Jury in Noor Salman trial deliberates for second day, doesn’t reach verdict
Jurors continue their work today
Jurors in the trial of Noor Salman spent all day Thursday deliberating but went home without deciding the fate of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen’s widow.
The 12-member jury has now deliberated for 11 hours. Jurors will resume their work 9 a.m. today.
Susan Clary, a spokeswoman for Salman’s family, told reporters during an afternoon news conference that she “never thought we’d get a verdict” Thursday. The family was at a nearby hotel, awaiting news of a decision, while Salman was being held in a cell at the federal courthouse in downtown Orlando, Clary said.
“Having a jury deliberate as long as they have so far is a good thing,” she said.
Salman, 31, is charged with obstruction of justice and with aiding and abetting Mateen’s provid-
Jurors began the day Thursday by asking U.S. District Judge Paul Byron what would constitute “encouragement” and “support” in the aiding and abetting charge.
ing material support to a foreign terror organization, the Islamic State group.
Jurors, who began deliberating Wednesday afternoon, can have as much time as they need to reach a verdict. So far, they have sent several questions for U.S. District Judge Paul Byron. They began the day Thursday by asking Byron what would constitute “encouragement” and “support” in the aiding and abetting charge.
Byron called the attorneys and Salman into the courtroom — without the jury’s presence — and said he could not give jurors specific examples of willful encouragement and support, but he could give them a definition: Salman would have to associate herself with a criminal act and wish it to succeed.
He cited some case law and, after speaking with attorneys, sent the written definition back to the jury.
The aiding and abetting charge is the first one listed on the verdict form.
Jurors on Wednesday asked about another element of that charge, in which they were asked to decide whether Mateen is guilty of the underlying crime that Salman is accused of aiding. They asked the judge to define what “acted entirely independently of the direction or control of ISIS” means.
That Mateen shot and killed dozens of people at Pulse and pledged his support to the leader of the Islamic State group is not in dispute. But jurors have to decide whether he was doing so under the Islamic State’s direction — he had seen reports of leaders calling for attacks during the holy month of Ramadan — or acting independently. If he was following the group’s orders, it would mean he was guilty of providing material support to a foreign terror organization. If he was acting on his own accord, he’d be guilty of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terror organization.
It’s a technical distinction, but one Byron said he wanted to make in case Salman is convicted and it comes up in appeals.
During closing arguments in the trial, prosecutors called Salman “cold” and “callous,” and said she cared about herself and her son, but not the people her husband might hurt in an attack she knew he was planning. Defense attorneys painted Salman as “simple” and easily manipulated, and said she was fooled by her husband’s lies and pressured by FBI agents who questioned her for hours after the shooting.
If convicted, Salman faces up to life in prison for aiding and abetting and up to 20 years for obstruction of justice.