U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said his decision not to retry Sami Al-Hussayen on immigration charges came in part because the possible penalty likely wouldn’t have exceeded the 16 months the student already has spent in jail. Even with a conviction and new jail sentence, with…
Federal prosecutors have struck a deal with attorneys for Sami Al-Hussayen: They’ll drop the remaining immigration charges against the University of Idaho graduate student, and he’ll drop his appeal of a deportation order and agree to be deported back home to Saudi Arabia.“I think he…
Congressman Butch Otter said today that he voted against this year’s transportation bill because it didn’t streamline the environmental permitting process for road projects. “It’s still taking us 15 years in order to build a bridge in New Jersey,” he told the Boise Metro Chamber…
Democrat Naomi Preston, who earlier had dropped out of her election challenge to GOP Rep. Butch Otter, says she’s back in the race.Democrats had planned to choose a new challenger for the two-term congressman at their state convention over the weekend, but a few days…
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boise hasn’t reached a decision yet on whether to retry Sami Al-Hussayen on eight remaining immigration charges, and announced this morning that a decision likely will take “a little more time, a few more days.”Al-Hussayen, a University of Idaho graduate…
Federal prosecutors plan to meet on Friday, and decide whether to retry Sami Al-Hussayen on the eight remaining immigration charges. Al-Hussayen was acquitted of three similar immigration charges and three terrorism charges by a unanimous jury after an eight-week trial, but the jury deadlocked on…
An article over the weekend by reporter Rick Schmitt in the Los Angeles Times includes this insight about Sami Al-Hussayen’s acquittal on terrorism charges:“The verdicts point up a little-known reality of the Justice Department’s war on terror since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001: While…
U.S. Attorney for Idaho Tom Moss said he was surprised and disappointed by Sami Al-Hussayen’s acquittal on terrorism charges, “but we accept it.”“I think the ladies and gentlemen on the jury did a good job,” Moss said. “They were very attentive throughout the trial. I…
David Nevin, lead defense attorney for Sami Al-Hussayen, said as he left the courthouse that he thinks Al-Hussayen's acquittal on terrorism charges sends a message."I hope the message is that the First Amendment is important and meaningful in this country, and actions protected by the…
Here’s some speculation, since there’s no way to really know. The Sami Al-Hussayen jury has had only three questions for the court that interrupted its deliberations thus far. Could the questions provide a clue to which charges they’ve decided, and which they’re still debating? It’s…
Scott McKay, left, Chuck Peterson and David Nevin, defense attorneys for Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, discuss the latest developments in the case just after the jury announced that it’s reached a unanimous verdict on some of the counts, but is at an impasse on the rest.…
Jurors in the Al-Hussayen trial pushed past 4:45 this afternoon with their deliberations, going about 45 minutes longer than usual, and appeared mostly relaxed and cheerful as they left the courthouse today in several groups. That was a contrast to yesterday, when they reportedly were…
As jury deliberations began their second week today, an attorney for one material witness was looking for an end. Abdullah Al-Kidd, a former University of Idaho football player, has been waiting to be called as a witness in the Sami Al-Hussayen case since March of…
Here's the scene outside the federal courthouse this afternoon where the media and its live trucks gathered in anticipation of a verdict in the Sami Al-Hussayen case. But at 3:30 p.m. the judge announced he was calling the jury in at 4 p.m. to dismiss…
Jurors in the Sami Al-Hussayen case deliberated from 9 to 4:30 today, and didn’t stop to ask the court any questions. They’ve adjourned for the day now, but will start up again at 9 in the morning.
In the Sami Al-Hussayen jury’s first day of deliberations yesterday, it ran into questions right away about its complex instructions. One of the questions was this: “Does false statement or fraudulent statement include omission by definition?”In answer, Judge Edward Lodge just referred the jurors back…
As the attorneys on both sides, Al-Hussayen supporters from Moscow, various witnesses and onlookers filtered out of the courthouse after the eight-week trial today, many seemed glad the long trial was finally over. Both David Nevin, lead defense attorney, and U.S. Attorney for Idaho Tom…
Sami Al-Hussayen's case was handed over to the jury just now, after hours of closing arguments and rebuttal. In the final comment, lead prosecutor Kim Lindquist told the court it had been "proven without any doubt that he was involved in business, and what kind…
Right at the culmination of the prosecution's closing arguments, prosecutor Kim Lindquist offered the jury some thoughts about the First Amendment. "The First Amendment is an issue in this case only as it relates to the knowledge or intent of the defendant and his associates,"…
When Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist waved a thick transcript of "The Intifada and the New Tartars," a hate-filled, anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-America lecture that a prosecution witness had read in part to jurors earlier in the trial, jurors flinched."Just holding up the transcript makes…
On the eve of today's closing arguments, defense attorneys filed a motion to acquit Sami Al-Hussayen on all the charges. The motion states that based on the testimony of the sole defense witness, even if all the government's evidence is viewed in the most favorable…