28 June 2001
Source: Digital file from the Court Reporters Office, Southern District of
New York; (212) 805-0300.
This is the transcript of Day 71 of the trial, June 28, 2001.
See other transcripts: http://cryptome.org/usa-v-ubl-dt.htm
8369
1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
2 ------------------------------x
3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
4 v. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023
5 USAMA BIN LADEN, et al.,
6 Defendants.
7 ------------------------------x
8
New York, N.Y.
9 June 28, 2001
9:20 a.m.
10
11
12 Before:
13 HON. LEONARD B. SAND,
14 District Judge
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8370
1 APPEARANCES
2 MARY JO WHITE
United States Attorney for the
3 Southern District of New York
BY: PATRICK FITZGERALD
4 MICHAEL GARCIA
Assistant United States Attorneys
5
6 DAVID RUHNKE
DAVID STERN
7 Attorneys for defendant Khalfan Khamis Mohamed
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8380
1 (Trial resumed)
2 (Pages 8371-8379 sealed)
3 (In open court; jury present)
4 THE COURT: Very well. The defense may call its next
5 witness.
6 MR. RUHNKE: Jill Miller, please.
7 JILL MILLER,
8 called as a witness by the defense,
9 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
10 DIRECT EXAMINATION
11 BY MR. RUHNKE:
12 Q. Ms. Miller, what is the nature of your professional
13 occupation?
14 A. I am a forensic social worker in private practice in
15 Madison, Wisconsin.
16 Q. How long have you been a social worker?
17 A. I have been a social worker at the master's degree level
18 for 30 years and got my BA in social work 34 years ago.
19 Q. At what institution did you earn your BA in social work?
20 A. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
21 Q. What year was that?
22 A. 1967.
23 Q. Did you then go on to earn a graduate degree in social
24 work?
25 A. Yes, I did.
8381
1 Q. What year did you earn your graduate degree?
2 A. 1971.
3 Q. At what institution?
4 A. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin.
5 Q. Do you live and practice in Madison, Wisconsin?
6 A. Yes, I do.
7 Q. Have you had post master's degree credits and training in
8 social work?
9 A. Yes. I did some doctoral work and then have gone to
10 training programs over the years.
11 Q. Have you ever served in a faculty position in your area of
12 social work?
13 A. Yes. I was on the faculty of the School of Social Work at
14 the University of Wisconsin from 1973 until 1985.
15 Q. What sorts of things have you done as a social worker?
16 What kind of jobs have you held up to the point when you went
17 into private practice?
18 A. After receiving my master's degree in 1971, I worked at
19 the Legal Services Center of Dayne County in the juvenile
20 program. So I worked in juvenile court from '71 to '73, when
21 I joined the faculty. While I was teaching I had a limited
22 private practice as well, working on juvenile criminal family
23 mental health cases.
24 From 1976 to 1978, I was the associate director of
25 the Youth Policy and Law Center, which was an agency involved
8382
1 in juvenile justice policy issues. From 1979 to 1984 I was
2 the client services director of the office of the public
3 defender system, state public defender system in Wisconsin,
4 and was in charge of their social services component. I went
5 into private practice in 1984.
6 Q. Prior to going into private practice did you appear in
7 court as a witness from time to time?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. In what sorts of matters?
10 A. Initially juvenile matters, my first two years, many
11 juvenile matters, and then criminal sentencing proceedings,
12 mental health commitment proceedings, family types of
13 proceedings, divorce custody issues, termination of parental
14 rights issues, some guardianship matters.
15 Q. Are there times when you have been appointed by judges to
16 provide an independent evaluation of, for example, a child
17 custody matter?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Since 1984 when you have been in private practice, have
20 you specialized in a particular kind of case?
21 A. Initially I primarily worked on sentencing matters in
22 criminal cases and juvenile cases and some divorce custody
23 matters. Beginning in 1986, I started working on capital
24 cases.
25 Q. Approximately how many capital cases have you worked on
8383
1 since then?
2 A. Around 80 or so.
3 Q. Have you testified in connection with capital cases in
4 various court systems?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Approximately how many times have you testified and been
7 qualified to testify as an expert in social work?
8 A. About 25 or so.
9 Q. In what levels of court?
10 A. In state courts in both trial and post-conviction
11 proceedings, in federal cases in trial cases, and in a
12 military case.
