Mistrial declared in Muslim charity case http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_on_re_us/muslim_charity_trial DALLAS - A judge declared a mistrial Monday for four former leaders of a Muslim charity accused of funding terrorism, after chaos broke out in the court when three jurors disputed some verdicts that had been read. The fifth defendant, former Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development Chairman Mohammed El-Mezain, was acquitted of most charges against him. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on another, which resulted in a mistrial on that count. 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 of most counts involving funneling money to terrorists. But when jurors were polled, three jurors said those verdicts were read incorrectly. U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish sent the jury back to resolve the differences, but after about an hour he said he received a note from the jury saying 11 of the 12 felt further deliberations would not lead them to reach a unanimous decision. Then, he declared a mistrial. The jury forewoman said she was surprised by the three jurors' actions. "When we voted, there was no issue in the vote," she said. "No one spoke up any different. I really don't understand where it is coming from." In all, five former Holy Land leaders and the group were accused of providing aid to the Middle Eastern militant group Hamas. The federal government designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995 and again in 1997, making financial transactions with the group illegal. The cases for two defendants initially found not guilty along with El-Mezain ended in mistrial. The jurors did not reach verdicts on charges against the foundation itself or two individuals, former chief executive Shukri Abu Baker and former chairman Ghassan Elashi, resulting in mistrials for them, too. The mistrial was at least a temporary victory for the five former Holy Land leaders, who said they ran a legitimate charity that helped Muslim children and families made homeless or poor by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was not immediately clear if the government will retry any of the defendants. A gag order preventing those involved from speaking about the case still stands, the judge said. The initial verdicts read Monday, following 19 days of deliberations, said three former leaders of what was once the nation's largest Muslim charity were not guilty of funneling illegal aid to terrorists. Charity fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader was cleared on all counts. El-Mezain and the group's New Jersey representative, Abdulrahman Odeh, were initially acquitted on most counts. When Fish polled the jurors a second time after more deliberations, they agreed on finding El-Mezain not guilty on 31 counts with no decision on the other, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. That resulted in a mistrial on that count. Jurors heard two months of testimony, mostly from FBI and Israeli agents who described thousands of pages of documents and hours of videotapes seized from Holy Land, from former associates of the group, and from Palestinian charities that got money from Holy Land. Prosecutors said Hamas controlled those Palestinian charities. Their contention hung largely on the word of one witness, a lawyer for the Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet, who was allowed to testify under a pseudonym. Defense lawyers argued that none of the Palestinian charities aided by Holy Land were ever designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. Holy Land was founded in California in the late 1980s and moved to the Dallas area in 1992. FBI surveillance of the group's leaders dates to at least 1993, when agents eavesdropped on a Philadelphia meeting in which participants talked of supporting Hamas' goal of derailing a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians.
197 counts...not a single guilty verdict. I am personally stunned by this turn of events. It's pretty interesting that one of the jurors seems to indicate that the government's decision to use an Israeli agent as a witness has basically backfired in this case (see bolded part) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8SEFSUO0.html Mistrial for most defendants in Muslim charity trial By DAVID KOENIG / Associated Press A judge declared a mistrial Monday for former leaders of a Muslim charity accused of funding terrorism after jurors who spent 19 days deliberating deadlocked on most charges. Prosecutors said they would probably retry leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the federal government shut down in December 2001. The jury found one former Holy Land leader, Mohammed El-Mezain, not guilty on 31 of 32 counts. Two other defendants were initially acquitted on most or all charges, but in a confusing courtroom scene, three jurors disputed the verdict. The judge declared a mistrial against those men and two other former foundation leaders for whom jurors never reached any decisions. Outside the courthouse, jubilant family members and supporters hoisted defendant and Holy Land chief executive Shukri Abu Baker on their shoulders and cried, "God is great!" The mistrial came after two months of testimony in the biggest terror-financing trial since Sept. 11. President Bush personally announced the seizure of Holy Land's assets in December 2001, calling the action "another step in the war on terrorism." FBI agents and Israeli officials testified that Holy Land funneled millions to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has carried out suicide bombings in Israel. The U.S. government designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995, making financial transactions with it illegal. Lawyers for Holy Land said the Texas-based group was a legitimate charity that helped Muslim children and families left homeless or poor by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A juror told The Associated Press that the panel found little evidence against three of the defendants and was evenly split on charges against Baker and former Holy Land chairman Ghassan Elashi, who were seen as the principal leaders of the charity. "I thought they were not guilty across the board," said the juror, William Neal, a 33-year-old art director from Dallas. The case "was strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence." Neal said the jury was split about 6-6 on counts against Baker and Elashi. He said the government should not retry the case — a call picked up by Holy Land's supporters. But lead prosecutor James Jacks said in court that he expected the government to try the case again. Jacks, however, was not able to explain his decision to reporters. District Court Judge A. Joe Fish extended a gag order he placed on lawyers in the case, citing the possibility of prejudicing a new trial. Jurors heard two months of testimony, mostly from FBI and Israeli agents who described thousands of pages of documents and hours of videotapes seized from Holy Land, from former associates of the group, and from Palestinian charities that got money from Holy Land. The prosecution's key witness was lawyer for the Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet, who testified under a false name. He said Palestinian charities that got Holy Land money were controlled by Hamas. Prosecutors hoped the Israeli agent's testimony would complete a loop that started with Holy Land bank records, and show that the group secretly funneled millions to Hamas. "A lot rested on how believable the jury found him and how concerned they were of not really knowing who he was," said Jeffrey Kahn, a constitutional law professor at Southern Methodist University and former civil lawyer for the Justice Department. Neal, the juror, said he found the Shin Bet officer's testimony unconvincing — that he would expect an Israeli official to condemn an ally of Palestinians. Holy Land was founded in California in the late 1980s and moved to the Dallas area in 1992. FBI surveillance of the group's leaders goes back at least to 1993, when agents eavesdropped on a Philadelphia meeting in which participants talked of supporting Hamas' goal of derailing a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians. The case stirred emotions in the American Muslim community, at least partly because prosecutors named dozens of Muslim groups as unindicted co-conspirators. The Holy Land case followed terror-financing trials in Chicago and Florida that also ended without convictions on the major counts. The government "failed in Chicago, it failed in Florida, it failed in Texas," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — one of those unindicted co-conspirators. "The reason it failed is the government does not have the facts; it has fear." Besides Baker, Elashi and El-Mezain, the other defendants were fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh, the group's New Jersey representative, and Holy Land itself. The men faced life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges and if their actions led to deaths, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office.
197 counts??? Ok this is embarrassing. If they were not found guilty on all 197 counts, then somebody somewhere really fu***d up. Were they pulling up random counts when charging them?? LOL!
It's a known fact that in cases like this, the government basically 'tags on' as many counts as they can so they can at least get a conviction on something, almost like a fall back plan if they can't get them on the big stuff.
