The Innocence Of Islam
U.S. District Judge Garr M. King, presiding over the forthcoming trial of Portland bomb plot suspect Mohamed Mohamud, will referee a slew of extraordinary legal requests in coming weeks.
Defense lawyers for the Somali American suspect are asking King to limit the government's use of such terms as terrorist, martyrdom and violent jihad.
Mohamud faces potential prejudice from jurors because he's an African-born Muslim accused of "attempting to bomb Pioneer (Courthouse) Square during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony," the defense team says. To make things fairer, they say, they should get six extra chances during jury selection to reject prospective jurors.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to allow them to give a guided tour of a van -- still loaded with an inert 1,800-pound bomb -- to show jurors that Mohamud meant business at the Nov. 26, 2010, tree lighting. They also want to keep secret the identities of two undercover FBI operatives who posed as terrorists to make friends with Mohamud.
The requests from both sides were included among hundreds of pages of briefs, motions and other documents filed last week in advance of Mohamud's Jan. 15 federal trial. Mohamud, accused of attempting to set off a weapon of mass destruction, faces a potential life sentence.
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