Terror trial jury stymied

BOISE – Jurors in the Sami Omar Al-Hussayen terrorism case announced Wednesday that they’ve reached a unanimous verdict on some of the 14 charges in the case, but are at an impasse on the rest.

“They’ve been discussed at great length,” the jury wrote in a note to U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge. “We are now at an impasse. We request your guidance.”

The 34-year-old University of Idaho computer science student faces three terrorism-related charges and 11 immigration charges. The jurors didn’t say which group of charges they’re deadlocked on, and the judge ordered them not to disclose that, even to him.

Lodge sent the jurors back for more deliberations.

“The court obviously recognizes the time you have put in,” he told the solemn and somewhat sheepish looking jurors in a hastily convened court session. “The court, however, respectfully requests that you consider this last instruction.”

He presented the jurors, who are in their second week of deliberations, with an additional page of instructions asking them to keep trying.

“The court has decided to suggest a few thoughts to you,” Lodge wrote in part. “During your deliberations, you should not hesitate to re-examine your own views and change your opinion if you become persuaded that it is wrong. However, you should not change an honest belief as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinions of your fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.”

The new instruction Lodge provided is a version of the “blast” instruction – an attempt to jolt a jury into action. Attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense were called into court to review the instruction, and neither side objected.

U.S. Attorney for Idaho Tom Moss, as he left the courtroom, said, “I don’t think it tells us anything.”

Lead defense attorney David Nevin agreed. “It’s always interesting to try to imagine what the process is, and my experience over the years is you can try all you want.” But, he said. “We really just have to wait and see.”

Jurors headed back to the jury room after the judge’s order, and deliberated until shortly before 4 p.m., then broke until this morning. As they straggled out of the courthouse in three separate groups Wednesday afternoon, the jurors looked noticeably tired.

The four-man, eight-woman jury has been deliberating all day each weekday since it started last week, seldom interrupting its work to ask for any help or clarification. The only exceptions thus far were the first day of deliberations – when jurors stopped twice to ask questions about the definition of conspiracy and whether omissions constituted false or fraudulent statements – and Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, the jurors interrupted their deliberations to ask for a copy of federal regulations dealing with student certifications on immigration forms. Attorneys on both sides agreed to allow that, and the jury was given the regulations. Then, shortly after lunch, they sent their impasse note to the judge.

The certifications are an issue in the immigration charges that Al-Hussayen faces.

The charges against Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national, are somewhat unique. He is the first person to be prosecuted for visa fraud for engaging in activities outside school after certifying that he came to this country “solely” to study, and he is the first to be prosecuted for providing material support to terrorists for operating Web sites.

The graduate student faces two charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, one of providing that support, seven charges of visa fraud, and four charges of making false statements to the government. All involve his unpaid work to operate and maintain Web sites for the Islamic Assembly of North America, a religious group based in Michigan, and his funneling of large sums of money to that group, including donations from his wealthy uncle in Saudi Arabia.

Prosecutors say the Web sites were part of a network that helped international terrorists in Chechnya, Palestine and elsewhere raise funds and drum up recruits for acts of violence. But the defense contended the sites were merely religious and analytical, and weren’t terrorist tools. The IANA hasn’t been charged.

Al-Hussayen, former president of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Idaho, was a prominent spokesman for the Muslim community there before his arrest, and publicly condemned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as counter to the teachings of Islam.

He’s been jailed since his arrest in February of 2003.