Posted on 11/18/2009 5:09:39 PM PST by arthurus
... — are all accused of being involved in the 9/11 plot, with Mohammed describing himself as the mastermind in a 2003 confession.
The announcement follows from U.S. President Barack Obama’s first executive order, which he signed on Jan. 22, to close the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and another executive order to suspend the military tribunals set up under the Bush administration to try suspected terrorists. Holder’s decision has generated much debate and highlighted the legal murkiness concerning the status of Guantanamo detainees and how best to bring them to justice.
(Excerpt) Read more at stratfor.com ...
Consider that a federal judge in the OK City bombing changed the venue to Denver at defense request.
Surely if that does not happen in this case, the trial will be seen as a preposterous farce, the biggest in United States history.
Venue and the Oklahoma City Bombing Case
Trial judges are generally reluctant to grant a defendant’s request for a change of venue in a criminal trial. A change of venue is inconvenient to the trial participants and is often financially costly. Nevertheless, when a judge believes that a defendant cannot receive a fair trial in the place where the crime was committed, he can order that the trial be moved to another location.
The attorneys for Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, who were charged in federal court with the April 19, 1995 bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that resulted in the deaths of 168 people, sought a change of venue from Oklahoma City. The defense attorneys argued that there was substantial prejudice against McVeigh and Nichols in Oklahoma City and the state of Oklahoma, making it impossible for them to receive a fair and impartial trial.
In an order issued on February 20, 1996, Judge Richard P. Matsch agreed. The news coverage of the events surrounding the bombing, its aftermath, and the arrest of McVeigh and Nichols had been extensive in Oklahoma. Matsch noted that the Oklahoma news media had “demonized” the defendants and run news stories suggesting that they had been associated with right-wing militia groups. Because the defendants had been charged with capital crimes, Matsch was concerned that Oklahoma jurors would not be able to set aside their prejudices and emotions to determine first whether the defendants were guilty or innocent and then, if found guilty, whether they deserved to be executed.
Therefore, Matsch ordered a change of venue to Denver, Colorado. Though he acknowledged that the victims of the bombing wished to attend the trials and that a change of venue would cause them hardship, Matsch concluded that the “interests of the victims in being able to attend this trial in Oklahoma are outweighed by the court’s obligation to assure that the trial be conducted with fundamental fairness and with due regard for all constitutional requirements.”
Read more: Venue - Venue And The Oklahoma City Bombing Case http://law.jrank.org/pages/11075/Venue-Venue-Oklahoma-City-Bombing-Case.html#ixzz0XCuufANc
End of the world stuff.
Did BHO and Holder guarantee a conviction? If so, when where? Are we really showing off our superior system when, BEFORE INDICTMENT, the gov’t guarantees the outcome. Say it ain’t so.
Remember the Danish Mohammed cartoons that started a bloody uprising throughout the Muslim world? Do you recall that 15 Christians were murdered in Nigeria because of those cartoons? And the Nigerian Christians had absolutely nothing to do with the cartoons! There were other victims in other countries as well. The extremists like to vent their rage on any convenient religious minority whether Christian, Jewish, Hindu or whatever. Any “infidel” will do.
What is going to happen when Khalid Sheik Muhammed starts making outrageous claims in the courtroom? KSM has the power over life or death with this mouth. He knows that he can make people die just by making up some lie about how his religion was disrespected in Guantanamo. Remember when some Newsweek journalist wrongly claimed that a Koran had been flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo? Guess what happened - more riots in the Islamic world.
KSM and the other butchers should not be given a platform to spew their lies and vennon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.