13 Q. When you say military case, you mean within the military
14 court system?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. Dealing with the military death penalty?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. I show you a document that is marked KKM31 -- may I
19 approach, your Honor?
20 THE COURT: Yes.
21 Q. Is that a copy of your current curriculum vitae, your
22 resume?
23 A. Yes, it is.
24 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I offer KKM31.
25 MR. FITZGERALD: No objection.
8384
1 THE COURT: Received.
2 (Defense Exhibit KKM31 received in evidence)
3 Q. Ms. Miller, in connection with this case were you asked to
4 prepare a family history of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed?
5 A. Yes, I was.
6 Q. Did you prepare such a history?
7 A. Yes.
8 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I show the witness a
9 document marked KKM30, although I am not going to offer it at
10 this time, for identification.
11 Q. Is that the family history that you prepared regarding
12 Khalfan Khamis Mohamed?
13 A. Yes, it is.
14 Q. How did you go about preparing his family history?
15 A. There are a number of things I do in developing any family
16 history and then some special things I had to do here because
17 of cultural issues. So I initially did some cultural
18 research. I then met with Khalfan Mohamed.
19 Q. Let me stop you there for a minute. Have you met with
20 Mr. Mohamed and interviewed Mr. Mohamed?
21 A. Yes, I have.
22 Q. Did those interviews take place either at the Metropolitan
23 Correctional Center on 10 South or in the interview room that
24 is behind this courtroom?
25 A. Yes.
8385
1 Q. Approximately how many times have you met with
2 Mr. Mohamed?
3 A. I have met with him 11 times.
4 Q. Do you recall when it was that you first met with him?
5 A. It was early March of 2000.
6 Q. At the time you first met with Mr. Mohamed in March of
7 2000, did you meet on 10 South?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Were there.
10 Q. Was any contact made?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Were those conditions of meetings with Mr. Mohamed in the
13 sense that it was a contact visit up until what happened on
14 November 1, 2000?
15 A. Correct. My last contact visit was in October of 2000.
16 Q. You said you did some research on cultural issues. Let me
17 ask you a question about names and how people's names are
18 determined within, let's limit it to the Islamic community in
19 Zanzibar. How do names work?
20 A. A person has a given name, which we think of as the first
21 name. Their second name is the given name of their father and
22 the third name is the given name of the paternal grandfather.
23 It is a patrilineal lineage. The line goes through the
24 father.
25 Q. So with respect to Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Khalfan would
8386
1 be a name that his parents chose?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. Khamis would be whose name?
4 A. That would be the father's first name.
5 Q. And the last name Mohamed would come from?
6 A. His paternal grandfather.
7 Q. So his father's father's first name?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. In the course of your preparing a history, did you have
10 occasion to travel to East Africa, specifically to Zanzibar
11 and Dar es Salaam?
12 A. Yes, I traveled there twice.
13 Q. When was the first approximate time frame of your travel
14 there, the first time you went there?
15 A. We left in the latter part of April and returned in early
16 May. It was about a 10 or 11-day trip, I believe, with the
17 travel time.
18 Q. April of?
19 A. 2000.
20 Q. Was there a second trip you made to Zanzibar and East
21 Africa in December of 2000?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. If we could have map 1 displayed through our system. We
24 are displaying a map showing the continent of Africa, showing
25 Tanzania just south of Kenya in East Africa, just below the
8387
1 Equator. Obviously that is Tanzania and obviously that's
2 where you went; is that true?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. If we could have the map of Zanzibar. The map we are
5 looking at right now shows Tanzania, it shows an island -- we
6 see the designation Pemba Island?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Do you see the designation of Zanzibar?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Below Zanzibar is Dar es Salaam?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. In fact, do you recall the video yesterday where the
13 gentleman was talking about the Morogoro Road?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Do you see in fact Morogoro on the map outside of Dar es
16 Salaam?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. When you went to East Africa on both occasions, did you
19 travel to Zanzibar?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. On each of those occasions did you have a chance to meet
22 with and talk with and interview members of Mr. Mohamed's
23 family?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Where was Mr. Mohamed born?
8388
1 A. He was actually born on Pemba though the family was living
2 in Zanzibar at the time. His mother went to the home of her
3 mother on Pemba to give birth. She knew she was going to have
4 twins and went to her mother's home to give birth.
