Noor Salman Is Acquitted in Pulse Nightclub Shooting

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

ORLANDO, Fla. — Noor Salman, the widow of the man who gunned down dozens of people at the Pulse nightclub two years ago, was found not guilty by a federal jury on Friday of helping her husband carry out a terrorist attack in the name of the Islamic State.

Jurors acquitted Ms. Salman on charges of aiding and abetting the commission of a terrorist act in the 2016 mass shooting and also found her not guilty of obstructing justice. She had been accused of giving misleading statements to law enforcement officers who interviewed her following the massacre, the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, it was also the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.

Ms. Salman, 31, had faced a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.

The jury deliberated for more than 11 hours and had launched a third day when they reached their verdict Friday morning.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/us/noor-salman-pulse-trial-verdict.html

[marble falls]

1. My question is all other things being equal, if she were white, would she have even been arrested?

[hlthe2b]

2. I only recently started following this. I have worked in the ME and am convinced

(however unpopular with some wanting a proxy for justice) that she was, indeed innocent. The FBI let their emotion drive the way they approached her and her interrogations.

This article, I am pretty convinced is NOT just a soft pedal, but very close to the truth:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/noor-salman-trial-pulse-massacre_us_5abbe04be4b04a59a313df85

[marble falls]

3. I just read that and it seemed pretty even handed. The part that sold me was the quote...

from the prosecutor that said it was no particular thing just the totality of the case, which is legalese for we don't have a case but because she's his wife we'll knit one out of circumstance alone. I wonder who pushed this thing along into court when the FBI couldn't discover, literally, a smoking gun?

[hlthe2b]

5. yeah... I wonder....

[shanny]

8. to be fair

the investigation, charges and arrest all happened before cheetolini

just another reason why I find it surreal to be defending the fbi (who did the investigating and recommended charges)

[hlthe2b]

10. She was arrested/charged January 16, 2017 a few days before inauguration, but

after months of Trump's anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric that not infrequently pointed to the Pulse shooting.

The FBI did their investigation as would be expected, but it is hard not to wonder, given the National outrage being pushed even further by RW media (and Trump), whether that influenced their determination to charge her. Ultimately, though I think the prosecutor was influenced by that even more.

[shanny]

13. yeah. before the inauguration.

we shouldn't excuse the fbi, doj or whoever for being pushed by RW media or preznit-select Trump or whoever. isn't this a prime case for pushing the rule of law, no matter who is in the crosshairs or what the political climate is?

seems to me the jury did a better job as an instrument of justice than anybody in the government.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Possibly. Abused partners are often scapegoated for the crimes of their abusers.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. One doesn't always know what a spouse is up to

The stories I could tell. But I'm sure you have your own.

[iluvtennis]

6. Glad for her and her toddler child. I didn't like the fact that law enforcement interrogated her

for 11 hours straight with no lawyer present.

I'm sure they read her the Miranda rights, but she may not have truly understood them. And she also felt she had to comply to the "will of authority" as a lot of Muslim women believe.

[RVN VET71]

9. Which makes it all the more remarkable she was acquitted

Was she offered a "deal" to keep the case out of the court system? Prosecutors like to pull crap like that: Hey, plead guilty to this lesser charge and you're out in 10 years, in time to see your little child before she's all grown up." If so, it would have taken a lot of courage to reject it and go to trial.

I'm glad the truth won out and the jury dealt fairly with the case.

[chelsea0011]

11. Sounds like a jury at it's very best. Listen to the facts and ignore any outside political winds.

[Canoe52]

12. Unless you are on a jury and you hear all the evidence, the verdict may be surprising from

reading just the news reports, but in this case it sounds like the prosecutor and all involved with bringing the case were assholes and had no case to start with.

So glad the jury saw that and that poor woman is free, she’s suffered enough.

However, for the jury to be out so long might mean there were a few hold outs for guilty and it took a while for the rest of the jury to convince them otherwise. Wouldn’t be surprised to later hear that it was close to a hung jury. Wasn’t the jury all white, or did I get that wrong?