HLF Mistrial: Was the Prosecution Mishandled?

Posted by johnhouk on Nov 14, 2007
 John R. Houk
© November 13, 2007

Here is some analysis on the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial in which was declared a mistrial because of a hung jury.

Correspondent Erick Stakelbeck produces the opinion that the Prosecution screwed up in the presentation of the evidence. Stakelbeck believes the evidence should have been a slam dunk conviction; however a previously successful Prosecutor of terrorist villains failed to connect the evidence in the mind of the jurors. In addition Stakelbeck believes some of the jurors had their thinking in the unpopularity of President Bush combined with the thinking this is an Israeli problem not an American problem.

The thinking goes Hamas are murderers of Jews in Israel, how does that terrorism affect me. If Stakelbeck is correct then truly the Prosecution screwed up because terrorism is terror no matter the point of origin.

I would also like to point out that terrorist organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the Fatah dominated Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists have also directed their venom toward America. It is just that Israel is the primary object of Dar al-Islam.

JRH 11/13/07
**********************************

Terror Financing Mistrial A Disappointment

By Erick Stakelbeck
CBN News Terror Analyst
November 13, 2007

CBNNews.com - The largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history recently wrapped up in Dallas. Even with a mountain of evidence showing the defendants had funded the terrorist group Hamas -- the case ended in a mistrial. This and other recent failures may cause the government to rethink its legal strategy in the war on terror.

The case seemed airtight. Officials from the Holy Land Foundation faced 197 counts for allegedly sending money to Hamas. The trial was years in the making and cost the U.S. government millions of dollars.

But when the verdict was announced last month, it was HLF officials -- not government prosecutors -- who were celebrating.

"It tells them that justice can prevail here, that the system does work if you work the system, follow the laws and obey the authorities," Thomas Muhammed, HLF supporter, said.

HLF's defense said they were an Islamic charity that rased money for needy Palestinian children. But the Department of Justice shut down HLF's Dallas headquarters and argued it was a front for terrorist fundraising that sent over $12 million to Hamas in violation of U.S. law.

Why Mistrial?

So how did this costly, seemingly open-and-shut case end in a mistrial?
Former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy won convictions against the terrorist group plotting to blow up New york City landmarks in 1995. He also led the prosecution for the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

"They initially said, 'This is the government,' that the case would take several months to present," McCarthy explained. "And yet they rested after 10 weeks, they only called 10 witnesses.

"Part of the problem that you have here is that the proof in these cases is stale," he added.

McCarthy says much of the evidence against HLF dates back to the early 90s.
"I think juries would put up with that if they thought there was a profound threat to the United States that was involved," McCarty said. "But when it gets tied up in the politics of the Israeli/Paestinian struggle and people in the United States don't feel like they are at risk -- that America is ultimately at risk -- I think the staleness of the evidence hurts."

McCarthy believes these issues hurt the government's case: Some jurors may have seen this as a threat to Israel, not America. Adding to that perception may have been the prosecution's key witness: an Israeli intelligence officer. Even more damaging was the testimony on behalf of HLF by a a former U.S. State Department official.

"When he said that the charities were not fronts, in his experience, for radical Islamist movements, I think that was very damaging when the government didn't seem to be able to come back and rebut that," McCarthy said.

More Disappointment

This trial is just the latest in a series of disappointing verdicts in high-profile terrorism cases.

In 2004, jurors found a Saudi man not guilty of providing material and financial support to terrorist groups over the Internet. Earlier this year in Chicago was another not guilty verdict involving two Palestinian men accused of funneling thousands of dollars to Hamas.

"They've made mistakes in putting out too much evidence, not connecting the dots where dots could be connected and not making things clear to the juries," CBN News Consultant Daveed Garenstein-Ross said.

There's also the 2005 trial of Palestinian native Sami al-Arian accused of leading the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian admitted raising money for the group. Still, a jury acquitted him on several counts of support for terrorism.

In the end, he pled guilty to conspiracy and struck an agreement with the government. He'll serve 19 months in a U.S. prison before being deported.

The ACLU's Mike German says prosecutors aren't winning the desired outcomes because they're targeting the wrong people.

"There are a lot of groups out there with really bad ideas," German said. But if they're not actively engaged in trying to hurt somebody, the government should not pay attention to them."

Fear, Mistrust of Gov't a Factor

As an FBI agent, Mike German infiltrated neo-Nazi groups. In this case, he does not believe HLF officials were a threat to the U.S.

German said, "People can have abhorrent beliefs that none of us would agree with. But very few people are actually willing to commit crime for those movements.

"We have to recognize that these enforcement methods aren't working. And taking something like charities, where you demonize charitable giving, is incredibly counterproductive," he said.

McCarthy says the government is prosecuting the right people, but he fears that mistrust of President Bush and the war on terror may factor into some jurors' decisions.

"The way the press has covered the Bush administration, particulalry since the Iraq war started, really has crept into peoples' minds…" McCarthy said. "I worry that it's a pervasive enough attitude out there that we're getting jurors on the jury who have that attitude."

There have been several successesful prosecutions for the government since 9/11. Members of terrorist cells in Portland, Columbus, Ohio, and Lackawanna, New York, have all been convicted in American courts. So has shoe bomber Richard Reid. All of them had terrorist plots in the works.

When it comes to the shadowy world of terrorist financing, things are more difficult to prove in court.

"There are ways to disguise where the money is going that make it very difficult for terrorism prosecutions to succeed," Gartenstein-Ross said.

The Holy Land Foundation isn't out of the woods yet. The government is planning to retry the group. Some have compared the recent difficulties in prosecuting groups like HLF to trying the Mafia. Just as Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion, terrorism suspects may ultimately be locked up for lesser charges.
__________________
 HLF Mistrial: Was the Prosecution Mishandled?
John R. Houk
© November 13, 2007
_______________

Terror Financing Mistrial A Disappointment
The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. © 2007

Leave a COMMENT.

powered by [ stevencopley.com ]