5 Q. Was it common or uncommon, at least at the time Mohamed
6 was born, for women to give birth at home?
7 A. Yes. Even today 75 percent of the births are at home.
8 Q. What is the recordkeeping like in Zanzibar and Tanzania
9 generally?
10 A. By our standards very poor. One of the things that I do
11 in a social history study is try to get as many records as
12 possible, birth and medical and school records and that sort
13 of thing. But it is very difficult there. They don't keep
14 records of a lot of things. Many births are not registered.
15 So you really can't get the kinds of records that we
16 ordinarily get here.
17 Q. Is it common or uncommon for someone, especially somebody
18 who is now in their fifties or sixties, not to know the date
19 of their birth?
20 A. That is correct. Many births are not registered and
21 several members of his family do not know the date of their
22 birth.
23 Q. Particularly with regard to Mr. Mohamed's mother, Hidaya,
24 does she know exactly what her birthdate is?
25 A. No.
8389
1 Q. Is that based on conversations that you had with her?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. After Mr. Mohamed was born on Pemba, where did his family
4 move to or where did his family grow up and live?
5 A. His parents had married on Pemba and grown up there, but
6 they had moved to Zanzibar, to the Kidimni area, several years
7 before he was born. She only went to Pemba to give birth and
8 returned with the baby.
9 Q. Can we have the map -- what village did he grow up in?
10 A. Village of Kidimni.
11 Q. That is map No. 6. We will print out copies of that
12 later, your Honor.
13 Does Kidimni show up -- it is a highlighted area and
14 could we have that area highlighted on the screen.
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. That is the town or village in which Mr. Mohamed was
17 raised, is that correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Did Mr. Mohamed grow up in the area of Kidimni and attend
20 schools in Kidimni?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Do you know the name of his elementary school?
23 A. Yes. Dunga Primary School.
24 Q. If we could have photo number 19 displayed. Showing you
25 what has been marked KKM page 19, what does that show?
8390
1 A. This is a classroom in the old building at Dunga
2 Elementary. There are two buildings there, an old building
3 and a new building. In the early standards, students would be
4 in the old building. So this was a classroom that he would
5 have gone to the first few standards of primary school there.
6 The man standing there is Madli Khamis, who was his teacher
7 for the first to the third standards.
8 Q. When you talk about standards, could you translate that
9 for the American system.
10 A. The system there is based on the English system. So there
11 is a primary school of eight standards, which would be like to
12 our close to eighth grade. The second is like our high
13 school, which is three standards.
14 Q. If we could show photo 22, and could you show us what that
15 shows.
16 A. That is a classroom in the new building where he would
17 have gone in the higher standards of primary school. These
18 photos were shown during Ramadan, which is their major school
19 break, so there is no furniture in either of them. In the
20 older building where he went to the first standards, the
21 students actually sat on logs, I think a coconut tree. So
22 there wasn't regular furniture. In this newer room, it did
23 actually have desks and chairs.
24 Q. What was the name of Mr. Khalfan Khamis Mohamed's father?
25 A. Khamis Mohamed Khalfan.
8391
1 Q. Did he die when Khalfan Mohamed was a relatively young
2 age?
3 A. Yes. As best we can determine he died in 1980 and Khalfan
4 would have been 6 or 7, depending upon the time of year.
5 Q. What had he done for a living, or how had he supported his
6 family?
7 A. He had originally been a farmer on Pemba, and when the
8 term farmer is used there it is not as we think of a farm here
9 where you have a plot of land on which you grow crops. You
10 may have that. But also it is just going into the bush and
11 picking crops that are there like bananas or coconuts. Then,
12 when the family moved to Zanzibar, which we think was in about
13 1966, he got a job for the Ministry of Road Repairs. So he
14 had a job working on roads but then continued to do some
15 farming and harvesting of coconuts.
16 Q. You made reference to Kidimni and the village in which he
17 grew up in Kidimni. Could we look at photograph 68. What is
18 shown in photograph 68?
19 A. This is a road in Kidimni. It is actually the road
20 between his mother's house and his brother Rubeya's house,
21 which one can walk down to visit the whole family.
