Possibility of mistrial raised at Guantanamo court

[Xipe Totec]

Source: Reuters

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The possibility of a mistrial emerged on Tuesday in the United States' first war crimes trial at Guantanamo, after prosecutors said the judge gave flawed instructions to a jury of military officers in the case against Osama bin Laden's driver.

Prosecutors asked the judge to revise the instructions he gave on what constitutes a war crime to the jurors who began deliberating on Monday in the case of Yemeni prisoner Salim Hamdan.

Hamdan is charged with conspiring with al Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism while working as the al Qaeda leader's driver in Afghanistan from 1996 until his capture in November 2001.

Defense lawyers said the instructions were correct, but that if the judge found otherwise, a mistrial should be declared.

"It's kind of coming up late in the game," said the judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred.

He told the lawyers to consult legal scholars and journals and try to discern Congress' intent in the 2006 law underpinning the Guantanamo tribunals.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080805/ts_nm/guantanamo_hearings_dc_4

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One moment, judge, we need a minute to figure out what to hang them for...

[endarkenment]

1. Oh this is bullshit. The persecutors are sensing defeat and

want a do-over. Just fucking hang the chauffer and get it over with. We have become a very small and stupid people.

[Xipe Totec]

3. They want the judge to revise the instructions

and tell jurors that any attempt by an "unlawful enemy combatant" to kill a U.S. soldier in combat is a war crime.

...

If that was the law, defense attorney Joe McMillan argued, then the United States committed a war crime by providing missiles to mujahideen forces who used them against the Soviet military in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

[Supersedeas]

2. those prosecutors seem to be a whinely lil' group after getting their way with just about everything