Posted on 05/07/2015 7:25:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Garland, Texas, police officer who gunned down two Islamic terrorists not only saved the lives of his fellow officers and the innocent citizens at Pamela Geller’s “Draw Muhammad” contest, he saved the consciences of federal prosecutors and a federal judge from a terrible burden — the knowledge that they botched a case that could have prevented a massacre. Shooter Elton Simpson should never have been in Garland, Texas, on May 3, 2015. He should have been serving time in federal prison.
As has been widely reported, In 2011, Simpson was convicted of making a false statement to the FBI about his intention to travel to Somalia. He was acquitted, however, of the charge that his false statement involved international terrorism, which carried with it a potential sentence enhancement of up to eight years in prison. Instead, he received a mere three-year probation and a $500 fine.
But what was the evidence against Simpson? Why was he acquitted? The answer lies in Judge Mary H. Murguia’s March 14, 2011, order in the case. President Bill Clinton first appointed Judge Murguia to Federal District Court, and President Obama has since elevated her to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She’s been mentioned as part of the “diverse bench of progressives whom Obama or future presidents could tap for Supreme Court vacancies.”
Simpson waived his right to a jury trial, so Murguia served as both judge and jury in the case — interpreting the law and finding the facts. According to her order, Simpson had long been monitored by the government, primarily through an informant, Dabla Deng. Mr. Deng recorded a number of conversations in which Simpson not only expressed sympathy for jihad but also a desire to join the fight.
Shooter Elton Simpson should never have been in Garland, Texas, May 3, 2015. He should have been serving time in federal prison.
Simpson — according to the court order — declared that “Allah loves an individual who is ‘out there fighting [non-Muslims]’ and making difficult sacrifices such as living in caves, sleeping on rocks rather than sleeping in comfortable beds and with his wife, children and nice cars.” He also directly referenced the alleged eternal rewards for jihad: “If you get shot, or you get killed, it’s [heaven] straight away.”
Simpson discussed Palestine, Iraq, and Somalia, indicating — again, according to the judge’s summary — that “If ‘a brother’ in Palestine has his house bombed, you should feel like that bomb landed on your house.”
He continued:
That’s why they get fought. You try to make us become slaves to man? No we slave to Allah, we going to fight you to the death.” Mr. Simpson then mentioned Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq and stated “Some people they don’t believe that they should be over there fighting. That’s the problem. That’s like a disease in the heart, man. . . . [I]t’s a small group of brothers who can see and understand why. . . . Some brothers don’t have the same understanding.”
The discussions soon grew more specific:
In another recording from May 29, 2009, Mr. Simpson told Mr. Deng “it’s time to go to Somalia, brother . . . we know plenty of brothers from Somalia.” Mr. Simpson and Mr. Deng then discussed their possible contacts in Africa. Mr. Simpson then said “It’s time. I’m tellin’ you man. We gonna make it to the battlefield . . . it’s time to roll.”
On June 16, 2009, Simpson told Deng, he was “getting up out of here.” Simpson discussed a video about the “permissibility of doing martyrdom operations.” He talked about going to a religious school, then said, “School is just a front. School is just a front and if I am given the opportunity to bounce . . . ” He also described to Deng how he would explain away his travel plans by saying “I’m just trying, trying to travel, trying to see the world.”
Simpson did not take the stand to explain the statements, and their authenticity wasn’t in question.
The federal government provided the recordings, interpreted them as indicating intent to join jihadists, but then — incredibly — failed to provide adequate proof of the pervasive jihadist violence in Somalia. Rather than put a true expert on the stand, the government relied on the same FBI agent who’d been working with the informant. Here’s what allegedly qualified him to testify authoritatively about “the current political situation in Somalia”:
Agent Hebert explained that he obtained this knowledge from attending a seminar at West Point, which briefly covered the subject of Somalia. He explained that he had also attended training seminars at the FBI in Phoenix on the political situation in Somalia. Agent Hebert has also done some of his own reading of books and seen news media regarding Somalia.
The judge was not impressed:
As an initial matter, the only evidence the Government offered regarding the political situation in Somalia came from Agent Hebert, who testified that he learned about the country from attending a few seminars and from media such as news reports and youtube videos.