22 Q. Can we look at photo 72 as well. What does photo 72 show?
23 A. That is also a road in Kidimni. When we were there it was
24 just at the end of the rainy season the first time, so there
25 had been a lot of rain, and this is typically what the roads
8392
1 looked like.
2 Q. The house he grew up in initially when they moved back
3 from Pemba, can you describe that house, and do you happen to
4 have a photo number of that house?
5 A. I think it is 94. I don't have the photo numbers with me.
6 The family had built a house actually before he was born that
7 he lived in until he was about 16. It was essentially a mud
8 house.
9 Q. Was it a typical mud stick and thatch type house?
10 A. Right, with thatched roof. Actually there was, which it
11 isn't there any longer, a small one-room detached mud house
12 similarly made where the men slept, because in Muslim practice
13 the men sleep separately from the women.
14 Q. Could we have photo 94 displayed only to counsel and not
15 to the jury, to make sure we have the right photo.
16 OK. Could we have that displayed to the jury now,
17 please.
18 What is depicted in photo 94?
19 A. That is the house that Khalfan grew up in, that the family
20 lived in when he was born and lived in until he was about 16
21 or so.
22 Q. Did there come a time where they moved to a newer house?
23 A. Yes. That's the house that his mother lives in now.
24 Q. Could we have photo 93. Is that the house where Khalfan
25 lives now?
8393
1 A. Where his mother lives, yes. So he lived there for a
2 while before he left Dar es Salaam.
3 Q. You mentioned that people would farm and take crops to
4 market. Can we have photo 38. What does photo 38 display?
5 A. This is the main market in Zanzibar town. It is kind of
6 on the edge of town. That is the main market that they would
7 take crops to. There also was a small village market that
8 they occasionally sold things in. But they would bring things
9 to this market to sell and also buy the things that they
10 needed there.
11 Q. In moving crops and things from the farms -- would you
12 describe what you mean by a farm in terms of how things are
13 done in Zanzibar.
14 A. There are two ways of the family farm. They did have a
15 small plot of land on which they grew things like cassava,
16 sweet potatoes, some fruit. Then they also would go into what
17 is referred to as the bush in the areas near their home or
18 with the permission of the landowner and pick things like
19 bananas and coconuts and bring those to market.
20 Q. In transporting items to market, if we look at number 43,
21 do you know what the term dhala dhala means?
22 A. Dhala dhala is the standard form of public transportation
23 there. It would be like a small bus. So it's a bus to
24 transport people around but also people would typically take
25 their crops in to market on the dhala dhala. They would put
8394
1 their crops on the top of the dhala dhala and take them to
2 town.
3 Q. Do people also commonly use carts drawn by animals to
4 bring things to town?
5 A. You do see carts, yes.
6 Q. Look at photo number 9, please. Do you see a cart pulled
7 by some kind of bull or animal of some kind?
8 A. Yes, and that was something actually that Khalfan and his
9 brothers did, or primarily he and Rubeya. One of the things
10 they did to earn money after his father died was something
11 called cow farming, and that is, they took care of somebody
12 else's cows. If you took care of them for a certain length of
13 time you would be paid by being given a cow. In this way they
14 got a cow and built a cart. Rubeya and his brother and
15 Khalfan would bring crops in from the field or the bush and
16 they would take them to the local market in that. They didn't
17 go into town because that was a pretty long way to go. They
18 used the dhala dhala for that.
19 Q. As Mr. Mohamed was growing up in Kidimni -- we can take
20 that photo down -- did he attend religious schools, something
21 called the Madrasa?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Generally speaking, what is a Madrasa?
24 A. The Madrasa is a religious school where they study the
25 Koran. What he would generally do is go to the regular
8395
1 school, Dunga or Mwera, in the early morning until the early
2 afternoon, go home for a period to have lunch, about
3 midafternoon go to Madrasa for two, two and a half hours,
4 generally four days a week Monday to Thursday. It was in, he
5 described, not a regular building but a kind of shelter that
6 the teacher held this Madrasa in and students could come and
7 study the Koran.
8 Q. Did his brothers and sisters also attend that Madrasa?
9 A. Some did, some not. I don't think anybody attended as
10 long as he did. His sister Zuhura did. I think Fatuma
11 attended for a while. He attended the longest.
12 Q. In terms of Mr. Mohamed's family, did you find them or did
13 they describe themselves as a particularly religious family?
