Jury convicts five men of plotting against U.S. soldiers. A jury convicted five Muslim men Monday of plotting to kill American soldiers at For Dix military base in New Jersey last year. After six days of deliberation, the jury agreed with prosecutors that three brothers – Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka – and Mohamad Shnewer and Serdar Tatar were planning to attack Fort Dix and kill the base residents. However, the jury, while agreeing with the conspiracy charge, did not find them guilty of attempted murder. Among the evidence accumulated by the prosecution were hundreds of tape-recorded conversations between the defendants and FBI agents, several propagandist videos from one of the suspects’ computers, and video of an illegal purchase of several machine guns. The defense contended that the government informants were shaky and that the feds coaxed the defendants into making damning comments on government wiretaps. One of the informants is an Egyptian-born illegal immigrant on probation for bank fraud; the other has been paid about $150,000 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for making the secret recording. The five men were arrested in May 2007 after one of the government’s informants secretly videotaped them paying $1,400 for seven machine guns in the informant’s apartment, in Cherry Hill, N.J.

U.S. missiles kill eight people in Afghanistan. U.S. missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft killed at least eight people in Afghanistan Monday, sparking anger among Pakistani authorities who argue that such actions are undermining their own strategy against terror, The Associated Press reports. Four of the deaths occurred when missiles slammed into a vehicle and a house. Four others died and one was injured in the second vehicle about five miles away by a dirt track. The U.S. military has launched than 30 missile strikes since August in Pakistan’s lawless, tribal areas, targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan.

The jury is deadlocked over Atlanta shooter’s sentence. A deadlocked 12-member Atlanta jury may ask Superior Court Judge James Bodiford in writing if they can rehear a controversial tape recording of a telephone conversation in which Nichols tells his brother that he killed four people – and should have targeted prosecutors the day of his courthouse shooting spree. On Nov. 7, after 12 hours of discussion, the jurors convicted Nichols of 54 crimes from the March 11, 2005, courthouse shootings, including four murders, carjackings, robberies and assaults. The panel has already deliberated more than 25 hours in the penalty phase, but appears deadlocked with a 9-3 vote on whether to sentence Nichols to death. Defense attorneys had vehemently objected when the tape was first introduced without warning in November. They’ve called the contents a “bombshell” that would certainly prejudice Nichols’ case, but failed earlier to keep it from the jury.

Today, the jury will ponder the fate of the Atlanta mass murderer. The trial that has lasted for 12 weeks, exhausted a jury that has listened to more than 140 witnesses and seen more than 1,000 pieces of evidence – in a case that has dragged on for more than three and a half years, reached its penultimate moment Monday, reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution. To determine the fate of convicted Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols, the prosecution tried to nail shut the case for the death penalty, while he defense pleaded with the jury to give mercy to a man who killed four people in a March 11, 2005 murder spree: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes; court reporter Julie Ann Brandau; sheriff’s deputy Hoyt Teasley and U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm. The jury begins deliberating this morning on a verdict for punishment.

 One of the two White supremacists who plotted to launch a killing spree aimed at beheading Black schoolchildren and then shooting Barack Obama is arguing that the jury that charged him has too many Blacks. A lawyer for 20-year-old Daniel Cowart filed a petition Thursday seeking to have his client’s indictment dismissed.  It argues that the 23-member grand jury that returned the indictment had just two White members and could not have been fair and impartial. Cowart and 18-year-old Paul Schlesselman face charges that include threatening a presidential candidate and taking firearms across state lines to commit crimes. Authorities say the pair plotted a robbery and killing spree in which they would murder dozens of Black people, including Obama.

