Detroit The terrorism case of "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab which starts with jury selection today got off to a rocky start, and a change of clothes.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds offered him a chance to change out of his oversize white T-shirt before starting jury selection. Based on the judge's comments, it appeared Abdulmutallab asked to wear a Yemeni belt with a dagger.
"I'd like to invite you again to take an opportunity to put on a shirt with a collar that buttons, that would look more presentable for court," Edmunds told him.
Abdulmutallab agreed and left the courtroom to change into clothes brought by his legal adviser, Detroit lawyer Anthony Chambers.
The criminal case is as close to a slam dunk as possible, legal experts say.
It's also the most high-profile terror case in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and considered the most important federal prosecution in Detroit in almost 20 years for a U.S. Attorney's Office with a mixed track record on big cases.
That record includes losing a high-profile 2003 terrorism case and cases against former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga and controversial Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. But recently, federal prosecutors, under U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, have secured a string of guilty pleas in public corruption cases and are prosecuting a 38-count indictment against ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
On the surface, prosecutors have an easy case against Abdulmutallab, experts say. The U.S. Attorney's Office is armed with a legal trifecta of forensic evidence, witness testimony and incriminating statements, some videotaped, by Abdulmutallab. He suffered extensive burns to his groin, thigh and hands during a failed Christmas Day 2009 bombing aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam. Already at a disadvantage, the 24-year-old Nigerian and self-proclaimed al-Qaida operative has fired his legal team and chosen to defend himself.
"I'm not sure what else you could do to strengthen the government's case," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and ex-federal prosecutor. "Is it a slam dunk? No trial is a slam dunk, but the government certainly has powerful evidence."
McQuade, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
There will be noticeably tighter security this week and for the foreseeable future in and around U.S. District Court in downtown Detroit. Homeland Security agents will patrol, as usual, outside the courthouse and are expected to use bomb-sniffing dogs to sweep the building and eighth-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.
Abdulmutallab's family is not expected to attend jury selection. It's unclear if they'll attend the trial, which starts Oct. 11.
The jury selection process is expected to last approximately three days and be tightly controlled. One-by-one, prospective jurors will be brought into the courtroom and questioned about their beliefs on a range of topics, including Muslims, terrorism, the Sept. 11 attacks and Abdulmutallab's guilt or innocence.
Abdulmutallab faces up to life in prison if convicted of charges that include attempted murder, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
He is accused of hiding powerful explosives inside his underwear. The innovative bomb failed to detonate, prosecutors say, and some of the plane's approximately 300 passengers and crew pounced on him and put out flames.
The Abdulmutallab case has implications that extend beyond the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, Ann Arbor lawyer John Minock said.
"I don't really think this case will reflect so much on the individual U.S. Attorney's Office as much as the ability of the Justice Department to prosecute terrorism cases in a civilian court," Minock said. "I think that was a bold, smart move. Trying people accused of acts like this in military tribunals detracts from our country's international reputation for justice."
The 12 jurors and four alternates will hear and see several key pieces of evidence.
The judge has allowed testimony that Abdulmutallab told federal agents he was working for al-Qaida, trained in Yemen and the bomb was built in Saudi Arabia. Edmunds also will let jurors see a martyrdom video recorded by Abdulmutallab.
There have been several high-profile cases lost by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit in recent years.
Prosecutions of Marlinga on bribery charges and Fieger on illegal campaign contribution charges ended in acquittals in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
The losses also include a 2003 terror trial, in which convictions were overturned at the request of the Justice Department as a result of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. It is unfair to draw conclusions based on those cases, lawyers said.
"Certainly the office has lost cases, but to judge an office and its quality by a handful of cases is very unjust," said Alan Gershel, former head of criminal prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit.
The office can point to several big wins recently. The feds have secured at least 19 felony convictions in high-profile public corruption cases , several of which involve members of Kilpatrick's administration.
rsnell@detnews.com
(313) 222-2028
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