14 A. He described them as not particularly religious sort of by
15 his standards, because he is very religious, and everyone
16 described him as always having been very serious about
17 religion. So the rest of the family was less serious, I would
18 say, than he was.
19 Q. Did there come a time when Mr. Mohamed attended secondary
20 school?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. What was the name of that secondary school?
23 A. Mwera secondary school.
24 Q. If we could look at photograph 51. What is shown in
25 photograph 51?
8396
1 A. This is one of the buildings at the Mwera Secondary
2 School. Like the primary school, they had more than one
3 building.
4 Q. Based on your findings in social history, did Mr. Mohamed
5 complete secondary school?
6 A. No, he did not.
7 Q. How far did he go in secondary school?
8 A. He attended for two years.
9 Q. How many standards are needed to complete a secondary
10 school education in Zanzibar?
11 A. Three.
12 Q. In setting up a social history, did you actually have a
13 chance to talk to school officials at the Mwera school in
14 Zanzibar?
15 A. I didn't actually speak to anyone, but we did receive a
16 letter from the current principal of the school.
17 Q. I show you a document that has been marked KKM28. Would
18 you tell the jury what KKM28 is.
19 A. That is the letter written by the principal of the school
20 verifying his attendance at Mwera Secondary School.
21 Q. Is there a translation attached to KKM28?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. That is MMK28T. Would you read it to the jury.
24 A. To whom it may concern. With reference to Khalfan Khamis
25 Mohamed, I beg respectfully, beg to refer to the above matter.
8397
1 I confirm that this young man was a student in my school
2 from -- it has the date 2/6/89, and I will explain something
3 about that in a minute -- when he was in his first year until
4 he left school in 1990, when he was in his second year. His
5 student number was 4358. I received this boy from Dunga
6 school when he had completed eighth grade. I hope I have been
7 clear. Mwera School Zanzibar. Thank you. Ms. M. Kugu.
8 Q. In terms of the date in East Africa generally, do they
9 follow the European convention of reading dates, by which I
10 mean it starts with the day, the month and the year?
11 A. They generally do, but in all my discussions with Khalfan
12 and everyone in his family, they are quite certain he began in
13 January of '89, and January is the time that school years
14 begin there. So I am not certain about that date, whether it
15 was supposed to be done the European way or whether this
16 person came to the school the mid-year. But they are quite
17 certain that he started in January.
18 Q. Regardless when the school year started, the records that
19 have been provided to us show that he completed two years or
20 less school in his second year of what we would consider high
21 school, although it is a three-year high school program in
22 Zanzibar; is that correct?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. At age approximately 17, did Mr. Mohamed go somewhere off
25 Zanzibar?
8398
1 A. Yes. He left Zanzibar and went to Dar es Salaam to live
2 with and work for his older brother Mohamed.
3 Q. What kind of enterprise did his brother Mohamed have?
4 A. Mohamed had a small dry goods shop at the front of his
5 house in the Ilala area in Dar es Salaam. He also did some
6 wholesaling things like rice.
7 Q. Could we have photo number 8. What is shown in photo
8 number 8?
9 A. This is the house at No. 8 Kutuya Street in Ilala, where
10 his brother and his family lived, and the front of it had been
11 a shop at the time.
12 Q. It appears that it was no longer a shop when this
13 photograph was taken?
14 A. That is correct.
15 Q. While he was in Dar es Salaam, according to what you
16 learned in your social history, did Mr. Mohamed begin to
17 attend a particular mosque in Dar es Salaam?
18 A. Yes. There were actually two mosques he attended in the
19 Ilala area but the one on Arusha Street that he primarily went
20 to and there was one on Bongoni Street that he occasionally
21 went to.
22 Q. Could we have photograph number 5, please. What is
23 depicted in photo number 5?
24 A. This is the mosque on Arusha Street.
25 Q. Prior to beginning to attend this mosque in Dar es Salaam,
8399
1 had Mr. Mohamed been a particularly serious student of Islam?
2 A. According to his family he had always been more serious
3 than the others in the family about religion, and he had
4 attended Madrasa. When he went to Dar es Salaam, he became
5 even more serious about his religious studies.
