The jury mostly sat still, blank-faced and wide-awake on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. After listening to a third day of closing arguments and jury instructions, jurors left the courtroom to begin deliberation. As Linda Moreno — defense attorney for Ghassan Elashi — spoke, all four prosecutors leaned their chairs back and forth. Maybe it was to distract the jury. Or maybe they were feeling nervous and exposed.
Much like a sold-out theatrical performance, the courtroom was packed on September 17, 2007. It was filled with many awaiting the fate of five Palestinian-American men and their families — including defense supporters, government officials, media members and even a courtroom artist. Two months into the Holy Land Foundation trial, the United States government began giving their closing statement.
Jurors scrolled their eyes across the defense table on Tuesday, September 11, 2007, as each defense attorney stood up and rested their cases on behalf of their clients. The jury’s eyes moved toward prosecutor Jim Jacks who announced that the government closed their case without a rebuttal. The jury then looked at U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish, who told them they have the remainder of the week off. Closing arguments will begin Monday, September 17, 2007.
A modern-day Albert Einstein was called to the witness stand on Monday, September 10, 2007 as the defense’s fifth witness. His gray hair was a little shorter and neater than the 20th Century physicist, yet his mustache and his intellect were similar to that of Einstein. The witness, Nathan Brown, is a professor of international affairs and political science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
They seemed exhausted, yet thrilled. As the 15-member jury walked out of the jury box in two neat rows on the late afternoon of Wednesday, September 5, 2007, some grinned so wide that their pearly whites became visible. Why the joy? They had just been told that after almost seven weeks of the Holy Land Foundation trial, closing arguments are finally around the corner.
There were no mid-day snoozes on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 as jurors got a crash course on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and its heartrending impact on the Palestinian people. The jury frequently nodded and leaned forward to listen to the testimony of the first defense witness — former United States diplomat Edward Abington — who seemed to many as a walking history book on the Palestinian-Israeli saga.
It wasn’t a dramatic moment on the afternoon of Thursday, August 30, 2007. Some jurors nodded their heads while others gave small sighs as U.S. government attorney Jim Jacks quickly pushed his maroon leather chair back, stood up and said, Your honor, ladies and gentleman of the jury, the government will now rest its case. Six weeks into the Holy Land Foundation trial, the government was done presenting their evidence. They called nine of the 59 witnesses listed on their original witness list — two anonymous Israeli agents, two FBI agents and five smaller witnesses.
Greg Westfall, defendant Abdulrahman Odeh’s attorney, stood tall in a dark suit and black cowboy boots on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 as he continued cross-examining FBI agent Lara Burns. Many in the courtroom — including the 15-member jury and U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish — seemed relieved when prosecutors announced that the government could rest its case as early as Thursday, August, 30.
