Liberty City Seven Minus One: Third Trial

One of the Liberty City Seven were acquitted in the first trial. The other six weren't convicted, since there was a mistrial. That isn't the same as an acquittal.

The person who was acquitted isn't being tried again. The six who weren't acquitted are. That's because, so far, members of two juries couldn't decide to convict them.

Since one of them is free, it isn't the Liberty City Seven any more. I like "Liberty City Seven Minus One," But a Miami station is referring to them more efficiently as the "Liberty City 6: " 'Liberty City 6' To Be Tried For Third Time" (Local10.com (April 23, 2008)).

I've posted about these men before. You may find that I give more background than some of the news you read.

• "Liberty City Seven: Another Mistrial (No Surprise)"
  (April 16, 2008)
• "The "Liberty City Seven" - American Nitwits and Al Qaeda"
  (March 27, 2008)
  • This is an Outrage, and an Insult to the Muslim Community
  • Get a Grip! "The Whole Muslim Community" isn't Suspect
  • The Liberty City Seven - Victims!
  • Victims! Of World-Class Poor Judgment

(I think editors sometimes assume that readers are as intensely involved in the news as they are.)

Federal prosecutors asked for a third trial, because they say that these six men were working toward blowing up

• Chicago's Sears Tower
• Miami's FBI office
• Other federal buildings

The six men had a good reason, it turns out, for wanting to demolish those buildings, killing quite a few people in the process. " 'In referring to America, Mr. Batiste said on tape he wanted to kill all the American devils,' assistant U.S. attorney Richard Gregorie said. 'In light of this, we plan to proceed with another trial.' "

In light of that, the Liberty City 6 defense might be well-advised to make this a freedom of expression case. Or maybe freedom of religion. The seven are Muslim, sort of. Enough for a 'profiling' accusation to be tossed around.

Now, someone's declared another reason for why the Feds are down on the Liberty City 6. The Local10.com article reveals:

"The families of the defendants left the federal courthouse in downtown Miami without commenting, except for Pierre Augustine, whose two sons are among the accused.

" 'I don't know why they have to put them in jail,' Augustine told reporters. 'The reason why is because they're black, no matter what. (They have already gone through) two trials. Now they have to go to the third one. That makes no sense.' "

My guess is that, given the mix of evidence and assumptions, there's going to be another mistrial. But, I could be wrong.

And, I hope I am wrong. There are quite a few people who fervently want "to kill all the American devils" - and I think it is high time that American courts and juries start looking more at what defendants did, and less on who their ancestors were.

Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.

Liberty City Seven: Another Mistrial (No Surprise)

"Judge declares mistrial in 'Liberty City 7' terrorism case"
CNN (April 16, 2008)

I'm not surprised.

"The decision comes after 13 days of deliberation and marks the second time government prosecutors have failed to convince a jury that the six defendants were guilty of terror-related charges."

Two points:

1. It's now the Liberty Seven-Minus-One: One of the original seven was acquitted in the original trial
2. The phrase, "failed to convince a jury", is technically accurate, but misleading: the jury did not acquit the remaining six - they did not reach a collective verdict in the case

There is a large difference between "acquitted" and "mistrial."

Someone who has been acquitted has been found not guilty.

The jury in this case did not find the defendants not guilty. The jury seems to have been "deadlocked," as the first jury was.

I don't have an insider's knowledge of this case, but I do have concerns, based on public knowledge.

• Many Americans have more-or-less politically correct beliefs about race and relative poverty
• Defense lawyers have frequently demonstrated competence, at least, at directing attention away from facts, and toward 'victimization,' real or imagined
• The Liberty City Seven are
  • Members of an officially-recognized minority
  • From what Reuters called a "depressed part of Miami"

An earlier post in this blog, "The 'Liberty City Seven' - American Nitwits and Al Qaeda" (March 27, 2008), goes into more detail on how I see The Liberty City Seven in the context of American culture and the War on Terror.

Particularly these excerpts: The Liberty City Seven - Victims!

"I think that, given the available public information on the Liberty City Seven, that they are victims: of monumental, mind-numbingly profound, lack of judgment.

"Either they were trying to out-do 9/11, or they thought they were conning al Qaeda."

If they really thought they were conning Al Qaeda, I'll repeat what I said before, "they should be locked up for their own protection."

Get a Grip! "The Whole Muslim Community" isn't Suspect"

"Just the wannabe mass murderers.

"Not many people thought that the Feds were suspecting the white community, when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were tried. Even though both were white, was influenced by "The Turner Diaries," and "embarked on a flirtation with" the American (right-wing) militia movement. That would have been silly.

"Of course, that was different."

I am very concerned that, if civil rights groups keep crying out "Racial Profiling" when members of their constituency fall afoul of the law, we'll see a real-life replay of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." I know that it's possible for members of a distinct ethnic group to be suspect, simply because of their ethnicity.

But, that doesn't mean that every accusation against members of particular groups is false.

I'm very concerned that members of the Liberty City Seven Minus One jury may have stumbled over a triple-score in the case: The defendants are

• Not white
• Members, in some cases at least, of a non-Judeo-Christian religion (Islam, more or less)
• From a "depressed part of Miami" (Miami's Liberty City housing project")

Any one of those points would have granted them special consideration in the academic world I came from. Having all three is almost like being dealt a royal flush.

I don't know what was going on in the jury room, but I do know the alternatively-reasonable beliefs of political correctness, which still seem to rule many people's minds. This second mistrial could be the result of a collision between sincerely-held beliefs and awkward facts.

Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.

The "Liberty City Seven" - American Nitwits and Al Qaeda

Here we go again. People are on trial because it looks like they killed someone, or planned to. And, because of their ethnicity, there's a charge of "profiling."

