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.
More from A Blog For All and LGF.
ORIGINAL POST: 10/18/07.
Jury is in but the verdict will not be read until Monday because the Judge is away.
From On Deadline:
Jurors in Dallas have returned a verdict in the trial of five former members of a Muslim charity accused of illegally funneling millions to Middle Eastern terrorists. But the presiding U.S. District Judge Joe Fish is out of town, so the verdict will be announced Monday when he returns
[...]
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated 19 days in the case of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which was the largest Muslim charity in the United States until federal authorities shut it down in December 2001. The defendants, four of whom are U.S. citizens, were accused of raising more than $12 million and wiring it to Palestinian charity committees that the U.S. and Israeli governments said were controlled by Hamas. None was charged with acts of violence.
Remember, CAIR was listed as unindicted co-conspirator, which Cair has fought against, to no avail.
More from Hot Air:
But I’d venture to say that most people are just now learning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s long term goals in the US, which include replacing the Constitution with sharia law. The plans have been introduced as evidence in the ongoing Holy Land Foundation trial, in which the Council on American Islamic Relations has been named an unindicted co-conspirator.
If the verdict find Holy Land Foundation guilty as charged... is CAIR next?
We can only hope.