Legal Commentary

The Shocking Outcome of the Bahlul Trial

By TChris

As Jeralyn discussed earlier today, a military commission jury voted to convict Ali Hamza al-Bahlul of 35 crimes, including solicitation to commit murder and providing material support to terrorism. This result should not shock, given Bahlul's refusal to defend himself and his lawyer's decision to respect Bahlul's desire to present no defense. You may recall that the judge allowed the proceeding to proceed even after Bahlul's lawyer refused to participate.

The 35 convictions do not shock, but this does:

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The jury dismissed one count of conspiracy and one count of providing material support for terrorism.

Did the prosecutors forget to present any evidence of those crimes? With the ability to put on a completely uncontested, unrefuted, unconfronted case, the prosecutors still lost on two counts? How embarrassing.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 03, 2008 (boomark / email).