Jury still out in Atlanta courthouse shooting case. Jurors in the Brian Nichols murder trial will resume deliberations today after going home Thursday without a verdict. Thursday was their first full day of deliberations in a trial that has lasted 32 days. They are considering four killings that Nichols confessed to committing on March 11, 2005. Attorneys wrapped up the case Wednesday with closing arguments. The 12-person jury – six Black females, two White females, two Black males, one White male, and one Asian male – listened to more than 90 witnesses and saw more than 900 pieces of evidence introduced in the more than six weeks of trial, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nichols allegedly escaped from a holding cell in 2005 and shot and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and a court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau, in Barnes’ courtroom, where he was to stand trial for rape later that morning. He then allegedly shot and killed Fulton County sheriff’s deputy Sgt, Hoyt Teasley on the street outside the courthouse, and, while on the run, allegedly shot and killed U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm at Wilhelm’s Buckhead home.

When questioned during jury selection, all 12 of the non-Blacks who were eventually chosen as jurors said they would give O.J. Simpson a fair trial, but the fact that at least five of them said they believed the former football legend had gotten away with murder 13 years ago is enough to make you wonder. Read the rest here.

Jury selection begins in the football legend’s second major criminal trial

For the second time, a criminal jury is being assembled to determine the fate of ex-football star O.J. Simpson. The Heisman Trophy-winner faces possible prison in connection with his alleged robbery of two memorabilia collectors who he said stole valuables connected with his sports career. Simpson is also charged with kidnapping in the year-old incident at a Las Vegas hotel, where he and several men allegedly barged into the collectors’ room, reportedly held them against their will and seized thousands of dollars in souvenirs. Jury selection in the case is expected to take about a week. Simpson’s co-defendant C.J. Stewart is the only other remaining suspect to face trial in the episode after several others struck pleas and agreed to testify against Simpson. Judge Jackie Glass on Monday rejected a request by Simpson’s lawyers to ask potential jurors if they considered Simpson a murderer, despite his acquittal in the death of his wife and her friend in 1994.

FBI steps into the Florida noose case.

The FBI has stepped into the middle of an investigation into who sent a noose to an African-American commissioner in Orlando, Fla., who blasted a local golf course for having what she called a racially insensitive picture on the club wall. Now that the Orlando Police have confirmed that a noose was delivered to Commissioner Daisy Lynum’s City Hall office, federal authorities are treating it as a hate crime, Local6.com reports. Lynum has vociferously demanded that the Dubsdread golf course take down the 1930s photo showing a barefoot Black boy, caddying for a White player, calling the picture racist. During that era, Blacks were forced to remove their shoes before stepping onto the greens. “There is a photograph of the history of Dubsdread but there is a Black caddy with no shoes on,” Lynum told the news station earlier. “I find the picture insulting and I would like for someone to take it down. We don’t have to change the history but we could sure change how it looks now.”

Judge dismisses entire jury following noose incident. What’s the chances that Anas Hourani, a 24-year-old man accused of choking and raping a woman five years ago, would have gotten a fair trial? The actions by a Connecticut judge would suggest he didn’t feel Hourani had an ice cube’s chance in hell. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Hauser dismissed the entire jury in the murder-rape case after the drawing of a noose was discovered on the blackboard in the deliberation room. Hauser said that under state law he had no choice but to clean house of the six jurors and three alternatives and start over. The noose, Hauser said, is a symbol of racism and intimidation.

Black Ohio residents denied water get millions
A federal grand jury awarded residents of a Black neighborhood in Ohio almost $11 million last week because, for nearly five decades, they were forced to dig wells, haul water or collect rain so they could drink, cook and bathe, while Whites enjoyed the benefits of the public water system. The jury found that the 67 residents of the Coal Run community in Muskingum County in east-central Ohio were victims of longstanding discrimination and awarded them between $15,000 and $300,000, depending on how long they had lived there. The award is for “monetary losses and the residents’ pain and suffering between 1956, when water lines were first laid in the area, and 2003, when Coal Run got public water,” The Associated Press reports. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission found in 2003 that the residents had been discriminated against, which prompted the lawsuit. “As a child, I thought it was normal because everyone done it in my neighborhood,” said one of the plaintiffs, Cynthia Hale Hairston, 47. “But I realized as an adult it was wrong.” The city, county and water company, however, deny that any discrimination has occurred. Attorney Mark Landes, who represented the county and water district, described the suit as “a case that was started and filed by out-of-town lawyers who saw an opportunity for a cash settlement.”

