Al-Arian lawyer in second terror trial

The Dallas case parallels the former USF professor's for the Tampa defense lawyer.

By MEG LAUGHLIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 17, 2007

Linda Moreno expected to be home weeks ago. But the Tampa lawyer who represented Sami Al-Arian at his terrorism trial, is still in Dallas, experiencing deja vu.

Almost two years after a jury deliberated for 13 days in the six-month Al-Arian case and acquitted or deadlocked on all charges of conspiracy to support terrorism, Moreno sees uncanny similarities to another huge terrorism-related trial: that of Holy Land Foundation in Texas.

She is representing Ghassan Elashi, former chairman of the board for Holy Land Foundation, which prosecutors say funneled $12-million to Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that they say were fronts for the terrorist group Hamas.

In this case, as in Al-Arian's, the outcome hinges on whether jurors believe that the defendants helped suicide bombers in Israel, or whether they believe defendants were helping needy Palestinians with everything from vaccinations to rice.

Since closing arguments in the 10-week trial ended on Sept. 18, Holy Land jurors have deliberated for 17 days - four more than for Al-Arian.

In the Al-Arian case, two jurors held out for conviction on the charge of "providing material support to terrorists," while 10 voted to acquit on all charges. But in the end jurors arrived at eight acquittals and nine deadlocked charges, with no guilty verdicts. Al-Arian later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of helping associates of a terrorist group in nonviolent ways.

Two weeks ago, the Holy Land jury foreman sent a note to the judge asking what to do if one juror refused to participate. Federal Judge A. Joe Fish responded with an Allen charge, telling jurors it was their "sworn duty" to reach verdicts. Since then, jurors have not asked any questions and have sent no notes but continue to deliberate.

"As with Al-Arian," says Moreno, "I think we're seeing extremely conscientious jurors who are struggling to arrive at justice."

After speaking about the Al-Arian case in Dallas to members of the Islamic community in the summer of 2006, Moreno was asked to join the Holy Land defense team.

"If someone had told me on Sept. 11, 2001, that I'd become a defense lawyer in terrorism cases, I'd have said 'No way,'" Moreno says.

At the time, to get to her job as a lawyer in Manhattan, she took a subway to the World Trade Center every day. But on this day she was running late because of a migraine headache. About an hour after the planes hit, she got a weeping cell phone message from her daughter, asking, "Mommy, are you alive?"

She still grieves for close friends she lost that day. But she says her involvement in terrorism cases is based on something other than the events of Sept. 11.

"The Al-Arian case and the Holy Land case are less about terrorism than they are about government overreaching. To me, these are the civil rights cases of the 21st century."

Moreno is hoping for a Holy Land Foundation verdict by week's end.

"I can't wait to get home," she said.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Meg Laughlin can be reached at mlaughlin@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 17, 2007, 00:53:38]