 CHICAGO - A federal judge Wednesday denied prosecutors' request to seat an anonymous jury in the trial of a Bridgeview, Ill., man charged with funneling money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled that prosecutors failed to show Muhammad Salah and his co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar, of Virginia, are likely to intimidate or harass jurors. "(T)he mere invocation of the word `terrorism,' without more, is insufficient to warrant such an anonymous jury," St. Eve wrote in a ruling released Wednesday.
| "We'd need at least one corpse, maybe two..." |
Salah's attorney, Michael Deutsch, called the ruling a small but significant step toward a fair trial. "Just because the government invokes the word `terrorism' doesn't mean they are terrorists," he said.
| "Hardly anything's blown up lately..." |
Deutsch argued that jurors would be unfairly prejudiced against Salah if they knew their names and backgrounds were being kept secret. "It creates the impression in them that there is some danger associated with the defendants," he said.
| "It ain't our clients, yer honor! It's their friends..." |
In her ruling, St. Eve noted that prosecutors acknowledged Salah and Ashqar aren't dangers to their community at the men's bond hearings. While St. Eve ruled the identity of jurors won't be kept secret from the defense or prosecution, she suggested she may place their names under seal. That likely would prevent the public and press from learning jurors' identities. |