Jury selection in the Nichols trial resumes today

Jury selection in the oft-delayed trial of Brian Nichols is back on track following a surprising weekend off. Last week, Judge James Bodiford made a big deal about the need to convene the court during weekends for the trial of Nichols, the man accused of escaping from an Atlanta courtroom in 2005 and killing a judge, court reporter and two other people during his escape and time on the lam. Lawyers, victim’s rights advocates and others have criticized the system for allowing the case to linger unresolved for so long. Bodiford is the second judge after taking the case over from Judge Hilton Fuller several months ago. Fuller, who stepped down amid controversy surrounding his statements that “everybody knows Nichols is guilty,” had placed the trial on hold for several weeks, honoring defense claims that the state had not adequately funded the defense of the death-penalty defendant. As many as 1,000 prospective jurors eventually will be called to the Fulton County Courthouse for questioning. During the first week of interviews last week, all but one from an initial batch of juror candidates had been called in. Bodiford said he could not justify asking the county to pay for opening the courthouse over the weekend for one interview. Legal observers say the Nichols trial, which is expected to last several months, could be the most costly in the state’s history. Already, the defense has spent at least $1.2 million representing their 38-year-old high-profile defendant.

The NAACP to host both presidential candidatates
The NAACP Convention kicked off its 99th national convention Cincinnati Saturday, uniting its 8,000 delegates around the diverse issues affecting people of color, including poverty, health, criminal justice, voting and home ownership. As an example of ideas anti-poverty proposals surfacing from the gathering, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg aims to redefine the standard of poverty to account for society’s rising costs. In other words, food, clothing, shelter and housing costs, and utilities expenses would be factored in, and the poverty line for those living in New York would go from $20,000 for a family of four to $26,000. Although the new formula would not affect federal social service programs, it would be used by city officials to develop initiatives within New York. This conference, whose official theme is “Power, Justice, Freedom, Vote,” is being held at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincinnati. The city’s African-American mayor, Mike Mallory, expects to generate an estimated $10 million from hotel room charges, meals, tips and other tourism-related activities by the time the event concludes on Thursday. Both presidential candidates, senators John McCain and Barack Obama, will speak at the event.

Instead, he ruled that the District has one of the most “inclusive” systems in America
A judge has ruled that the jury system in Washington, D.C., long considered “Chocolate City,” does not tend to block Blacks from duty in favor of Whites. The ruling by Superior Court Judge James E. Boasberg was a blow to the D.C. Public Defender Service, which has argued vehemently that the nation’s capital systematically excludes Black jurors. But Boasberg said Blacks might even be overrepresented in the pool of potential jurors. Armed with court orders, the Public Defender Service brought in scores of experts to scour through two years worth of papers and procedures, and to analyze jury pools and other data. What the attorneys found was that in D.C., which is 60 percent Black, 36 percent of Superior Court jurors were Black. But, instead of agreeing with the lawyers based on the statistical evidence, the judge found the data “wholly misleading.” Boasberg wrote in his ruling, “The data uncovered in this litigation conclusively prove that Black jurors are not unconstitutionally underrepresented in Superior Court [lists] – in fact, they are overrepresented in summonses issued – and there is also no systematic exclusion of Black jurors.” What he did find convincing was another study conducted for the U.S. attorney’s office showing that Blacks made up 56 percent of the city’s “adult” population and about 53 percent of the jurors over that two-year period. The public defenders’ concerns have fallen on sympathetic ears in recent years. Take the criminal case last year of a Black defendant who drew a jury pool of 70 candidates that included 61 Whites, eight Blacks and an Asian. The presiding judge, Neal E. Kravitz, agreeing with defense attorneys, demanded a new panel.