But then the judge went further, holding that “the Government did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant’s discussions about traveling to Somalia were related to the political situation Agent Hebert described.” Here was her reasoning:
It is true that the Defendant had expressed sympathy and admiration for individuals who “fight” non-Muslims as well as his belief in the establishment of Shariah law, all over the world including in Somalia. What precisely was meant by “fighting” whenever he discussed it, however, was not clear. Neither was what the Defendant meant when he stated he wanted to get to the “battlefield” in Somalia.
Yet the doubt Judge Murguia injects into the meaning of the words “fighting” and “battlefield” is hardly reasonable. Indeed, her own “findings of fact” are devoid of any use of the terms outside of references to ongoing combat. This extraordinarily charitable reading of explicitly martial words reeks of political correctness, of the desperate desire to provide an alternative meaning for clearly expressed jihadist intent. Judge Murguia is certainly correct that expressions of “abstract beliefs” are not unlawful, even when those beliefs are “noxious,” but this case contained evidence not just of “abstract beliefs” but statements like, “We gonna make it to the battlefield . . . It’s time to roll.”
Casual prosecutions and wishful judicial thinking will not protect the American people from jihad.
Through its failure of proof, the prosecution gave the judge an opening to read words like “battlefield” and “fighting” outside of their clear and unmistakable context. Yet this failure does not excuse the judicial injection of reasonable doubt into declarations of violent intent absent any testimony providing an alternative explanation.
We are fortunate that the planning, preparation, and training of the Garland, Texas, police and the phenomenal marksmanship of one hero cop were sufficient to overcome the failures of federal law enforcement and the federal judiciary. Casual prosecutions and wishful judicial thinking will not protect the American people from jihad.
— David French is an attorney, a staff writer at National Review, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Preventible over and over.
Why did the blackrobes not act?
Why did the NSA not act?
Why did the FBI not act?
Why did the DH”S” not act?
Answer: Their ONLY Enemy has been shown to be
average Americans whom they have condemned by
their systemic, repeated, odious and unlawful
abrogation of their Oaths
to uphold and defend the Constitution.
“Casual prosecutions and wishful judicial thinking will not protect the American people from jihad.”
The takeaway: we will be on our own, and the jihadis are merciless. Arm up, citizens.
Once you accept the fact that obola hates America and is, in fact, the enemy, you get the answers to all of your questions. This is not incompetence on the part of the obola administration. Every single move, including this one, is carefully orchestrated to achieve maximum damage to the American way of life. The one who should be sitting in Federal prison is sitting in the WH.
Good conclusion, why else keep the borders wide open while we are at war.
Anyone who wants to be a “slave to Allah” needs to go live where Allah rules. That’s not the US.
To the government employees, the Tea Party is a threat to jobs and benefits. the terrorist is job security.
And actually they weren’t shooting at the police outside the event. They just hated cans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcwz8-EfFYE
[ Anyone who wants to be a “slave to Allah” needs to go live where Allah rules. That’s not the US. ]
The problem is those people don’t belive in having seprate mnations that rule themselves, they belive they need to enofroce their ways onto others until the entire world is one big unhappy sharia society.... they share this belief with the commies and soviets...
Today, in theory only. Government is corrupt and incompetent.
“To the government employees, the Tea Party is a threat to jobs and benefits. the terrorist is job security. “
Exactly! The government purposely floods the country with people from countries that hate America, purposely creates the conditions that create crime, and lies to make you think crime rates are higher than they really are all in order to give them an excuse to take more of your money and consolidate more power for themselves. Crime and terrorism are not accidents, they are the governments strategy to subjugate you.
Oh, I know that they want to implement a world-wide caliphate. But you’d think that even the looney left would be disagreeable to that, with all their concern about potential Christian “theocracies” in the west, not to mention that Islam (at least on paper) opposes some of their favorite perversions.
True. But the alternative insured he won't be a threat to perform jihad on an unsuspecting public someplace else.
Thanks to some great shooting by a traffic cop with a pistol and the grace of God, we had a perfect ending. These two criminals won’t ever bother us again.
Amusing. The author almost sounds like he thinks they'd actually care... From what I know of most prosecutors and judges, they would never have the humility to accept that they were wrong, about anything.
there was no need to prevent the encounter. Two very bad guys are dead. That’s a good result
Mortiphobia is dangerous to America
Pam Geller lured the terrorists in to be KILLED by the policeman.....good for her...two less terrorists.
Preventable if we export all mooselimbs and dont let them back in.
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