Retrial Begins for Six Accused in Sears Tower Plot By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/kirk_semple/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> KIRK SEMPLE http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2008/02/02/us/nationalspecial3 /02liberty.html <http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2008/02/02/us/nationalspecial 3/02liberty.html&tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print> &tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print
MIAMI - The retrial of six construction workers accused of conspiring to join forces with <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Al Qaeda and blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago began on Friday, seven weeks after the jury in the first trial deadlocked on those defendants and acquitted a seventh. In opening statements, prosecutors and defense lawyers hewed to essentially the same arguments they made in the first trial, the outcome of which was widely regarded as a significant defeat for the government. Prosecutors insisted on Friday that even though the plot did not evolve beyond initial planning stages, the men avidly sought backing from Al Qaeda and demonstrated a determination to carry out their plan, which purportedly included bombing federal buildings in Miami and waging a ground war on the United States government, "They had the will, they had the heart, they had the soul to do harm to this country," Jacqueline M. Arango, an assistant United States attorney, told the jury. "All they needed was funding and assistance, and Al Qaeda was that ticket." The men, who lived in Liberty City, an inner-city Miami neighborhood, were indicted after a nine-month investigation in which a paid informant for the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal _bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Bureau of Investigation posed as a Qaeda operative sent from the Middle East to help them plan and carry out their attacks. The investigation included hundreds of hours of wiretapped conversations and secretly captured video recordings. Central to the government's case is a videotape showing the men pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda. But defense lawyers countered that the whole plot was scripted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation determined to make a terrorism case at any cost in the fraught post-9/11 environment. The defendants, the lawyers said, were impoverished laborers who had no intention of commiting acts of terrorism but played along with the supposed Qaeda intermediary solely to get money. Ana M. Jhones, the lawyer for the accused ringleader of the group, Narseal Batiste, 33, said her client was a God-fearing, tax-paying, hard-working man who was just trying to provide for his family. "He has no intent to blow up anything; he has no intent to hurt the United States," Ms. Jhones said. "His intent is to get money. And that's what this case is all about." "The government has overstepped," she continued. Then, grinding the sole of her shoe into the courtroom carpet as if she were stubbing out a cigarette, she added: "They had to just step down on someone who was trying to make his way through life." The defendants face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on the four terrorism-related conspiracy charges against them. At the time of the men's arrests in June 2006, Bush administration officials trumpeted the case as a major crackdown on homegrown terrorists and have maintained that it underscores the need for pre-emptive terrorism prosecutions. Reflecting the sensitivity of the trial and concerns about the possibility of jury tampering, Judge Joan Lenard ordered that the new batch of jurors, all from Miami-Dade County, remain anonymous. The names of the jurors in the first trial were known to lawyers on both sides. (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. 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