[kattracks]

Prison guard Louis Pepe, outside court yesterday, suffered near-fatal injuries when an inmate with ties to al Qaeda shoved a knife made from a comb through his left eye and into his brain. - N.Y. Post: Luiz C. Ribeiro

[GeronL]

I bet the AP/liberal version would tack on something about prisoner abuse in Iraq and mention the number of casualties since "Bush declared the end of major combat operations"

[Triple Word Score]

God bless him.

[piasa]

Osama Aide Recounts Stabbing

So much for the 'criminal prosecution' method of terrorist control... the most you can say for it is that it doesn't work.

[eclectic]

I hope the prison term will be full of "torture and humiliation" for the dirtbag

[Iris7]

Would be a pleasure to assist in that creature's hanging. And I am an easy going guy.

[Paul_B]

God bless Louis Pepe. May he have peace, may he somehow forget the horror and evil that was done to him.

Crimes of this magnitude demand the same penalty as that for murder. I'm glad the sentence was 32 years, not 21 as had been thought, but the clear implication is that a perp like this should have the right to be out on our streets in 32 years. That is completely without merit, and itself is a crime by our institutions against the people. At the very least, this should have been life without parole, but I say that only by way of concession.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Do you think the Latin Kings will get a hold of this maggot since the guard, I believe, is Hispanic?

[dennisw]

Prosecution completes death penalty case against Tanzania bomber

June 26, 2001 Posted: 12:15 PM EDT (1615 GMT)

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a cell mate of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, allegedly sharpened this comb into a homemade knife

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From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN Producer

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Federal prosecutors asking a jury to impose a death sentence on convicted embassy bomber Khalfan Khamis Mohamed rested their case Monday.

Prosecutors ended with medical testimony about the condition of the jail guard whose assault, they allege, is proof that Mohamed would continue to pose a danger even in jail, one of the government's justifications for seeking capital punishment.

The government spent two and half days covering the November 1, 2000, stabbing of corrections officer Louis Pepe on the highest security floor of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal jail in New York City that adjoins the courthouse.

Mohamed's cell mate at the time, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, is charged with attempted murder for stabbing Pepe in the eye with a sharpened plastic comb. Prosecutors described Mohamed as Salim's accomplice in the assault and what they portrayed as a hostage-taking and escape plan.

Mohamed's continued risk to others, even behind bars, is one of the factors prosecutors are arguing as they ask the jury to consider in its deliberations. Another is the impact on relatives of the 11 people killed and on the 85 injured in the August 7, 1998, bombing of the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

 

 

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Alleged bin Laden conspirator faces July trial

Salim faces multiple charges and a possible life sentence when he stands trial in July on charges that include attempted murder.

April 10, 2001
Web posted at: 4:58 p.m. EDT (2058 GMT)

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) -- One of the alleged founding members of Osama bin Laden's militant Islamic organization is set to stand trial on attempted murder charges in July.

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, 43, originally a defendant in the embassy bombings trial under way in the federal district courthouse here, will first stand trial on an 11-count indictment that includes charges of attempted murder of a federal jail guard, hostage taking and conspiracy to escape from the Metropolitan Correction Center in lower Manhattan.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand severed Salim from the embassy bombings trial after the jailhouse incident.

Salim is not accused of a direct role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 4,500 others.

But he remains one of 22 defendants indicted by a federal grand jury as a participant in the alleged decade-long, bin Laden-led conspiracy to kill Americans overseas, to destroy U.S. government property, and to attack U.S. defense facilities and troops -- a conspiracy that included the embassy bombings, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors have not said when Salim might come to trial in the bin Laden conspiracy case.

Salim allegedly stabbed corrections officer Louis Pepe in the eye with a sharpened comb after a meeting with his attorney in the jail on November 1, 2000. If convicted, he would face the maximum penalty of life in prison -- the same punishment Salim would have faced if he had been tried and convicted in embassy bombings trial.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts set Monday, July 2, as Salim's tentative trial date. After hearing from attorneys on both sides, Batts said she expects a three-week trial, not including jury selection. Batts said she would keep juror identities anonymous.

