Vindication! I couldn’t help crying this morning as I followed my Google alert notice of news articles about the Holy Land Foundation trial to a breaking story on Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism, “HLF Jury Room Bullying.”
A few weeks ago, Michael Fechter with the Investigative Project emailed me with some questions about the jurors because of my follow up report on the trial and indications that there had been bullying by one of the jurors. He asked me not to say anything because they were doing an investigation into it.
His email came the same day as a new a piece written by Greg Krikorian in the LA Times (Weak case seen in failed trial of charity 11-4-07) which claimed to have spoken to three HLF jurors (only two named) who agreed the defendants were not guilty.
Since I was actually in the courtroom to see the jurors, I knew that the description in Krikorian’s piece about an older woman juror who agreed the defendants were guilty, was most definitely not the woman juror I described in my report—the one who took copious notes and was very unlikely to have believed the defendants were not guilty.
I am so thankful that Fechter and IPT pressed into this story and found jurors willing to talk about what went on behind those closed doors.
The IPT investigative article is total vindication of what I picked up on in the courtroom and in the post-trial interviews given by the bully juror. You can also see a video interview of juror Kristina Williams, who I noted had taken copious notes during the trial and who I felt had very likely been beaten down by Neal according to things he said in post trial interviews.
We can make a difference by getting involved.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Exclusive IPT Investigation Uncovers
HLF Jury Room Bullying
by Michael Fechter IPT News Service Dec 10, 2007
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/569
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