Legal Commentary

Najibullah Zazi's Terror Case May Be Moved to New York

By Jeralyn

Denver CBS reporter Rick Sallinger, who usually has good information and sources, just reported on TV that Najibullah Zazi's terror case may be moved to New York, while his father's false statements case would remain here.

If that's true, I'd expect new charges to be filed against Zazi since venue isn't proper in New York on the false statements charges. (He made the statements in Colorado.)

Zazi undoubtedly will not be happy to trade the FDC in Englewood, CO for MCC Manhattan or MDC Brooklyn. But it makes sense for the Government to prosecute this "plot" as a single case in a single jurisdiction. And it makes even more sense for the Government to do it now. [More...]

Cases charged by complaint must be presented to a grand jury for indictment within 30 days. Once the Indictment is returned, the defendant no longer gets a preliminary hearing.

Right now, Zazi's detention and preliminary hearing are set for Thursday. Unless the Government can get an Indictment from a grand jury in Colorado by Thursday (and we may not have one sitting this week before Thursday) the Government will have to put on some evidence at Zazi's hearing they likely would prefer to keep under wraps. One of the requirements of the false statements charge is that the statement is "material." It's not enough to show just a false statement.

If there is a grand jury sitting in New York today or tomorrow (more likely since it's a big city with more investigations pending), the Government might well get a quick indictment against Zazi there, which would enable them to dismiss the case here before Thursday's hearing. As long as the Government seeks detention against Zazi on the charges in the New York Indictment, he'd be transferred to New York in custody.

That still leaves the senior Zazi's preliminary hearing. If he is released on bond by Thursday, his lawyers might not object to continuing the hearing if the Government gives them an incentive to do so.

If Sallinger is right, it may be quite a while before the public gets to learn any actual evidence about the supposed terror plot in these cases.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 22, 2009 (boomark / email).