One unresolved issue could prolong the trial: If Salim attorney Richard Lind pursues a "diminished capacity" defense, arguing that Salim's diminished mental capacity or strict conditions of confinement led to violent action. Lind told the court that after he meets with doctors he would make his intentions known in court filings due April 27.

The government would call at least one witness in a rebuttal phase to counter such a defense.

"We might introduce evidence that he had this intent, that he in fact counseled others to commit similar types of crimes, murders, before he was in prison, before he was subjected to these conditions," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia told Batts.

"If he is saying, 'The prison conditions made me a killer,'" Garcia added, "we can say, 'No. In fact, you exhibited the same behavior before.'"

Salim has been incarcerated in the United States since his arrest in Germany and extradition in December 1998.

In court documents, prosecutors describe Salim as a founding member of al Qaeda, bin Laden's group, who took charge of its financial affairs and managed companies in Sudan that procured communications gear and conventional weapons.

Prosecutors say that Salim also managed al Qaeda's military camps in Afghanistan and gave lectures to recruits, explaining that American troops did not belong on any Arab lands. According to the indictment, Salim taught that U.N. forces deployed in Somalia in 1993 represented a U.S. plan to attack Muslims.

The government alleges that Somali tribes trained by bin Laden's men caused the deaths of 17 U.S. Army Rangers in an October 1993 battle in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Salim, who was born in Sudan and grew up in Iraq, was known among al Qaeda members as "Abu Hajer al Iraqi," according to government witness Jamal Al-Fadl, an al Qaeda defector who testified in the embassy bombings trial.

Members considered Salim, who had memorized the Koran, a religious scholar, Al-Fadl said.

Salim allegedly involved his one-time cellmate, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, in the jail attack, Garcia said. Mohamed, one of the defendants in the embassy bombings trial who faces the death penalty, has not been charged in the jail attack.

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[G.Mason]

Thanks for this post, and the extended articles.

"Judge Deborah Batts, who might need a crash course in courtroom diplomacy, had Louis wheeled from the court, which prompted an angry walkout of 40 fellow court officers."

Judge [?] Batts may need to be looking over her shoulder as she continues her trip through her "rose garden" of life.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the post, link, articles.

[RippleFire]

bump

[Former Proud Canadian]

Build a special prison for the islamofacists. Staff it with robots. Let them all rot in solitary.

[Gritty]

Judge Deborah Batts, who might need a crash course in courtroom diplomacy, had Louis wheeled from the court, which prompted an angry walkout of 40 fellow court officers.

Hmmmm.

This seems to be some more information on the good Judge Batts...

A Portrait of Diversity

Sometimes a painting is not just a work of art. That's the case with the most recent addition to the HLS collection, praised not only for its style but for all it represents.

"It's a statement of what our models are and what we want to say in the world," said Dean Robert Clark '72. "A portrait is not just a portrait. It's a spiritual thing. It will contribute to what we're trying to do at this law school."

The portrait of Judge Deborah Batts '72, the only openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual member of the federal judiciary, was unveiled during Reunions weekend in October. It was a "unique opportunity to demonstrate the diversity of HLS and Harvard generally," said New York Law School Professor Arthur Leonard '77, who proposed the idea for the painting six years ago at a meeting of the HLSA's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Alumni/ae Committee. Jack Wofford '62 and Lisa Otero '92 cochaired a subcommittee for the portrait.

Of the 323 portraits and busts now at the Law School, seven are of African-Americans, six are of women. Batts is the first openly gay graduate whose portrait hangs at HLS.

"This single portrait of me, myself, and I goes a long way toward demonstrating diversity--with impressive economic efficiency," Batts said in her remarks at the portrait dedication. "I am humbled because, unlike many of the portraits of academic legends, august lions of the law, and extremely accomplished graduates of this great institution, my portrait is here because of who and what I am--for just being me."

Batts was appointed judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1994. Prior to her appointment she was a tenured associate professor at Fordham University School of Law...

Note Judge Batts is a Clinton appointee. She seems just like the kind of judge Schmuckie Schumer would approve of on the Courts.

[reagan_fanatic]

Oh my God. May God bless Mr. Pepe, and may the subhuman bastard who did this to him be prematurely dispatched to Hell where he belongs.