Acquittal, mistrial end bomb plot case

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One of seven men charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower as part of an Islamic jihad was acquitted Thursday, and a mistrial was declared in the prosecution of the six others after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked.

The outcome was a significant defeat for the Bush administration, which had described the case as a major crackdown on homegrown terrorists.Officials had acknowledged that the defendants, known as the Liberty City Seven for the depressed section of Miami where they frequently gathered in a run-down warehouse, had never acquired weapons or equipment and had posed no immediate threat. But, the officials said, the case underscored a need for pre-emptive terrorism prosecutions.

In acquitting Lyglenson Lemorin, 32, a Haitian immigrant who was cast by the prosecution as a junior foot soldier in the group, the jurors were compelled by evidence that suggested he had tried "to distance himself" from the others, Jeffrey Agron, the jury foreman, said outside the courthouse. Lemorin had split with the group's leader, Narseal Batiste, 33, and moved to Atlanta months before the seven were arrested last year, according to The Associated Press.

As for the six defendants on whom the jury deadlocked, the U.S. attorney's office here said Thursday that it would retry them. The judge, Joan Lenard, ordered jury selection for the retrial to begin Jan. 7 and barred prosecution and defense lawyers from discussing Thursday's outcome with reporters.

The defendants -- five Americans and two Haitians -- worked in a small construction business owned by Batiste and were members of the Moorish Science Temple, a sect that blends Islam, Christianity and Judaism and does not recognize the authority of the U.S. government. They were charged with planning to join forces with Al Qaeda to blow up Sears Tower and several federal buildings.

Agron, the jury foreman, who described himself as an educator at a synagogue, said the case's complexity, with seven defendants each facing four conspiracy counts, had made for "tough" deliberations.