Terrorism Charges Fizzle: Where’s the Beef?

FROM www.CNN.com

Terror trial is defeat for prosecutors

Case was touted as a test for Patriot Act powers

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

It was one of the biggest courtroom tests of the Patriot Act’s new powers: a former professor on trial, accused of helping lead a terrorist group that has carried out bombings against Israel. But a jury Tuesday acquitted Sami Al-Arian on nearly half the charges and deadlocked on the rest, dealing federal prosecutors a stinging defeat. Al-Arian, 47, wept after the verdicts, and his attorney, Linda Moreno, hugged him. He will return to jail until prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the deadlocked charges. The 2003 indictment against Al-Arian was hailed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as one of the first triumphs of the expanded search-and-surveillance powers of the Patriot Act, which was enacted weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But after a five-month trial and 13 days of deliberations, a jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight of the 17 counts against him, including a key charge of conspiring to maim and murder people overseas. The jurors deadlocked on the others, including charges he aided terrorists. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/07/professor.terror.ap/index.html

Don’t you all feel safer now?

KJ