Al-Arian walk watch: I think the Rumpled Academic is very close to walking, and thereby handing the jihadists and their fellow travelers in the U.S. a decisive victory. Why? Well, if the jury can’t make a decision in nine days, I don’t think a conviction is imminent. On the other hand, maybe I will be proven wrong: the fact that the defense is still angling for a mistrial may indicate that they don’t think good news is in the offing. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
TAMPA, Fla. – As jurors in the terrorism conspiracy trial of former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian deliberated for a ninth day Wednesday, the judge denied a defense motion for a mistrial filed last week.
The motion by attorneys for Al-Arian and three co-defendants stemmed from jurors inadvertently seeing the results of a reader’s poll printed in the Tampa Tribune Nov. 17. The poll showed that 87 percent of the readers who responded thought the jury would convict Al-Arian of being a key figure in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Although the poll was not cut out of newspapers provided to jurors as other articles about the trial have been, U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. said in an order that he didn’t think the exposure “created unfair prejudice” to the defendants.
The jury of six men and six women is deciding whether Al-Arian and the others are guilty of raising money to support the mission of the PIJ, a terrorist group blamed for hundreds of deaths in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.