“Prosecutors relied on a confession Ms. Salman gave F.B.I. agents in which she admitted she had known about her husband acquiring weapons, watching Islamic State videos and discussing possible locations in apparent preparation for the June 12, 2016, attack. Defense lawyers argued that Ms. Salman’s statement, obtained after more than 11 hours of questioning without a lawyer present, amounted to a false confession. Ms. Salman told investigators that she and Mr. Mateen scouted Pulse as a target, yet investigators found no evidence to corroborate that.”
There you have it. She said she knew that he was plotting a jihad attack, but this was discounted because she said it without a lawyer present.
Meanwhile, there is more to this case than has been publicly announced. Omar Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, was revealed during the trial to have been an FBI informant, and this prevented the clueless and corrupt FBI from investigating his son properly. And Seddique Mateen showed up grinning happily and prominently displayed at a Hillary Clinton rally last summer. There is more to this case than we have been told.
“Noor Salman Is Acquitted in Pulse Nightclub Shooting,” by Patricia Mazzei, New York Times, March 30, 2018:
ORLANDO, Fla. — Noor Salman, the widow of the man who gunned down dozens of people at the Pulse nightclub two years ago, was found not guilty by a federal jury on Friday of helping her husband carry out a terrorist attack in the name of the Islamic State.
Jurors acquitted Ms. Salman on charges of aiding and abetting the commission of a terrorist act in the 2016 mass shooting and also found her not guilty of obstructing justice. She had been accused of giving misleading statements to law enforcement officers who interviewed her following the massacre, the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, it was also the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.
Ms. Salman, 31, had faced a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.
The jury deliberated for more than 11 hours and had launched a third day when they reached their verdict Friday morning.
From the start, Ms. Salman had insisted she had nothing to do with her husband Omar Mateen’s rampage in Orlando, Fla., which left 49 people dead and 53 others injured. Prosecutors built a convincing case that Mr. Mateen methodically made arrangements for the attack, apparently inspired by the ISIS propaganda he obsessively consumed online. But they were less successful in tying Ms. Salman to his actions.
Prosecutors relied on a confession Ms. Salman gave F.B.I. agents in which she admitted she had known about her husband acquiring weapons, watching Islamic State videos and discussing possible locations in apparent preparation for the June 12, 2016, attack. Defense lawyers argued that Ms. Salman’s statement, obtained after more than 11 hours of questioning without a lawyer present, amounted to a false confession. Ms. Salman told investigators that she and Mr. Mateen scouted Pulse as a target, yet investigators found no evidence to corroborate that.
“She was a suspect, and they wanted to get a confession — except that she was still denying that she knew anything,” a defense lawyer, Charles D. Swift, said during his closing argument on Wednesday.
Jurors were asked to decide whether Ms. Salman had aided and abetted her husband’s support of a foreign terrorist organization.
James D. Mandolfo, an assistant United States attorney, acknowledged during his opening statement on March 14 that the case against Ms. Salman was not built around a single incriminating fact but rather on the “totality” of evidence regarding her support of Mr. Mateen.
Delivering the prosecution’s closing argument on Wednesday, Sara C. Sweeney, also an assistant United States attorney, pointed to unusually high spending and cash withdrawals by the couple in the 11 days leading up the shooting, totaling more than the $30,500 Mr. Mateen made in a year as a security guard. The couple, whose son was 3 at the time, also added Ms. Salman as a death beneficiary to Mr. Mateen’s bank account, where they expected to soon receive a federal income tax refund.
But the jury of seven women and five men appeared to have been persuaded by the defense, which cast Ms. Salman as a naïve woman of limited intelligence, kept in the dark by a scheming husband who cheated on her, knew she did not share his radicalized views and did not need her assistance to carry out his deadly plot. Her lawyers argued that Mr. Mateen had no reason to ask his wife for help — and Ms. Salman had no reason to provide it.
“Why would Omar Mateen confide in Noor, a woman he clearly had no respect for?” Linda Moreno, a defense lawyer, asked the jury.
In the hours before the attack, Ms. Salman made plans to visit family and friends in California, telephoning them to ask about arrangements and presents, and browsed for leather jackets online. She had dinner at Applebee’s and was home in her pajamas, texting her husband about his whereabouts late into the night.
