http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/nyregion/16ghailani.html?_r=1 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/nyregion/16ghailani.html?_r=1&partner=rss &emc=rss> &partner=rss&emc=rss
Juror Asks to Be Excused in Embassy Bombing Trial By BENJAMIN WEISER <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/benjamin_weise r/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Published: November 15, 2010 o A juror in the trial of the first former Guantánamo detainee tried in the civilian court system asked the judge to excuse her on Monday, saying she was alone in her view of the case and felt she was being attacked for my conclusion. The jurors note came just before lunch on the third day of deliberations in the trial of <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/ahmed_khalfan_ ghailani/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, who faces conspiracy and murder charges stemming from the 1998 <http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/08/world/bombings-east-africa-overview-bombs -rip-apart-2-us-embassies-africa-scores.html> bombings of two American Embassies in East Africa. The attacks by <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Al Qaeda killed 224 people and wounded thousands. The note suggested that the jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan was split 11 to 1, although it was unclear whether the dissenting juror was alone in wanting to acquit or to convict Mr. Ghailani. If the jury is deadlocked, the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, could order a mistrial. Indeed, one of Mr. Ghailanis lawyers, Steve Zissou, requested a mistrial after the lunch break, citing what he called the jurys inability to reach a verdict. Their positions have not changed and she is being attacked for her beliefs, Mr. Zissou said. Under those circumstances, it seems to me that to do anything else would force a verdict onto this jury. A prosecutor, Michael Farbiarz, opposed the request, pointing out that the jury had been deliberating for less than two full days. There is no plausible ground for arguing theyre hopelessly deadlocked, he said. Judge Kaplan agreed, denying the request, and declined to allow the juror to be replaced. The juror who sent the note, which was somewhat ungrammatical, said she felt secure and I have come to my conclusion but it doesnt agreed with the rest of the juror. My conclusion, it not going to change, the juror wrote. Saying she felt she was being attacked by the other jurors, she asked Judge Kaplan whether she could be excused or replaced by an alternate juror. The judge, after reading the note aloud to the lawyers and prosecutors outside the presence of the jury, said he saw nothing in the note to support the view that there is any kind of personal disharmony among the jurors, as opposed to a strenuous disagreement, perhaps. But he explained that it was hard to be absolutely certain. The dissenting juror said during pretrial questioning that she was 53 and from the Bronx. She also said in a jury questionnaire that she had been a crime victim her apartment had been burglarized and she answered yes to the question of whether she or a close friend or relative had ever been charged with a crime. The question did not seek elaboration from the juror, who, like all the others, is serving anonymously. With the agreement of both sides, Judge Kaplan called the jurors into the courtroom and reread them part of the instructions he delivered last week when they began deliberations after four weeks of testimony. Each of you must decide the case for yourself, Judge Kaplan told the jurors, but you should do so only after consideration of the case with your fellow jurors, and you should not hesitate to change an opinion when convinced that it is erroneous. Their verdict, he said, whether guilty or not guilty, had to be unanimous. But, he added, you are not bound to surrender your honest convictions solely because of the views of other jurors. Daniel C. Richman, a <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbi a_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Columbia University law professor, said trial judges are very careful about signals they send a deliberating jury at what is thought to be a very sensitive point in its deliberations. They dont want to tip the balance one way or another, he added. The jurors deliberated the rest of the day without sending further notes to the judge, and were sent home without reaching a verdict. They will resume their deliberations on Tuesday. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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