America Says It Will Retry Holy Land Foundation

The New York Sun ^ | October 23, 2007 | JOSH GERSTEIN

[vietvet67]

DALLAS — The federal government's strategy for prosecuting alleged terrorist fund-raising in America is faltering after jurors failed to agree on most charges against five officials of what was once America's largest Muslim charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

After 19 days of jury deliberations, Judge Allen Joe Fish declared a mistrial yesterday on the bulk of the charges. His action followed a morning of confusing proceedings in which the jury returned written verdicts of not guilty on some counts, but three jurors told the judge that they disagreed with at least part of what was recorded on the verdict forms.

"The law gives me no choice but to declare a mistrial as to all counts of the indictment as to which no unanimous verdict was reached," the judge told a courtroom packed with security personnel, journalists, and family members of the accused.

The defendants, Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu Baker, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammed El-Mezain, each faced more than two dozen counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group, namely Hamas, conspiracy to evade an embargo, and money laundering. Some individual counts carried potential prison terms of up to 20 years, meaning that the men faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted.

The verdict forms indicated that Mr. Abdulqader was not guilty on all counts, Mr. El-Mezain was not guilty on all counts but one conspiracy charge, and Mr. Odeh was not guilty on all counts but the two conspiracy charges. The verdict sheets said the jury could reach no agreement about the guilt or innocence of the two highest-ranking foundation officials in the dock: Elashi, the foundation's chairman, and Mr. Abu Baker, the charity's secretary and chief executive officer.

[3AngelaD]

The brilliant Washington Post had a MIAMI dateline on this story, so much for accuracy. Having read the Dallas Morning News version, I came to the conclusion that they empaneled a jury of half-wits with the attention spans of gnats. I certainly hope they re-try this. Better yet, these PsOS could just leave our country.

[Red_Devil 232]

From the article:"I can't think of anything worse for the government's case than for a State Department official to come in and undermine it," Mr. McCarthy said.

I don't think any career State Department diplomat is pro U.S.! They all need to be purged when we win in 2008

[rawcatslyentist]

So please dontate today! A strip of pre-cooked bacon, a slab of ham, anything to show them just how much we appreciate their “religion”!

[Eagles Talon IV]

What really gets me is that when the verdict was read and the jurors asked if it was accurate, 3 of them said no. How could the Jury Foreman expect the jury to agree to a unanimous verdict on any charges when he didn’t have one?

[VOA]

“His action followed a morning of confusing proceedings in which the
jury returned written verdicts of not guilty on some counts,
but three jurors told the judge that they disagreed with at least part
of what was recorded on the verdict forms.”

That is surely a much less controversial version of events as given
in the article linked below.

If the linked article is correct...justice won’t be served until
the jury fore-person is tried, convicted and sentenced for her
stunt at trying to slide through an acquittal when the jury was clearly hung.

It’s not too far-fetched to say we had “enemies foreign and domestic” in this
original trial;lthe enemy-domestic being the jury fore-person.

Mistrial in Case of Muslim Charity Accused of Funding Terror After Verdict Confusion
fox news ^ | 10/22/2007 | ap
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914652/posts

[PGalt]

GOOD!