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Jury to begin 7th day of deliberations Friday in embassy bombing trial

By From CNN's Phil Hirschkorn

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury Friday morning will begin a seventh day deliberating the fate of four men charged in a worldwide terrorist conspiracy to kill Americans that allegedly included the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Court resumes at 10:30 a.m. EDT. The panel of seven women and five men received the case last Thursday afternoon after hearing 40 days of testimony and arguments by attorneys.

The four men on trial are Wadih el Hage, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, Mohamed Rashed al-'Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed.

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All but el Hage are accused of direct roles in the bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans and injured more than 4,000 people on August 7, 1998. El Hage is accused of facilitating the terrorist cell.

The 302-count verdict form includes charges of conspiracy, of carrying out the bombings, of murder for each bombing fatality and of perjury.

The jury has sent the court six notes requesting trial exhibits, one note requesting clarification on a conspiracy charge, and one note requesting a read-back of testimony.

On Thursday morning, the jury heard FBI agent Stephen Gaudin describe how al-'Owhali told him why the Kenya embassy was picked.

"It was an easy target," Gaudin testified. "There was a large American presence at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi; that the ambassador of the U.S. embassy was a female and if the bomb resulted in her being killed, it would further the publicity for the bombing," Gaudin said al-'Owhali told him. U.S. ambassador Prudence Bushnell survived the attack with minor injuries.

The jury did not send any new notes to court Thursday, the first day the panel did not request any information.

In a conference outside the jury's presence, attorneys for the two defendants who might be subject to capital punishment motioned to limit the government's presentation in the trial's next phase. If al-'Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed are convicted, the same jurors will decide whether they are sentenced to death.

The government plans to call 30 Kenya bombing victims to testify and to introduce photographs to show the impact of the attack.

"I think it is very limited considering that hundreds of people were injured, many far more seriously than those depicted in the photographs," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.

"I think that 42 victims testifying, 12 before [a verdict] and 30 now, is a bit much," said Fred Cohn, al-'Owhali's attorney.

"How many blind people do you need to testify? I don't mean to be grotesque, but that is what it is about. It is a parade of people who have serious injuries. Every family suffered from all of this and we all know it," Cohn said.

Al-'Owhali attorney David Baugh objected to prosecutors showing a video that was made on the one year anniversary of the embassy bombing. "It is taking the jury to a memorial service, taking the jury to a funeral," Baugh said.

U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Sand decided the government's penalty phase agenda was appropriate and denied al-'Owhali's motions.

"What occurred was not a bloodless event. You recall that when we voir dired this jury they were alerted to the fact that the evidence might include photographs ... basically gory," Sand said.

Voir dire is a term referring to an oath taken by a person to speak the truth about their qualifications to be a trial juror or witness.

"Blood was spilled. Part of the agony of the victims and the agony of members of their families and others who were observing was that," he said.

David Ruhnke, an attorney for Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, objected to two prosecution photos of Tanzania bomb victims. One photo "depicts a charred and disfigured corpse lying on the ground," Ruhnke said, while another is "a pile of human corpses on the floor, it appears probably of some morgue."

"This is an impact on the survivors," Garcia responded. "It is still a case of mass murder."

Sand decided to allow the government to introduce them as well.

If needed, the penalty phase will start the week following the verdicts and is expected to last a month.


Greta@LAW







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