If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. That was the Government's attitude in the Liberty City, Fla. "Sears Tower" plot terror trial. Two juries didn't convict the defendants, but today, a third jury convicted five and acquitted one.

After two previous mistrials, a federal jury Tuesday finally reached verdicts in the Bush-era terrorism case of six Miami men charged with conspiring with al Qaeda -- convicting five and acquitting one.

...The indictment charged the Liberty City Six with four counts of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; provide material support to terrorists; destroy buildings with explosives; and levy war against the U.S. government in a seditious act.

A seventh defendant was acquitted in the first trial. The Government deported him to Haiti anyway. So what was different in this trial? [More...]

I hope reinstating the military tribunals at Guantanamo is an idea the Obama Administration quickly discards, but I'm not optimistic:

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees...Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration’s system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

According to the article, Obama may revise and reinstate them for the top terror detainees.

Memo to President Obama: [More...]

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, held for years as an enemy combatant and recently transferred to the Southern District of Illinois to face criminal charges, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued this statement on the guilty plea. In his words, among the "milestones we achieve today":

The conviction of an al-Qaeda sleeper agent captured in the United States;

-- The certainty that our criminal justice system can and will hold terrorists accountable for their actions, and;

-- The triumph of the exhaustive efforts of dedicated professionals at the Justice Department and many other agencies involved in this case.

He also engages in some tough talk:[More...]

Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, the sole surviving pirate of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama and kidnapping of Captain Richard Phillips has arrived in New York. He will be arraigned today in federal court.

Omar Jamal, Director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis, a group that helps Somali immigrants with legal and social issues, said Musi's family has asked his organization to assist in his defense.

The AP has details on his background...he's called "Muse" and he could be 16 or 18. He wasn't born in a hospital and Somalis don't keep birth records. [More...]

A federal magistrate judge today denied bail to accused al Qaeda detainee Ali al-Marri. Al-Marri was the third person designated as an enemy combatant by the Bush Administration.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Carr turned down Ali al-Marri's bid to be released on bond, despite the defense's offer of collateral worth more than $1 million and its proposal to keep him guarded in a safe house. Carr said he would issue an order requiring al-Marri be transported to Illinois, where he's scheduled to be arraigned Monday on federal charges of providing material support to terror and conspiracy.

Cheryl Savage, wife of al-Marri's lawyer Andy Savage, wife offered to secure a bond with a commercial property worth at least $1 million, but the Judge rejected the offer.[More...]

In an Executive Order, President Obama directed that:

The Secretary of Defense shall immediately take steps sufficient to ensure that during the pendency of the Review described in section 4 of this order, no charges are sworn, or referred to a military commission under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Rules for Military Commissions, and that all proceedings of such military commissions to which charges have been referred but in which no judgment has been rendered, and all proceedings pending in the United States Court of Military Commission Review, are halted.

(Emphasis supplied.)Via litigatormom, we discover that one military commission judge has chosen to defy this executive order:

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held oral argument Monday in the appeal of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is trying to withdraw his guilty plea.

The grounds:

Moussaoui's guilty plea was invalid because he was confused about the charges and didn't know that other al-Qaeda members had given information to interrogators that could have cleared him.

[More...]

The Liberty City aka Sears Tower trial begins again in Florida after two mistrials in which jurors couldn't agree on a verdict.

Prosecutors tried to prove that the original seven defendants, a group of laborers from the tough Liberty City neighborhood, provided “material support” to a terrorist organization, and planned to destroy buildings. But they relied mostly on the men’s words, citing their loyalty oath to Al Qaeda and aggressive comments made to two F.B.I. informants.

More concrete evidence did not emerge. Testimony showed that a search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of what it called the group’s headquarters did not yield guns, explosives or blueprints for an attack. Besides a samurai sword, no weapons were found.

This was the trial hyped by Alberto Gonzales to the media. The Bush Administration played the "fear card" to the max and still couldn't get a guilty verdict. It should be more difficult this time around.

As University of Miami Law Prof Bruce Winnick says, it's more like a grade B movie plot than a criminal case.

Our past coverage of the trials is accessible here.

From the WaPo:

A federal judge ordered the release today of a detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the government's evidence was too weak to justify the man's continued confinement.

It is the second time U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon has ordered the release of a detainee after hearing the government's evidence. In today's ruling, Leon said the Justice Department failed to prove that Mohammed El Gharani, 21, was an enemy combatant because it relied almost exclusively on statements made by two other detainees whose credibility has been called into question by government personnel.

Update: Evidence in Terror Trials in Chaos: Military defense lawyers say the the re-referral of charges may have been an "accidental mistake." Several cases are in evidentiary chaos.

Teen soldier Omar Khadr, a true child of Jihad, has been set for trial by military commission at Guantanamo on January 26. That would give President Obama 7 days from his swearing in to abolish the unfair tribunals created by the the Bush Administration under the Military Commissions Act.

Unlike closing Guantanamo, which could take Obama months or a year -- even if he enters an executive order commanding the closure upon taking office -- stopping the military commissions trials can be done immediately.

Today, in an unexpected move, the official overseeing the military commission trials withdrew the charges against Khadr and the other four detainees facing trial by military tribunal and refiled them, which has the effect of voiding all proceedings that have taken place to date. In other words, the trial dates are off as they start from scratch. [More...]

Five men charged with plotting to attack Fort Dix have been acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of conspiracy. The jury deliberated for six days before arriving at the verdict. TalkLeft's most recent discussion of the evidence against the defendants is here.

Omar Khadr, the Canadian captured as a teen on the battlefield in Afghanistan, has a hearing today in his military commissions proceeding at Guantanamo.

Most human rights and legal experts say the evidence against Khadr seems too weak to be able to hold up in a US civil court or an ordinary military tribunal.

Khadr could then become the first beneficiary of the closing of the Guantanamo detention facility.

The ACLU is monitoring from Gitmo. [More...]