6 Q. You have reviewed, or have you reviewed among other
7 documents the FBI statement that is attributed to Mr. Mohamed
8 and that is in evidence in this case as Government Exhibit
9 1071? Have you looked at that statement?
10 A. Yes, I have.
11 Q. This is the FBI recitation as represented by the FBI that
12 Mr. Mohamed told them; is that correct?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Did you also interview members of, as you say,
15 Mr. Mohamed's immediate family?
16 A. Yes, I did.
17 Q. In some cases were you able to take pictures of members of
18 the family?
19 Q. Could we have photo number 29 and could you tell the jury
20 who is in this picture.
21 A. This is his brother Mohamed, who is the next --
22 Q. Mohamed or Rubeya?
23 A. I am sorry, Rubeya Khamis Mohamed, who is the next in age
24 over Khalfan, and his wife Amina and their son.
25 Q. Could we have photograph number 14. Who is in this
8400
1 photograph?
2 A. This is his twin sister Fatuma and her husband Salum, and
3 their children.
4 (Continued on next page)
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8401
1 MR. RUHNKE: Could we have photograph number 12.
2 Q. Who is in this photograph?
3 A. This is his younger sister Zuhura, she was the youngest in
4 the family; her husband Salum, and one of their three
5 children.
6 MR. RUHNKE: Could we have photograph number 31,
7 which may be not particularly clear.
8 Q. But would you look at 31. Are you able to tell who that
9 is?
10 A. Yes. That's his sister Salma. She's actually the oldest
11 child of the marriage.
12 Q. Now, is Salma actually in the United States now?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. After she arrived here, did one of the children she had
15 traveling with her become ill?
16 A. Yes. She brought her baby with her and the baby
17 developed -- became ill and was taken to the hospital and is
18 being treated for malaria.
19 Q. And for that reason will Salma not be here today?
20 A. That's correct.
21 MR. RUHNKE: And may we look at photograph number 32.
22 Q. Who is in photograph number 32?
23 A. This is his mother, Hidaya Rubeya Juma.
24 Q. Now, there came a time when Mr. Mohamed became involved
25 with a group of people in Dar es Salaam, and at the end of
8402
1 that process the American Embassy was bombed, correct?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. And you have discussed that with him and it's in the FBI
4 302 report, correct?
5 A. Yes. I have not discussed it at great length with him.
6 Q. Your role was not to discuss the offense; is that correct?
7 A. That's correct.
8 Q. But you have reviewed some of the underlying documents?
9 A. Yes, I have.
10 Q. According to the FBI 302, after the embassy was bombed,
11 Mr. Mohamed traveled to South Africa; is that correct?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And do you recall, according to the 302, what plans he had
14 made for travel? Initially was there a plan, according to the
15 statement, to travel to South Africa?
16 A. No, I believe his initial plan was to go to Yemen.
17 Q. That changed and he got a visa to go, according to the
18 statement, to South Africa; is that correct?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And according to the statement and other information, why
21 did he choose Cape Town?
22 A. He had a friend from Zanzibar living in Cape Town, so he
23 thought he would know someone there. I think initially he was
24 going to go to Cape Town and then perhaps leave there at some
25 point, but he ended up staying there.
8403
1 Q. And in Cape Town, according to your investigation -- first
2 of all, have you actually gone to Cape Town to interview
3 people?
4 A. No, I haven't.
5 Q. Have you seen certain videotaped interviews of people in
6 Cape Town?
7 A. I have seen video interviews and I have done telephone
8 interviews.
9 Q. When he got to Cape Town, did he find work?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Do you remember the name of the place that he found work?
12 A. He found work at a restaurant called Burger World, which
13 was actually an Indian restaurant.
14 Q. Do you know who the owners of the Burger World restaurant
15 are?
16 A. Yes. Sharhima and Abin Dalvie.
17 Q. And did Mr. Mohamed eventually move into the home of
18 Mr. and Mrs. Dalvie?
19 A. Yes, after several months. He started working there in
20 September of '98 and he move into a room behind their home in
21 the summer of '99.
22 Q. By the way, to your knowledge, are there any photographs
23 at all that exist of Mr. Mohamed's father?
24 A. Not to my knowledge.
25 MR. RUHNKE: Could we have photograph number 96,
8404
1 please.
2 Q. Can you tell me who is shown in this photograph, to the
3 best of your ability to know?
