Holy Land Foundation Trial: MISTRIAL
WFAA is reporting that the trial ends in a mistrial and that prosecutors say the Justice Department will retry the case:
The Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing trial ended in a mistrial Monday after the jurors deadlocked on most of the counts. But a government prosecutor said the Justice Department would retry the case.
Only one official – Mohammad El-Mezain, the Holy Land’s original chairman and endowments director — was acquitted on most of the counts by a unanimous jury. But he could still face prosecution on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism.
Another official — Mufid Abdulqader, a top Holy Land fundraiser and former Dallas public works supervisor — was originally found not guilty on most of the charges in the verdict rendered Thursday and unsealed Monday.
Abdulrahman Odeh, the foundation’s New Jersey representative, were found not guilty on most of the charges in the verdict rendered Thursday and unsealed Monday. The jury was hung on the other counts. But when polled, some jurors told the judge that they did not agree with the verdicts on Mr. El-Mezain and Mr. Odeh, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.
Earlier, U.S. District Judge Joe Fish ordered the jury to discuss whether further deliberations might allow them to reach a decision. “Your verdict must be unanimous and it’s apparent to me from the answers of three members of the jury in respect to my question that the verdicts that I read earlier do not represent the unanimous view of the jury,” Judge Fish said. After deliberating for another 45 minutes Monday morning, 11 of 12 jurors agreed that further deliberations would not change their decisions. Dallas Morning News
11:29 a.m. A mistrial has been declared for five of six defendants in the case of a Muslim charity charged with financing Middle Eastern terrorists. Associated Press
Even more confusing is this report from NBC5:
The outcome came about an hour after a confusing scene in the courtroom, in which three former leaders of the group were initially found not guilty. But when jurors were polled, three said the verdicts were read incorrectly.
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Posted by Susan on October 22, 2007 9:02 pm
» Filed Under News, War On Terror
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