Ms. Salman did not testify during the trial. On Wednesday, after eight days of witness testimony, Judge Paul G. Byron of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida asked Ms. Salman if remaining silent had been her own decision. “Yes,” she responded….
Tjhawk says
That artist’s rendition seems to be a pitiful little girl of about 9 ( marrying age ). I suspect that Noor Salman is not nearly so sweet in real life.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
I suspect that Noor Salman is not nearly so sweet in real life.
She actively persisted in months of preparations for the Jihad mass murder operation, so yes she’s not a paragon of human virtue. Yet the gubmint has let her off by relying on information she provided without a lawyer present. It’s always a tough job to make sure Moslem Activists receive minimal or no punishment; otherwise the gubmint would be beseiged with charges of religious bigotry and racism. So they knowingly set the prosecution up on evidence that would almost certainly be discredited.
Everybody knows Noor Salman is a human rat who claims to be a mental retard. So the real question is who’s the bigger rat: the Moslem Activist Noor or the prosecutors.
This result is unsurprising. But a tip of the cap is due to the prosecutors, who delivered a job well done.
gravenimage says
That is just really, really bad art.
Mike says
Marrying age is one thing not to be confused with sexual relation age .Mariage is for 9 years old but sex relations , according to Khomeiney , comes with birth . ” There is no age for a man to have sex with a woman includin a new born children .” Khomeiny .
Notmoron says
Leftard in action.
SAD!
Jack Holan says
Sure, she was clueless like the dummies & Fools on the Jury. If memory serves me accurately this woman texted her Jihadist husband during the Act of Terror for updates.
pdxnag says
So, can we expect the FBI agents who also knew ahead of time to be similarly prosecuted?
Donovan Nuera says
The marital mores and customs of an Islamic couple is not the same as that of a western romantic couple; there is no cultural impetus for a husband to “respect” a wife in the way of a Western couple. Husbands in that cultural are not “partners” but bosses who can legally beat and rape their wives. The prosecution should have pounced on that false equivalency. Also, is Salman and her family Christian? Why did they reference Goid Friday when Muslims believe this Issa guy paid some idiot to take his place on the Cross??
Donovan Nuera says
What kind of plea deal did Kay Tsarnaev get to go free when she knew about Speedbump and Jhokar’s plot…and at very least could have dropped the dime on them before that poor police officer was killed in his squad car by the MIT campus???
Tjhawk says
“ Speedbump”. ??. Good one.
Ashley says
I’m dumbfounded by this verdict.
I’m reminded that a Florida jury acquitted Casey Anthony. I’m reminded that a California jury acquitted OJ Simpson for a double homicide
I followed the above trials daily on television. As such, I felt justified to be outraged by the acquittals.
Salman’s trial was held in a Federal court and thus no cameras were permitted. I cannot say what actually transpired. I don’t know the strength or weakness of the evidence presented.
I have to admit that I harbor a strong bias against Noor Salman. I would not have been an impartial juror. Hell, I’m still scratching my head that Katherine Russell Tsarneav was never charged with complicity and prior knowledge regarding the marathon bombings
I have to accept this verdict as much as it pains me to do so. Our judicial system is flawed and yet I deem it the finest and fairest system in the land.
I just pray the authorities keep close tabs on Noor Salman…
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
If the gubmint monitors her, she’ll squeal to the media that’s she’s being systematically discriminated against. Then another trial, this one a civil trial to determine the amount of U.S. taxpayer money she gets for early retirement.
Speaking of which, how has Noor supported herself over the past two years?
Ashley says
Speaking of which, how has Noor supported herself over the past two years?
____________________
That’s a damn good question! Omar doesn’t strike me as the sort of bloke who made provisions for his wife and child in the event of his untimely demise…
gravenimage says
I believe she was staying with her mother.
Ashley says
Whoa…http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-noor-salman-pulse-recorded-interrogation-scott-maxwell-20180329-story.html
I now have a deeper understanding why the jury rendered Salman not guilty.
LeftisruiningCanada says
“And why? Why didn’t authorities record the interrogation?
“I honestly never thought about it,” testified FBI Special Agent Christopher Mayo.”