4 A. These are members of the Dalvie family, appear to be
5 eating in a restaurant. You can see Sharhima Dalvie's
6 parents, Yakoub and Asma.
7 Q. Starting with the -- going around the table, there's a
8 child in the lower left corner of the photograph. Do you know
9 who that child is?
10 A. It's the youngest daughter, whose name I can't remember.
11 The other two daughters are Nisha and Farah.
12 Q. The woman, as we go around clockwise, with her hair in
13 braids is?
14 A. It's not -- it appears to be Sharhima. It's not a real
15 good photo of her in terms of the videos I have seen.
16 Q. And the next child is?
17 A. Nisha, I think.
18 Q. The gentleman at the head of the table with the grayish
19 beard?
20 A. Is Yakoub Hendricks. That's Sharhima Dalvie's father.
21 Q. And the woman next in the photograph?
22 A. Is Asma, and it's A-S-M-A. In my report, my spell check
23 seemed to make it asthma, but it's Asma.
24 Q. And who is Asma?
25 A. That's Sharhima Dalvie's mother.
8405
1 Q. And the final person in the photograph?
2 A. Farah.
3 MR. RUHNKE: Could we have photo number 83.
4 Q. Would you tell the jury what that shows? Who is the
5 gentleman on the left?
6 A. That's Abin Dalvie.
7 Q. And the gentleman on the right is Mr. Mohamed?
8 A. Yes, and they appear to be in the restaurant.
9 MR. RUHNKE: Could I have also photo number 102.
10 Q. Who is shown, who is the gentleman on the left in that
11 photograph?
12 A. That is, again, is Yakoub Hendricks, Sharhima Dalvie's
13 father. He is with Khalfan.
14 Q. And with regard to Yakoub, or without going into the
15 details, is he currently ill and unable to travel?
16 A. Yes.
17 MR. RUHNKE: We can take the photo down now, if you
18 like, please.
19 Q. To the best of your ability to ascertain from your
20 investigation, did Mr. Mohamed continue to work and live with
21 the Dalvie family in South Africa up to the date of his arrest
22 in October of 1999?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Did he use a false name while in South Africa particularly
25 Zahran Nassor Maulid?
8406
1 A. I think that was the name that he used. Sharhima just
2 said he gave her a long name and was hard to remember and
3 pronounce, so the family just always called him Nassor.
4 Q. So they referred to him as Nassor?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. But there is no issue that he did not tell them his real
7 name?
8 A. That's correct.
9 Q. And just by way of a final bit of background, is it your
10 understanding from your review of documents and social
11 history, that in approximately January of 1998 Mr. Mohamed had
12 applied for a passport using the identification documents of
13 his friend Zahran Nassor Maulid?
14 A. Yes. I'm not sure of the date. I know it was early in
15 1998.
16 Q. And was it his plan, according to the 302 statement, at
17 least, to travel to London and basically start a new life?
18 A. Yes.
19 MR. RUHNKE: I have no further questions.
20 MR. FITZGERALD: I have no questions.
21 THE COURT: No questions. Thank you. You may step
22 down.
23 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I offer K.K.M. 28, which is
24 the school record.
25 MR. FITZGERALD: No objection.
8407
1 THE COURT: Received.
2 (Defendant's Exhibit K.K.M. 28 received in evidence)
3 MR. STERN: We call Sharhima Dalvie.
4 THE COURT: Will we need an interpreter?
5 MR. STERN: Pardon me?
6 THE COURT: Will we need an interpreter?
7 MR. STERN: We will not. She speaks English.
8 SHARHIMA DALVIE,
9 called as a witness by the defendant,
10 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
11 DIRECT EXAMINATION
12 BY MR. STERN:
13 Q. Ms. Dalvie, if you would pull the microphone close to you
14 so everyone can hear you.
15 A. Is that close enough?
16 Q. I don't know. Can people hear?
17 A. Close enough?
18 Q. Yes. Good.
19 Ms. Dalvie, where are you from?
20 A. South Africa, Cape Town.
21 Q. How long have you lived there?
22 A. All my life.
23 Q. And do you have a family there?
24 A. Yes, I do.
25 Q. Who are the members of your family?
8408
1 A. I have four children, my husband.
2 Q. And your parents?
3 A. Excuse me?
4 Q. Your parents, are they still around?
5 A. Yes, they are.
6 Q. Who are your parents?
7 A. Asma and Yakoub.
8 Q. When did you come to the United States?
9 A. This morning.
10 Q. What time did you arrive?
11 A. 7:00.
12 Q. Have you had a chance to sleep or anything yet?
13 A. No, I didn't.
14 Q. I want to talk to you about how your family makes a living
15 in South Africa a little.
