Dec 13, 2007 5:46 pm US/Eastern
Mistrial In "Liberty City 7" Case
One Defendant Is Acquitted, Govt Says It Will Retry Next Year
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A mistrial has been declared in the "Liberty City 7" trial in Miami on Thursday. One defendant was acquitted in the case of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and wage war against the U.S.
Prosecutors say it will retry the case next year.
Lyglenson Lemorin, who was not the alleged ringleader, was acquitted.
Seven of the jurors are white or hispanic, four are black. All seven of the defendants are black.
Jury foreman Jeffrey Agron said, "I think it was a general lack of evidence."
The case against them was built on the strength of work done by a paid government informant who infiltrated the group and allegedly plotted with them to create "chaos and confusion" across the United States. The FBI secretly recorded audio and video tapes of the group planning a mission that prosecutors have said was intended to "be as good or greater than 9/11." The men never obtained any explosives or other weaponry necessary to carry out such attacks.
The defense has argued that this is a case of entrapment, that the group was enticed by the government's snitch and went along only to con him of money he promised would be coming from Osama Bin Laden. The Liberty City Seven's leader, Narseal Batiste, testified in the trial, insisting that he and his co-defendants never intended to carry through on any terror acts. He simply wanted to con money out of the man who claimed to have al Qaeda finance connections. They knew that man as Brother Mohammed but he was actually a paid FBI informant.
The jury has twice tried to call it quits. Last Thursday, they sent a note to U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard saying they were deadlocked. She sent them back to deliberate. Again, this week the jurors reported they could not reach a verdict. Lenard read them an Allen charge - a so-called "dynamite" charge - instructing them that the case is very important, has been long and costly, and that no other jury could be selected in South Florida that could judge the case any more competently than they. She ordered them back to the jury room, and the panel has continued to deliberate with no further messages coming from the jury room.
The defendants are charged with four counts each of terror-related conspiracy charges. If convicted, they would have faced a maximum of 70 years in prison.
The government's case against them included a secretly recorded video of the defendants pledging allegiance to al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad. The defense claimed the defendants were just playing along.
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