Pulse legal team files for mistrial over FBI disclosure
Lawyers for the woman accused of aiding her husband in the rampage at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that left 49 people dead in 2016 asked for a mistrial Monday, saying prosecutors didn’t tell them shooter Omar Mateen’s father had been an FBI informant for 11 years.
Fritz Scheller, a lawyer representing Noor Salman, said in a court filing that prosecutors sent them an email Saturday acknowledging that Seddique Mateen was a “confidential human source at various points in time” from January 2005 to June 2016.
FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin testified Monday at Salman’s trial that in 2013, he considered trying to develop Omar Mateen as an informant.
The prosecutors’ email says Seddique Mateen was investigated — without his knowledge — about money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan in
2016. It says an anonymous tip in 2012 indicated he sought to raise
$50,000 to $100,000 to contribute toward an attack against the government of Pakistan.
Omar Matteen died in his assault at the club June 12, 2016.
The disclosures came after prosecutors rested their case against Salman and “well after the defense had developed its theory of defense and cross-examined its witnesses,” Scheller said in his filing.
“Compelling Ms. Salman to proceed in such a situation not only is antagonistic to her constitutional rights to a fair trial and the effective assistance of counsel, but also rewards the government’s conduct,” Scheller wrote. “The Constitution cannot withstand such an assault.”
Salman’s lawyers said they were denied the opportunity to investigate whether her role may have been downplayed — at her expense — by prosecutors to avoid embarrassing the FBI.
Martin testified that he interviewed Omar Mateen multiple times in 2013 after co-workers notified the FBI that Mateen made comments about al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Martin said Mateen told him he made the comments only because he felt harassed at work.
Prosecutors say Salman accompanied her husband while he cased Pulse and other targets. Salman is charged with providing material support to the Islamic State, a foreign terror organization, and with obstructing justice. She could face life in prison.