Day 2 Liberty City Seven Pre-Trial: Bond Denied - Strong Case of Conspiracy
by Peter Graves-Goodman Wednesday, Jul. 05, 2006 at 1:12 PM
imcmiami@yahoo.com

The second day of the Liberty City Seven pre-trial bond hearing. On Friday the Liberty City Seven plead “not guilty” and their defense attorneys started questioning the government witness for the prosecution. Today all five defense attorneys resumed their questioning in the hopes of proving their case, that their clients did not actually participate or were not involved in the conspiracy outside of taking the al-Qaida “oath” and should therefore be entitled to bond.

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Their questions revolved around whether their clients were mentioned or participated in the web of tape recorded telephone calls and video taped meetings that Bateste had with the government al-Qaida informant-witness that started in October 2005 and continued till late June 2006. There was merit to this line of questioning because the prosecution star witness, the FBI case agent, could not recall any of them participating or being mentioned in the meeting videos or the telephone tapes, outside of Bateste.

The defense attorney for Stanley Lenore asked the agent, that when his client was arrested and mirandised, was an attorney provided? The agent didn’t understand the question, so the attorney restated the question. “When his client was arrested by the FBI and given his Miranda rights, which say that “if you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided,” was my client provided an attorney before you questioned him? Of course the answer was “no.” Very interesting!

The defense attorneys also brought up the fact that after the taking of the al-Qaida “oath” the group seemed to fall apart.

After a short recess the judge, Magistrate Ted Bandstra, gave his decision. He made reference to: this was strong case of conspiracy; that they met with the al-Qaida informant and swore an “oath” to join al-Qaida; they conspired to build an army to wage war against the United States; they made a list asking for weapons, bullet-proof vests and $50, 000; and that there was strong significant government evidence, but the Liberty City Seven attorneys presented no significant evidence in their defense. Therefore they were to be held for trial without bond.

In the coming months there will be pre-trial evidentiary hearings, with the trial possibly starting in January of 2007, but then again it could be a year from now.

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