Vol. 73/No. 20      May 25, 2009

Narseal Batiste, the supposed leader of the group, faces up to 70 years in jail; Patrick Abraham up to 50; and Stanley Phanor, Rotschild Augustine, and Burson Augustin each up to 30 years. The sixth defendant, Naudimar Herrera, was acquitted. They are known as the Liberty City 6 for the mostly Black section of Miami where they live.

As in the two previous trials, the government’s case mainly rested on the testimony of two FBI informants, Elie Assad and Abbas al-Saidi, whose activities also entrapped the five men. Assad presented himself as a representative of al-Qaeda and pressed for organizing actions, including bombing government buildings. Al-Saidi promised to furnish money to the group.

Both Assad and al-Saidi had previously been government informers. They were paid more than $130,000 plus expense money for helping to set up the Liberty City defendants. When the arrests were made almost three years ago at the group’s office, a warehouse in Liberty City, no weapons, terrorism plans, or literature was found. The defendants explained they were only dealing with Assad and al-Saidi to get money for their group.

The first trial ended in December 2007 with the acquittal of a seventh defendant, Lyglenson Lemorin, and a mistrial for the other six. Four months later a mistrial was again declared for the six remaining defendants.

Lemorin, a legal U.S. resident originally from Haiti, remains in custody facing possible deportation, as the government is attempting to try him in immigration court on the same charges for which he had been found innocent.

Upon leaving the courthouse Herrera denounced the government frame-up. “They don’t deserve this. All of us were supposed to be innocent,” he told the Miami Herald. “It’s all B.S. They’re going to come back and fight this.”

“We were really about helping the community,” Herrera continued. “It wasn’t until this informant came into the picture that things changed. All we wanted from him was money. It was like a dangling carrot.”

At one point in its deliberations the jury informed Judge Joan Lenard that they were deadlocked on one of the counts and one of the defendants. She told them to keep trying, according to the New York Times.  
 
 
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