via Judge allows word ‘terrorist’ at Osmakac trial in Tampa | Tampa Bay Times.
TAMPA — Federal prosecutors may expose
jurors to the words “terrorist” and “terrorism” at the upcoming trial of
Sami Osmakac, a federal judge says.
The Pinellas Park man is accused of
attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the Tampa Bay area,
but his attorney, George E. Tragos, asked for a ban on “terrorist” or
similar words, calling them inflammatory and prejudicial.
U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven denied
that request Wednesday, saying she will not require prosecutors to
obscure Osmakac’s alleged motive.
The defendant himself had used such
descriptors, she noted from the government’s evidence, which quotes him
expressing a desire to “terrorize” and to create a “second 9/11.”
Osmakac, 27, is accused of planning
attacks on local bars and bridges as payback for wrongs he said were
done to Muslims. No attack was carried out.
Scriven cited a 2005 1st Circuit appellate
court decision relating to use of “terrorist” at a trial of white
supremacists. It stated, in part, “That the term is highly pejorative is
true — but this is a function of the acts that the defendants engaged
in, not the government’s inaccurate description of those acts.”
Osmakac is scheduled to go to trial May 27.
Osmakac is a white, Islamic supremacist. Back posts on the
Kosovar Muslim immigrant who wanted to blow up Florida bridges to kill
Americans here.
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