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Judge Rejects Anonymous Jury for Arab-American Activist
A federal judge in Detroit has rejected prosecutors’ request that an anonymous jury be empaneled to hear the case against an Arab-American activist accused of hiding the fact she was convicted of terrorism in Israel more than four decades ago.
Meanwhile, the government is pressing U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain to overturn a decision he made recently that threw up a roadblock that could scuttle prosecutors’ chance to win a conviction against the Palestinian activist, Rasmea Odeh.
Prosecutors accused Odeh’s supporters and her boss at the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network — Hatem Abudayyeh — of embarking on an illegal campaign to influence the jury by demonstrating outside the courthouse and filling the gallery at Odeh’s trial, set for next month.
“Criminal activity already has occurred and more is planned,” prosecutors warned ominously last week, referring to the protesters and their use of signs and bullhorns.
However, the judge said there was no evidence Odeh was planning to illegally sway the jury.
“Based on the relevant case law, it does not appear that an anonymous jury is warranted under the circumstances,” Drain wrote in his opinion issued Thursday (and posted here). “Defendant has no history of attempting to tamper with the jury, rather it is Mr. Abudayyeh who has stated his intent to ‘sway the opinions of the jurors. …’ Nor does Defendant have a criminal history involving organized crime, mob-style killings, or any evidence that Defendant has engaged in dangerous and unscrupulous conduct. Lastly, there has been no extensive pretrial publicity.”
While rejecting plans to keep the jurors’ names secret from the defense and the public, Drain did order Odeh’s lawyers to warn her supporters that if they contact jurors they could be held in contempt or face criminal charges. He said jurors will meet offsite and be escorted through an entrance where they’re unlikely to see demonstrators. The judge also made clear he won’t allow Odeh’s backers to wear “Free Rasmieh” T-shirts in the courtroom.
The more serious blow the judge dealt to prosecutors came last week, when Drain ruled that, to win a conviction, the government would need to show not only that Odeh knowingly lied on her naturalization application but that she made the false statements “with the purpose of procuring naturalization unlawfully.” That could be a tough burden for prosecutors to meet in the absence of documents or other witnesses who could say that Odeh knew someone with her record couldn’t be naturalized or that she admitted sanitizing her background in order try to get U.S. citizenship.
Prosecutors also seem to have concluded that would be a tough row to hoe. In a motion Tuesday asking him to reconsider, they apologized to the judge for making “unclear” arguments.
Defense attorney Michael Deutsch said the judge’s decision is an important one for Odeh’s defense. “I think it is correct ruling interpreting the statute,” the attorney said. “We have said all along that the government has to prove that for the purpose of procuring her citizenship she intentionally lied. … It’s the first step in terms of getting our defense before a jury.”
Josh Gerstein
Politico