He said: “I am a Muslim American. I am angry at Israel.” He carefully planned his crime beforehand. But the jury was deadlocked, and couldn’t decide whether or not he was crazy. I wonder how many crazy people plan their crimes carefully, and explain them in clear ideological terms.
I also wonder why so many jihad-related court cases are ending with deadlocked juries and mistrials — the Haq mistrial reminds me of this one.
“COURT: Mistrial in case of Seattle Jewish Federation shooter,” from The Associated Press, June 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Seattle – A judge declared a mistrial today in the case of Naveed Haq, who stormed into a Seattle Jewish center two years ago and shot six women “” one fatally “” as he ranted against Israel and the Iraq war.
King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ended the jury”s deliberations in their eighth day. The jurors had indicated in questions posed to the judge that they were hopelessly deadlocked and struggling to determine whether Haq of the Tri-Cities was legally insane.
The jurors reached a partial verdict on only one of the 15 counts against Haq, finding him not guilty of attempted first-degree murder of one of the women, but they couldn’t agree on the lesser charge of attempted second-degree murder or any of the other charges.
Haq held a teenage girl at gunpoint to force his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on July 28, 2006. Once in the second-floor office, he began railing against U.S. policies and opened fire. He shot some people in their cubicles, some in the hall and one, Pamela Waechter, fatally as she fled down a stairwell.
Prosecutors quickly announced they would retry Haq, and representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle expressed their disappointment.
“There is no argument Haq killed Pam. There is no argument he viciously shot five others. There is no argument that he made anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. Somehow, all this was not enough,” said Jewish Federation president Richard Fruchter….
Somehow.