec. 13 after jurors agreed to acquit one man but could not reach verdicts for the other six.

It is not clear whether prosecutors would try the case a third time, if a mistrial were declared.

"That to me would just be a sign of stubbornness and not really of seeking justice," said Jeff Harris, a Fort Lauderdale defense attorney not involved in the case. "There's a time when enough is enough."



Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0411searstowercase,0,3600450,print.story

[Judi Lynn]

10. Liberty City Seven Trial Travesty

Liberty City Seven Trial Travesty
The case against Miami “terrorists” is mired in greed and falsehoods.
By Bob Norman
Published: November 22, 2007



Al-Saidi



Assad

One extorted $7,000 from a friend who raped his girlfriend and then, after accepting the money, beat her up and went to jail.

The other failed an FBI polygraph test while working on an undercover investigation, which one former FBI agent says should have disqualified him from ever working for the government again. Oh, and he was also once charged with roughing up a woman.

And these are supposed to be the good guys.

All of America has heard about the bizarre Liberty City Seven terrorism trial now winding down at the federal courthouse in Miami. It began with the arrest of seven members of an obscure religious sect in June last year. At a nationally televised news conference, then-U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzalez told the country that the dirt-poor black defendants were prepared to "wage a full ground war on the United States."

It made for a sensational sound bite — and a temporary diversion for the administration, a moment of seeming victory in the war on terror, a fleeting quiet place in the growing public clamor about illegal wiretaps and the growing disaster in Iraq. But FBI brass was a bit more realistic. They cautioned that the ineffectual group was "more aspirational than operational." Today that even seems a bit overstated. Forget about America; this was a ragtag group that couldn't wage a ground war on a jar of peppercorns.

The question at the heart of the farce: Was the group's leader, Narseal "Brother Naz" Batiste, really bent on destroying the Sears Tower in Chicago, or was he simply trying to beat a couple of government informants posing as al Qaeda operatives out of $50,000?

More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-11-22/news/liberty-city-seven-trial-travesty/

[madrchsod]

11. well if they can`t find 24 people to convict them

they will probably go for 12 more....this case was crap to begin with and so far 24 people are saying the same thing

[struggle4progress]

12. "Hey! We needs a good terrist plot fer th'2006 election season. Waddaya think?"

"I'm thinkin: why not have a gummint agent dangle money in fronta buncha homeless guys livin inna warehouse and offer to givem shoes and cellphones if th'clowns read our scripts on camera?"

[ovidsen]

13. These defendants are guilty of stupidity. Nothing more.

Their "plans" for blowing up the Sears Tower, which were never really detailed (just mumbles and scribbles from a bunch of potheads)would have a first year engineering or architecture student laqugh him/herself silly. Plus, they were obviously set up by a questionable format who made these ludicrous claims about his bin Laden conection.

While the feds waste their time (and taxpayer money) on these silly, meaningless cases, there are real terrorists out there who know how to make real bombs and have detailed plans for them. But Justice would rather focus on ludicrous cases like to show Americans they're "tough on terror".

Just another attempt by an incompetent Justice Department that shows they're not serious about real anti-terror actions that, by law and conscience, should be a top priority.

[bean fidhleir]

16. "there are real terrorists out there"

Are you sure? It certainly doesn't look like it. There's the occasional anti-Choice terrorist, and the occasional anti-government terrorist, but real terrorists seem to be quite thin on the ground.

Otherwise, wouldn't we either have a lot of terrorism going on, or a lot of real trials of defendents who aren't bewildered innocents or half-schizophrenic incompetents?

[ovidsen]

17. Good question

This is just IMO, since I'm not privy to CIA, NSC, Homeland Security or National Intelligent Estimate internal documents, but I personally believe there is a small cadre of "Islamic" zealots out there who are biding their time, and willing to wait years before pulling off another 9/11 style surprise.

Note, please that I put "Islamic" in quotations because I'm firmly convinced that the vast majority of the world's Muslims have about as much respect for Bin Ladin's extremism as American had for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's definition of what it means to be an American.

Again, IMO. Like most of us in the unwashed masses department, I have no real idea what goes on behind the walls of the Pentagon, the CIA at Langley, or the NSA. I do suspect that there's about as much squabbling over the value of various intelligence reports now as there were in the months before and after 9/11.

edit for grammar

[bean fidhleir]

18. I can't find fault with your assessment of magnitude, but that makes me wonder

who's paying them. Certainly knocking off a few thousand people every mumble years is revolving technicolor hell for the victims and their families, but in a country where that many births take place every day it doesn't seem to even rise to the level of "nibbled to death by ducks" if their goal is to Overthrow The Great Satan.

On the other hand, the occasional small terror act is amazingly serviceable to some people who aren't Arabs, Muslims, or even non-citizens. Which is why I wonder who might be paying the group whose existence you (quite reasonably) postulate.

[flashl]

14. K&R

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. given the HUGE built in advantages that the prosecution has,

especially with "terror", minority defendants, the general fear stoked by the Bushistas, and a compliant federal court, this is one HUGE STICK UP THE ass of the DOJ.

[rcsl1998]

23. A Kick for Those Who Missed This...

[Scurrilous]

19. Liberty City terror jury: We can't agree (4/15/08)

<snip>

"Jurors are still at an impasse in the second trial of six men accused of scheming to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices.

The Miami jury said in a second note Tuesday that they can't agree on verdicts on any charge against any of the six defendants. But U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard sent the seven men and five women back to the jury room to keep trying.

A hung jury also forced a mistrial in December after the first trial. One of the so-called "Liberty City Seven" was acquitted after that first trial.

The six defendants face 70 years in prison if convicted of four conspiracy charges. Alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste testified his talk of terrorism was only a con to get $50,000 from an FBI informant posing as an al Qaeda operative."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/496621.html

[underpants]

20. Is the jury smoking weed too?

Boy HERE is some money well spent. So glad I just wrote out a check to pay for this sort of crap

:sarcasm:

[HuffleClaw]

21. well, since there never really was a plot in the first place

it isn't a surprise. this was a joke of a prosecution from the beginning.

[Marie26]

22. This really shows the benefits of a jury trial

A Bush-appointed federal judge would've convicted them in a heartbeat.