• "This is an Outrage, and an Insult to the Muslim Community"
• "Get a Grip! "The Whole Muslim Community" isn't Suspect"
• "The Liberty City Seven - Victims!"
• "Victims! Of World-Class Poor Judgment"

---

Trials for crimes which may be related to terrorism are going on now, or will be soon. Many or all of the defendants are Muslims.

This is an Outrage, and an Insult to the Muslim Community

At least, that's what the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) seems to think.

Speaking about the idea that there may be Americans who have decided to kill innocent people, CAIR had this to say:

" 'The solution is not to treat the whole Muslim community as a suspect community,' says Hussam Ayloush, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 'This is not about ignoring a threat, but this ... should not be about exaggerating any threat in a way that promotes certain political agendas.' "

Back to the top

Get a Grip! "The Whole Muslim Community" isn't Suspect

Just the wannabe mass murderers.

Not many people thought that the Feds were suspecting the white community, when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were tried. Even though both were white, were influenced by "The Turner Diaries," and "embarked on a flirtation with" the American (right-wing) militia movement. That would have been silly.

Of course, that was different.

That CAIR quote is from an article titled "Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror" FOXNews (March 27, 2008). It leads with: " Law enforcement officials and security experts are warning against the threat of homegrown terrorism as several cases involving alleged American jihadists enter the courts."

Major terror-related cases in the courts, or coming soon include:

• Liberty City Seven - a retrial in Florida for six of the defendants, who got a mistrial the first time around
• Pakistani-American Naveed Haq - Washington state is trying him because he allegedly shot up Seattle's Jewish Federation Building, killing one woman and wounding five others
  • Haq allegedly said he did it because he was mad about the Jews and how they were running the country
    (I believe him - that sort of self-expression is fairly routine in Israel)
• Houssein Zorkot, a Lebanese-born medical student at Wayne State University in Detroit - arrested just because he
  • Posted on his Web site that he was launching a personal jihad
  • Showed up in a nearby park
    • Wearing camouflage paint
    • Holding a loaded AK-47
• Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, two University of South Florida students - South Carolina is trying them, just because police "say" they were
  • Screaming down U.S. Highway 176
  • Near the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig and a naval weapons station
  • With explosive devices
    • Bomb Squad technicians identified the devices as pipe bombs

That South Carolina case was an obvious case of racial profiling, according to the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa: More at "SC Navy Base, Explosives, and Staying Calm" (August 6, 2007).

Of those cases, the one that seems to have gotten the most attention, and the one which seems to be the most 'obvious' case of racial profiling and/or Islamophobia is that of the Liberty City Seven.

The legend seems to be that these innocent Muslims were framed by cruel, calculating, racist, Islamophobic FBI agents, just because they were Muslims.

If that were true, accusing them would be wrong: and stupid.

The Council for Islamic-American Relations seems to see government racial profiling whether or not there are facts available,

I try to find out what's actually happening, before putting a foot in my mouth.

Back to the top

The "Liberty City Seven" - Victims!

The Liberty City Seven case sounded, at first, like a massive FBI foul-up. Here were seven young men, with no apparent connection to Al Qaeda, and no explosives, accused of planning to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Here's what Reuters - hardly a rabid pro-American news service - had to say about the Liberty City Seven.

"The Liberty City Seven, named for the depressed part of Miami where they gathered in a rundown warehouse, were arrested in 2006 on charges of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government and blow up the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, along with several FBI offices and the Miami federal court complex where they were tried." [emphasis mine]

Notice the phrases, "depressed part" and "rundown warehouse:" Class warfare implied? Maybe not. Moving on -

American government officials and agents, about the arrests

• An important victory - unnamed "government officials"
• The attacks were hoped to be "just as good or greater than 9/11" - the indictment
• The plans were "aspirational rather than operational" - Deputy FBI Director John Pistole
• Those arrested were not a real threat "because they had no actual Al Qaeda contacts or means of carrying out attacks" - Reuters' paraphrase of "other government agents"

Who are the Liberty City Seven?

• Narseal Batiste - Accused ringleader
  • Patrick Abraham
  • Stanley Grant Phanor
  • Naudimar Herrera
  • Burson Augustin
  • Lyglenson Lemorin
  • Rotschild Augustine

Were the Liberty City Seven affiliated with Al Qaeda?

• Narseal Batiste's testimony, paraphrased
  • 'I never asked Al Qaeda for money'
  • 'I made up stories about plotting to destroy the Sears Tower, to con government informants - who were posing as Middle Eastern contacts - out of $50,000'
  • 'I wanted the money to build a nonprofit religious organization and community outreach program in Liberty City'
• Government's evidence
  • 15,000 audio and videotaped conversations made by paid FBI informants

Were the Liberty City Seven Islamic extremists?

• The defendants had names for the warehouse where they met
  • "The temple"
  • "The embassy"
• The defendants' lawyers "scoffed" at the idea that the Liberty City Seven were Islamic extremists

Back to the top

Victims! Of World-Class Poor Judgment

I think that, given the available public information on the Liberty City Seven, that they are victims: of monumental, mind-numbingly profound, lack of judgment.

Either they were trying to out-do 9/11, or they thought they were conning Al Qaeda.

If they wanted to blow up the Sears Tower, they should have made sure that the men they were talking to really were Al Qaeda agents. Before laying out their plan.

If they really had no intention of blowing up anything, and were trying to con a terrorist organization out of $50,000 to build a - get this - nonprofit religious organization and community outreach program - they should be locked up for their own protection.

The next people they try to rip off might be real terrorists: and I doubt that Al Qaeda, or the Taliban, or any other similar outfit, would take kindly to losing that much money to a half-dozen American nitwits.

Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.