Weekly Terrorism Spotlight

Volume 1, Issue 6 (April 21)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

‘Liberty City Seven’ trial stunted by ‘prosecutor misconduct’ claims

Trial of the Islamic jihad gang called “the Liberty City Seven” is declared a mistrial for the second time

U.S. District Judge Joan Leonard, Miami Federal Court, Florida, did not sweep aside a second mistrial request by defense lawyers who claimed prosecutorial misconduct in the “Liberty City Seven” trial.

Instead, she declared sedition proceedings against the Islamic jihad gang a mistrial Wednesday, April 16, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board after a second time of handing the case to a jury.

Judge Leonard said the mistrial is due to the jurors taking too long in deliberations.

Prosecutors charged Burson and Rotschild Augustin, Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Phanor, Naudimar Herrara and Lyglenson Lemorin “willfully conspired…to levy war against the Government of the United States.”

Their case presented jurors evidence of plots to blow up the 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago and to bomb FBI headquarters in Miami.

An undercover agent posed as an al-Qaeda contact to secretly tape conspiracy discussions; that bolstered the case by alleging arrangements for sniping survivors and onlookers were in the works on top of confessed plans.

Jurors also saw video footage of the seven making their oath of obedience and fealty to al-Qaeda for Islamic jihad – proving the defendants were warriors bent on killing as many Americans as possible with maximum destruction and terror.

Defense arguments countered the young men, all in their 20’s, only wanted money from the al-Qaeda contact – and didn’t understand their developing plot, its implications, or the oath they took.

Defense attorneys painted the defendants as ignorant, poor black men.

Mistrial motion statements by Batiste attorney Ana M. Jhones accused prosecutors of wrongfully twisting pre-trial defense preparations into a false allegation of preparing to lie under oath.

Her second mistrial motion alleged she personally observed through an open door Tuesday, April 8, “stacks of binders on the conference room table of the jury deliberation room.”

Jhones said she “learned that the jury was provided the binders of the Government’s excerpts” Friday, days before the actual evidence arrived to their room on Monday, March 31.

“The transcript excerpts are select portions,” Jhones added. They “outlined and emphasized the Government’s theory of prosecution…[and] served to highlight the prosecutions version” of the case.

Her eight-page motion statement included case precedent for mishaps of the sort she described that resulted in rulings stating the defendants did not receive a fair trial.

Judge Leonard’s stated reason for ordering the mistrial, however, in statements cited in local media reports, was that the jury had been in deliberations for two weeks, and that meant they were deadlocked.

Prosecutors said they would announce their next legal move this Wednesday, April 23.

Trial notes, transcripts and local reports indicate the evidence against the seven included their own surveillance video of potential targets as the conspiracy developed.

The stark nature of the evidence, including defendant professed intent caught on tape, made the mistrial problem aggravating to observe, according to trial watchers.

Noted investigative journalist Joel Mowbray said the Liberty Seven trial mishaps come among numerous problems with prosecuting Islamic jihad cases, and was “a stunning defeat for common sense.”

He said his observations of the jury in the case included a quick willingness to accept their version of trying to con the al-Qaeda contact for money to build a community center.

“Batiste’s explanation should have prompted laughter, not doubts about his guilt: He claimed he did it for the children,” Mowbray said.

Mowbray added in several cases, attorneys for confessed Islamic jihad conspirators have made much headway into general skepticism of government and prosecutorial motives.

“It is entirely possible that knee-jerk distrust of the government played a role in two high-profile cases,” he said.

Mowbray noted “mountains of evidence” shot down in a trial against Sami al-Arian in Florida and in the Holy Land Foundation case in Texas, in addition to the Liberty Seven trial.

“Unusual – and unsubstantiated – skepticism of the government is the only rational explanation in the Liberty Seven mistrial,” he said.

Jurors endured a three-month trial ordeal as defense maneuvers required a meticulous presentation of evidence and dozens of transcript, sealed document and motion requests created roadblocks along the way.

The first mistrial ruling came at the end of a similarly grueling trial ordeal lasting several months up to late December, 2007.