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| No verdict as Ft. Dix jurors set for day 5 |
| 2008-12-21 |
| The jury deciding the fate of five foreign-born Muslim men charged with plotting an attack on Fort Dix in hopes of killing U.S. military personnel will begin it fifth day of deliberation this morning. The anonymously chosen panel wrapped up their considerations shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, completing more than 25 hours of deliberations since getting the case Tuesday night. The jury remains sequestered at an undisclosed hotel until it reaches a verdict. U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said the jury told him it was making progress and getting along. It gave him no other information. On Saturday, the eight women and four men asked for the transcript of the testimony of a Philadelphia Police sergeant, who testified about his involvement with defendant Serdar Tatar of Philadelphia. He testified that Tatar told him a man was pressuring him for a map of Fort Dix and feared it could be terrorism related. The officer contacted the FBI and told Tatar not to give the man, since identified as FBI informant Mahmoud Omar, the map. By the time the FBI interviewed Tatar weeks later, he had given the map to Omar. Tatar took it from his father's former Cookstown pizzeria, Super Mario's, just outside the main gate of Fort Dix. The government contends Tartar was not trying to avert an attack by Omar. Instead, authorities allege he was trying to figure out if the FBI knew about the alleged Fort Dix plot he is now charged in. When Tatar was questioned by the FBI, he denied giving the map to Omar three times, an officer testified during the eight-week trial. Tatar and co-defendants Mohamad Shnewer and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, all of Cherry Hill, are all charged with conspiracy and attempted murder. Tatar, a legal, permanent resident, is the only defendant not charged with weapons offenses. He also is the only suspect who the jury was instructed did not watch the jihad-training and propaganda videos and cannot use that evidence against him. The jurors have some 48 binders of evidence to consider. There are some parallels between the Fort Dix case and the so-called “Liberty City Seven,” men who were accused of planning to attack the Sears Tower and several FBI offices. One of the men was acquitted last year, while federal jurors in Miami twice deadlocked on the charges for the other six and mistrials were declared. There were nine days of deliberations before the first mistrial was declared and 13 before the second. |
| Posted by:ryuge |