The court is back in session and the prosecution is putting on its final witness today. Yesterday, the judge sent the jury out and allowed the defense attorneys to make their case for dismissal. He was not moved by their arguments: A day before prosecutors finish presenting their case against Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants, the federal judge sent the jury home early Tuesday and asked defense attorneys to make their arguments for dismissing counts.
As a result, spectators got a preview of what may well be the closing arguments for and against Al-Arian, who is charged with conspiring to raise money for the terrorist acts of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"In the United States, we punish actors not speakers," said Al-Arian's attorney Bill Moffitt, insisting that "insulting and outrageous speech" was protected under the First Amendment and that "there was not one act associating Dr. Al-Arian with the military wing (of the PIJ)." Moffitt said that Al-Arian affiliated with the PIJ "to feed hungry people" in the occupied territories. "He hasn't persecuted anybody. He has taken an opposite position to our government," said Moffitt.
But federal prosecutor Terry Furr said that the case wasn't about free speech or charity but about the former "USF-professor-by-day spending his nights trying to keep the PIJ alive." Furr characterized the charitable contributions to the occupied territories this way: "Giving that money ... doesn't amount to a hill of spit. The money goes to help people die." The prosecutor did not elaborate on how Al-Arian kept the PIJ alive, or how money raised in Tampa went for violence.
But U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. said he had heard enough, and denied the motions for dismissal.
Earlier, defense attorney Stephen Bernstein told the court that evidence didn't show that his client, Sameeh Hammoudeh, was ever part of Palestinian Islamic Jihad or any agreement having to do with it. "Not one in 80 witnesses testified about Mr. Hammoudeh's knowledge of conspiracy," said Bernstein, who asked that the conspiracy counts be dismissed. But, without hearing counter arguments from prosecutors, the judge denied Bernstein's request.