Juror Pressured to Convict Defendant of Terrorism

Juror Says She Was Pressured to Convict Defendant in California Terror Trial
By Carolyn Marshall
The New York Times

Friday 29 April 2006
original


San Francisco - A juror who voted Tuesday to convict a Pakistani-American on federal terrorism charges now says that she never believed he was guilty and that she had been pressured by other jurors to change her mind and convict him.

In a sworn affidavit filed in the Federal District Court in Sacramento late Thursday, the juror, Arcelia Lopez, said she had been bullied into finding Hamid Hayat, 23, of Lodi, Calif., guilty on four criminal charges - one count of providing material support to a terrorist group by attending a training camp in Pakistan, and three counts of lying to federal agents about doing so.

Ms. Lopez, a Sacramento resident, said she felt "stress and pressure" from the other jurors to change her vote to guilty. She said that several jurors had decided that Mr. Hayat was guilty even before viewing the evidence.

"I never once throughout the deliberation process and the reading of the verdict believed Hamid Hayat to be guilty," Ms. Lopez said in the affidavit. "I deeply regret my decision."

Mr. Hayat's lawyer, Wazhma Mojaddidi, filed a motion for a new trial immediately after obtaining the affidavit from Ms. Lopez.

"I believe there was jury misconduct that compromised my client's right to a fair and impartial trial," Ms. Mojaddidi said in a telephone interview on Friday.

The prosecutor in charge of the case, McGregor W. Scott, a United States attorney, said in a statement that Ms. Lopez's affidavit would not alter the guilty verdict and that Mr. Hayat remained convicted on all charges. He faces a minimum of 30 years in prison when he is sentenced.

"It is a long-settled principle of law that second thoughts about a verdict by a juror are not enough to overturn that verdict," Mr. Scott said. "We will vigorously litigate this issue at the appropriate time in the courtroom. We are confident that we will prevail and that Hayat's conviction will stand."

A separate jury reported earlier on Tuesday that it could not reach a verdict in the trial of Mr. Hayat's father, Umer Hayat, who was charged with lying to investigators to protect his son.

At a bail hearing for Umer Hayat, Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. of Federal District Court both lowered his bail on Friday and ordered that he be released.

Mr. Hayat's lawyer, Johnny L. Griffin III, said that his client would be released as early as Monday or as late as Tuesday and that "it's a done deal."

The government has not yet decided whether to retry the elder Mr. Hayat and has until May 5 to make that decision.

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