No recording. No lawyer.
We might as well add “No desire to find the truth”.
Ashley says
Jesus, Left. Did they even have the phone records indicating that Noor and Omar were communicating during the massacre????
Indeed. No recording. No lawyer. No desire to find the truth.
Or worse…deliberately manipulating or manufacturing the truth.
gravenimage says
Yes–this is ineptitude at best.
mccode says
This case should serve as an example of the shortcomings of the American legal system. Protections that are intended to safeguard the rights of defendants from overzealous or corrupt prosecutions (eg, having one’s Miranda rights read to them) are often the source of allowing a guilty party to avoid prosecution when such rights have been withheld. This seems to be case here.
Therefore, everyone should be aware of citizens’ rights to sit on a jury and to especially be aware of the privilege and responsibility that entails. If in fact a single person on the jury in this case was convinced that the defendant was guilty of conspiracy and the charges leveled against her, and accordingly chose to vote for conviction, Ms. Salman would not have been acquitted. The concept to be employed in this situation is to be a stealth juror or rogue juror. To effectively serve justice in this regard the juror must be discrete and private.
This is not to be confused with the distinct and different legal right of jury nullification which empowers any juror to withhold a guilty verdict when the juror feels the law being applied is unethical or might result in wrongful imprisonment. Judges and prosecutors are loathe to ever inform a jury of their legal right of nullification.
The FBI obviously bungled their interrogation of her. It seems to be a bureau rife with incompetence and corruption, but that’s a subject for a separate critique.
Ashley says
+1
The responsibility of a juror is tremendous. I served as a juror several years ago. The judge must have advised our panel 500 times “DO NOT GOOGLE ANY OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED” during the trial and two days of deliberation.
I seriously wonder if an “impartial jury” is a relic of times past.
Sam says
So when a muslim terrorist commits a crime killing innocent people (N0 MATTER HOW MANY) it has nothing to do with islam, family members, friends, the mosque he attended. He just got radicalized and killed people.
Do people really take this in and not raise any questions. Does our legal system protect muslims in a special way(like Sharia way). What is going on?
Ashley says
I hope this isn’t true. I hope this is Fake News.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/03/28/tammy-bruce-fbis-outrageous-handling-pulse-nightclub-shooter-omar-mateen-what-hecks-going-on.html
gravenimage says
No, it’s not fake, Ashley. That story was covered here at Jihad Watch:
“Pulse nightclub jihad murderer’s father was FBI informant, this kept FBI from indicting killer 3 years before massacre”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/03/pulse-nightclub-jihad-murderers-father-was-fbi-informant-this-kept-fbi-from-indicting-killer-3-years-before-massacre
Angry Aussie says
The testimony of a woman is worth less than a man, no 4 male witnesses, women have lower intellect, blah blah blah. Of course she was innocently casing out venues.
Does anybody know if she has remarried and moved on? She would be in high demand in Islamic circles, being the used trash… I mean wife, of a martyr.
gravenimage says
Pulse Nightclub jihad mass murderer’s wife found not guilty of aiding his jihad
…………………..
Here is more from the jury foreman–it appears the jury knew she was aware that there was a Jihad plot, but the way the charges were phrased they had to find her not guilty:
“Foreman: ‘I wish that the FBI had recorded their interviews’ with Pulse jihadi’s wife, ‘significant inconsistencies’”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/03/foreman-i-wish-that-the-fbi-had-recorded-their-interviews-with-pulse-jihadis-wife-significant-inconsistencies
Very troubling.
Undaunted says
The law enforcement officer on-scene when the shooting started was an off-duty detective trying to earn some OT. Once Mateen began cranking off rounds inside the club, the detective hid behind his car and popped a few caps into the front entrance while waiting for back-up, rather than advancing audaciously toward the fight and ending it.
That is what contributed to the high body-count.
Brian hoff says
To the person who think he can hide his bia cause muslim should lie about it an then say the moslim is guilty no matter what evidence is hear is against the law than it caught very court in America will be told your name mug shot fingerprint and DNA material to id you. You willnot ever be allow to serbice on than jury again.
PABLO says
Rely on a confession only? FBI- Federal Bureau of Incompetence.