More on this story. "Jury selection starts in Fort Dix plot case; judge hopes to find 18 jurors from pool of 1,500," by Geoff Mulvihill for AP, September 29:
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) _ Jury selection began Monday in the federal trial of five men accused of planning an attack on Fort Dix.Lawyers were expected to take three weeks or more to seat 12 jurors and six alternates. The trial itself will likely last several months.
Prospective jurors were given questionnaires to fill out detailing any knowledge of the case and their own biases.
The government says five men were moving forward with a plan to shoot soldiers on the New Jersey Army installation when they were arrested in May 2007. No attack was carried out and lawyers for the men say there was no plot.
The men — all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s who spent several years in southern New Jersey — are charged with conspiracy to murder soldiers and attempted murder. They'll face life in prison if they are convicted.
[...]
The suspects are due in court later this week for a hearing over whether prosecutors can introduce evidence that includes one of the men allegedly discussing attacking other sites such as the White House and Philadelphia International Airport.
Fort Dix is used mostly to train reservists for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
They're Mohammedans? They're charged with a plot to murder Infidels? In America?
Guilty. Case closed.
Guilty. Case closed. Line up for cuz your gonna be shot right away.
I am willing to bet the entire jury, as selected, will believe Islam is a religion of peace, given what they have learned from our elites for many years. Although motive is not an element of a crime, jurors often feel uncomfortable convicting defendants without evidence of motive if the evidence is at all subject to interpretation. Without understanding that religious indoctrination may be enough of a motive, many jurors may have a hard time believing the defendants really meant to do serious harm. Therefore, any story of the defendants, even one that is absurd, may end up seeming plausible enough to cause problems for the prosecution.
OT
Another school hostage situation.
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2494314938
[...]
Local people in northwest Pakistan on Thursday fought three militants and freed about 300 school students who had been taken hostage earlier in the day.
The residents stormed the primary school building in the Upper Dir district of the North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan, where three suicide bombers were holding the children.
According to media reports, the captors engaged in a gun battle before freeing all the captives unhurt.
Two of the militants were reportedly suicide bombers who blew themselves up, while the third fled.
[...]
lawyers for the men say there was no plot.
HMM IF THE SHYSTERS REALLY BELIEVE THAT SEND THEM TO IRAQ AS FRONT LINE AS GRUNT
I hate our taxpayers having to finance this trial, when a sensible immigration policy could have prevented the whole thing to begin with. These yutzes don't deserve due process. They should be put in Gitmo and fed fast food until they burst.
Thanks for bringing this up.
Every jihadi is a soldier in Allah's army no matter what uniform or no uniform. These are enemy combatants, on US soil, planning and carrying out military operations. They should be treated like that's what they were doing. Criminal court with lawyers making objections and judges dis allowing certain information, is too good for captured terrorist, Islamic or not. They should face the military court with the distinct possibility of being shot...momentarily.
I am not in favor of just taking these guys outside and shooting them, but I would be in favor of a military run prison like Devils Island, where there are no guards, just other hungry, mean spirited terrorists, and croc filled waters. The supply boat comes once a month...
duh_swami envisions a supply boat coming once a month. Yeah. Filled with ham, bacon, pork sausage, pork and beans, and pig's trotters.
I can't fiqure why this is being tried in our civilian courts. These men are, at the very least, spies. Not to mention soldiers in the cause of jihad.
Karl2 is absolutely correct:
"Although motive is not an element of a crime, jurors often feel uncomfortable convicting defendants without evidence of motive if the evidence is at all subject to interpretation."
This is why prosecution of jihadists who are given all the protections under the constitution (trial by jury, appointment of attorney at OUR cost, proof beyond a reasonable doubt) are extraordinarily difficult.
Jurors hate to convict without understanding the "why". And we all know the "why" has everything to do with jihad.
When the government issues edicts to curtail use of terms such as "jihad", how in the world are government prosecutors expected to provide that explanation to the jury? If the prosecutor attempts to explain jihad and the defense objects and points to how the government's written policy is not to discuss the WOT in terms of jihad, there is no rebuttal argument for them. The defense's objection is sustained and not a word about jihad can be mentioned.
When these cases are lost, Bush and the entire administration's refusal to understand Islam correctly ( and thus the disgraceful management of DOJ prosecutors) is the first place to lay the blame.
Capturing these Muslim Terrorists is equivalent to capturing the 911 perpetrators on September 5, 2001. No one could have proved on September 5, 2001 the extent of their plot - it usually is a well kept secret with few or no leads.
If these Fort Dix terrorist Muslims are sent free it would be equivalent to having done the same thing on September 5, 2001 to the 19 perpetrators of 911.
The prosecutors should not have to prove that they had a plot - all that should be necessary to convict them is to show that they were not planning for a picnic, hunting trip or a night out with guns and ammunitions.
Does the jury questionnaire include "RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION"? If not, a hung jury is a foregone conclusion.
Those Albanian terrorists planned to ambush and mass-murder American soldiers as a "thank-you" for the help American soldiers provided to the Albanian terrorists in murdering Serb Christians in Kosovo.
Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.