Mistrial In Muslim Terror-Funding Case

Jury Fails To Reach Verdict For Most Ex-Leaders Of Charity Accused Of Funding Terrorists

(AP)  A judge declared a mistrial Monday for most former leaders of a Muslim charity charged with financing Middle Eastern terrorists after jurors failed to reach a verdict.

One of the defendants, former Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development Chairman Mohammed El-Mezain, was acquitted of most charges.

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 those verdicts were read incorrectly.

In all, five former Holy Land leaders and the charity were accused of providing aid to the Middle Eastern militant group Hamas. The U.S. government designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995 and again in 1997, making financial transactions with the group illegal.

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 left homeless or poor by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jurors said Thursday that they had reached a verdict after 19 days of deliberation. But a magistrate ordered it sealed until Monday so that the judge and all the prosecutors who handled the case could be present.

After a long weekend of waiting, things quickly got confusing in the courtroom Monday.

Three former leaders of what was once the nation's largest Muslim charity were initially found not guilty of funneling illegal aid to terrorists. Charity fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader was cleared on all counts. Two others — former chairman El-Mezain and the group's New Jersey representative, Abdulrahman Odeh — were acquitted on most counts.

Then as U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish was going through the typically routine process of asking each juror about his or her findings, three of them surprisingly said the verdicts read in court were wrong.

The move caught the jury forewoman off guard.

"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. All 12 made that decision."

About an hour later, Fish said he received a note from jury saying 11 of 12 feel further deliberations will not lead them to reach a unanimous decision. He declared a mistrial shortly after that.

Fish said he plans to send the case back to court for reassignment, although it's not clear if the government will retry the defendants. A gag order preventing those involved from speaking about the case still stands, the judge said.

The jurors did say it found El-Mezain guilty of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, but acquitted him of 31 other charges.

Even before the confusion, jurors had not reached verdicts on charges against Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development as well as former chief executive Shukri Abu Baker and former chairman Ghassan Elashi.

[sendreidpelo]

feeljihadi should be forcibly deported to Iran where he belongs - or he can always join his uncle Adolf Hitler fertilizing Russian soil.

[sendreidpelo]

only nazi symps like feeljihadi and undermyssjackboot would applaud this mistrial - these Islamofascists are scum who might seem to only be after the Israelis, but NOT so indirectly support those who murder our troops as well.

But try telling that to a Leftist, especially one from the MoveOn.Org controlled Dems these days. Jimmy Carter worked his poison well, and with Israel led by a coward who''d funnily enough rather use force against his own people, then smash the babykillers, let alone wax eloquently what these roaches are all about - well, it gives the NAZIS like freejihadi and jackbootie cannon fodder.

Thankfully one of these days the cannons will blow up in their bigoted Jew-baiting, America-hating faces. Till then, I hope these Islamofascists and Hamas symps are being watched carefully - they will slip up soon enough.

[feelfree1]

UnderMyBoot,

Re: "Nice to see the US legal system working. Thank God we have juries deciding these things and not the foaming-at-the mouth fascists who are on these boards."

Agreed. This is encouraging. Maybe we are "turning the corner";-)

[undermyboot]

Nice to see the US legal system working. Thank God we have juries deciding these things and not the foaming-at-the mouth fascists who are on these boards. They want "their heads", and the best legal system in the world and a jury of citizens would not stand in their way to get their "blood vengeance". Every time I see these monkey-thugs write that they "know who is guilty and they should be executed", I think of how smart and wise the founding fathers of this country were to establish a rule of law (not of man) and American jurisprudence. If these fascist monkeys take over this country and have their way then no good American will be safe.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

[feelfree1]

Signof4,

You should let your mommy know, that if she will prefer to substitute her own ignorance, hatred, and blind fear for our Constitution, then she should relocate to a country which has rules and laws that are more to her liking.

[signof4]

Q: Mommy, why does the NYT tell the terrorists how we are tracking their financial transactions?

A: Well honey, it''s because liberals would rather president Bush lose the war on terror, even if it means we all could die.

[rushman71]

FreeFeel1: You are such an arrogant, obnoxious idiot!!! You support Chavez and Castro, think anyone against Isreal is great, and probably support the North Korean government!!! Please, by all means, feelfree to get THE HE11 OUT OF AMERICA!!!

[Krazcarl]

Way to much grey the feds knew it should never had gone to court and wasted our tax dollars,

[feelfree1]

Charity groups that send money to groups that are trying to defend themselves against the run-amok, rogue-State of Israel, are clearly neither a threat nor an enemy of the People of the U.S.

[drivelphobe]

Off with their heads.