Oct 2, 2007 6:31 pm US/Eastern
Opening Arguments Started In Liberty City 7 Trial
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Opening arguments got underway Tuesday in the trial of the so-called "Liberty City 7."
AP
Opening arguments got underway Tuesday in the federal trial of the so-called "Liberty City 7."
Miami Herald reporter Jay Weaver who is covering the trial said prosecutor Richard Gregorie started the morning's proceedings by the telling the jury that the defendants conspired in plans to form an Islamic army to take over the United States.
''These defendants wanted to wage a jihad against the United States,'' Gregorie said. ''They tell us so in unique detail,'' he said, citing wiretaps, videotapes and other FBI surveillances.
Gregorie said their plan encompassed everything from poisoning salt shakers in restaurants to blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago to destroying five FBI buildings in Miami.
The seven defendants are all from Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. They were charged after a lengthy investigation in which an FBI informant posed as an al Qaeda emissary sent to help with their alleged plans.
Led by a construction worker named Narseal Batiste, authorities say the seven were all videotaped taking an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. An undercover video also shows Batiste telling an FBI undercover agent his plans for blowing up buildings. Aside from a 9-millimeter handgun, no explosives or military weaponry necessary to pull off such a grandiose operation was ever found.
Defense lawyers say Batiste and his co-defendants were all talk and said whatever the government paid informants wanted to hear.
Last December, Batiste wrote a 25-page letter to
CBS4 reporter Brian Andrews, in which claimed he and his group never had terrorist intentions, but instead were looking to raise money for their Liberty City religious organization.
They face up to 70 years in prison if convicted of conspiring to levy war against the United States and provide material support to al Qaeda.
((© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this repo)
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