Legal Commentary

Fort Dix Terrorism Trial Underway

By TChris

Jury selection is underway in the trial of five men who were arrested for allegedly plotting an attack upon the soldiers at Fort Dix. As Wonkette noted, if a small group of guys who trained in the Poconos thought they could successfully attack a heavily armed military base, this was the dumbest terrorist plot ever.

But was it a plot? The government's strongest evidence comes from the informant who was paid to infiltrate the group. Whether there was ever a plot in the mind of anyone other than the informant will be the key to the trial's outcome. The prosecution will play some tapes that the informant recorded, but the defense says it will play even more tapes to prove their clients' innocence. [More...]

The defense will try to show that while their clients may have liked to shoot guns and held anti-American views, they were not moving ahead with a plan to kill. "Our guys are saying, 'What are you talking about?'" when an attack is mentioned, [defense attorney Michael] Riley said.

Jury selection may take weeks, and the trial is not expected to wrap up for months.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).