Constitutional Law

Anonymity promised for NYC terror-trial jurors

By By The Associated Press

NEW YORK ? More than 400 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires yesterday aimed at gauging their eligibility for the first civilian trial of a Guantanamo Bay detainee after a judge assured them that they would remain anonymous.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan briefly spoke to two separate groups of possible jurors for the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is charged in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Kaplan said even he wouldn't know the identity of potential jurors, who were identified only by a number. Anonymous juries are not unusual in federal court in Manhattan for trials involving terrorism or organized crime.

The judge told the groups that Ghailani was charged in connection with the bombings of the embassies, "denies all the charges against him" and was presumed innocent.

He warned them not to read, watch or listen to anything to do with the case and prompted a few chuckles when he added: "No tweets or whatever else folks do nowadays."

The trial will begin Sept. 29 when a few hundred prospective jurors who remain after the questionnaires are reviewed will be brought to the courthouse for questioning about some of their answers. The judge planned to seat a jury of 12 people with six alternates and begin opening statements on Oct. 4, though he said the date was not definite.

A copy of the 30-page questionnaire was not immediately released publicly.

In summer submissions to the judge, defense lawyers and prosecutors made their recommendations for the questionnaire. Defense lawyers asked to include questions that would ascertain whether potential jurors doubted their ability to be fair if they learned that the government claimed Ghailani was a member or associate of al-Qaida or if they had personal experiences or feelings arising from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on September 22, 2010 (boomark / email).