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Odeh

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jurors will reconvene Monday for an eighth day of deliberations in the trial of four men accused of participating in a worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans and destroy U.S property -- a conspiracy that allegedly included the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.

The jury recessed Friday afternoon without reaching a verdict, after six full days of deliberations. They received the case late in the afternoon of May 10.

In asking for a clarification of a point of law and for particular items in evidence, the jury on Friday indicated it was focusing on defendant Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, accused in the bombing of the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

During the trial, prosecutors described Odeh, 36, a Jordanian, as a "technical adviser" to the bombings.

CASE FILE Shattered Diplomacy: The U.S. Embassy Bombings Trial An in-depth special report on the trial of four men charged with the embassy bombings Trial reports | Timeline | Key Figures  DOCUMENTS • Jury verdict form for the U.S. embassy bombings trial (FindLaw) (PDF) Part 1 | Part 2 • Jury Questionnaire (FindLaw) Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.   GALLERY Images from the U.S. embassy bombing in Tanzania

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They pointed to his explosives training at Afghanistan military camps financed by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, an accused terrorist and the alleged leader of the conspiracy, and to sketches found in Odeh's home in Kenya that bore a resemblance to the embassy compound.

In his post-arrest statement to the FBI, Odeh admitted being in the company of other suspected bombers at Nairobi's Hilltop Hotel in the days before the bombing, but he denied knowing the plot was afoot.

Evidence showed that Odeh registered at the hotel under a pseudonym and his fingerprint was lifted off the doorknob to the room where the Kenya cell leader stayed. The jury asked to review the hotel register and the fingerprint evidence Friday.

The jury also asked to look at charts summarizing the explosives residue, PETN and TNT, the FBI said was found on jeans and a T-shirt inside the travel bag Odeh was carrying the day he was arrested.

He was taken into custody as he entered Pakistan with a fake passport August 7, 1998, the day of the bombings. Odeh's travel bag and its contents were among the first items the jury requested when it received the case last Thursday.

Odeh and defendant Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, 24, a Saudi, are accused of carrying out the Kenya bombing and of murdering the 213 people who died in the explosion.

Defendant Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a Tanzanian, is accused of carrying out the Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, bombing and of murdering the 11 people who died in that coordinated attack.

Defendant Wadih el Hage, 40, a Lebanese-born naturalized American, is not charged with the bombings, but he and the other three defendants face terrorist conspiracy charges. El Hage also faces perjury charges for allegedly lying to a grand jury about his ties to bin Laden and his associates.

The jury Friday asked U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand to clarify what is meant by the term "aiding and abetting," a question that comes up often on the 302-count verdict form.

On the bombing counts, for example, the jury must decide whether the defendants themselves actually used explosives that damaged the embassies and killed people or just aided and abetted their use.

Evidence showed Odeh stayed in a room at Nairobi's Hilltop Hotel days before the bombing. His fingerprint was lifted off the room's doorknob

The distinction is particularly relevant for Odeh, who unlike al-'Owhali and Mohamed is not suspected of being at either the bomb-making house or the actual crime scenes.

Al-'Owhali and Mohamed, the government alleges, helped in the final preparations of their respective bomb trucks and actually rode in them the morning of the coordinated attacks. Odeh left Kenya the night before the attacks.

"The aider and abettor must do something beyond being a casual observer," Sand told the jury. "He must be a participant in some action" to further the crime, Sand said.

The 12 jurors deciding the complicated case meet for roughly 6.5 hours a day, with a lunch break of an hour and 15 minutes.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to get outside during the day [at lunchtime] for 30 minutes after we finish eating in order to get some fresh air," one juror wrote the judge on Friday. "Lord knows this is quite tedious."