16 Why don't you tell the jury what you do for a living.
17 A. We have a fast food business called Dalvie's Burger World.
18 Q. And do you have any other businesses?
19 A. Dalvie's Candy World. We manufacture sweets.
20 Q. What part of Cape Town do you live in?
21 A. Rylands.
22 Q. Now I want to talk to you about a time when a young man
23 came to apply for a job at Burger World, and I'm talking about
24 a young man named Nassor. Why don't you tell us what
25 happened.
8409
1 A. He came to the shop and he was looking for a job, and my
2 husband employed him. He worked there as a chef.
3 Q. When you say he worked as a chef, what exactly was the
4 work that he did?
5 A. He cooked for us.
6 Q. What exactly? Did he chop things? Did he serve things?
7 A. He made different dishes every day.
8 Q. And did he have a chance to meet not only you but other
9 members of your family?
10 A. Yes, he did.
11 Q. Who else did he know in your family?
12 A. He knew my whole family.
13 Q. What kind of an employee was he?
14 A. He was very hard-working.
15 Q. Would he fight with people?
16 A. Never. He always held everything together at work. He
17 was always the one that everyone would look up to. Even back
18 home, you know, he would come and play with the kids. And he
19 would do things, he would always do special things, especially
20 for my parents. He would cook a special meal for her, which
21 was chicken and garlic potato.
22 On Tuesday he would be off from work and he would
23 come home and help me, instead of taking his time off, he
24 would spend it with me, helping me in the kitchen, baking, and
25 thereafter he would go take his bath and then go off to mosque
8410
1 to pray.
2 Q. You say he went off to mosque to pray. Did you know if he
3 was a religious person or not?
4 A. Yes, he was.
5 Q. And how do you know that?
6 A. Because all he would do is pray. He would pray. He would
7 walk around with his prayer book all day long, and he would
8 tell me to also pray, that if I give, then I will get. He was
9 very good in that way. He sat with my son Abu-Taalib every
10 day for one hour after work, he would sit and teach
11 Abu-Taalib.
12 Q. And did he --
13 A. For one hour he would sacrifice his time from work. He
14 wouldn't rest for anything. He would come home, have a bath,
15 and sit with Abu-Taalib and teach Abu-Taalib for one hour
16 every day.
17 Q. Did he teach anyone else in your family?
18 A. My mom, yes.
19 Q. What did he do for your mom?
20 A. The day he left South Africa, that was the day my mom
21 graduated through him. Thanks to him.
22 Q. When he first came to South Africa, do you know where he
23 lived?
24 A. In Rylands, yes. He lived in Zharia State first when he
25 first came to South Africa.
8411
1 Q. Did there come a time when he moved in with your family?
2 A. And then he moved over to our place, yes.
3 Q. How did that happen that he came to live with your family?
4 A. We didn't want him to -- he's a very good person. You
5 know, he's the kind of person that a parent would want, a
6 child that a parent would want. And we just felt that he was
7 a good guy, that we needed to take him in and take care of
8 him. And that was our reason for taking him.
9 Q. And after you took him in, how did that go?
10 A. Sorry?
11 Q. How did it go once he moved in with your family?
12 A. It went very, very well. He would take all his time and
13 his energies and spend it with the family. He would never go
14 out. He would always be home, go to mosque, come home. That
15 was his life. On his time off, every Tuesday he was off on
16 from work, he would go spend the morning with me in the
17 kitchen and then off to mosque he would go and come back. He
18 didn't have much of a social life.
19 Q. There was a time when he was arrested, correct?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And brought back here to the United States, right?
22 A. Right.
23 Q. And sometime after that, one of the members of the team
24 defending him came to South Africa, right?
25 A. Correct.
8412
1 Q. And you were present when videotapes were made of various
2 member of your family and friends of your family, correct?
3 A. That's correct, yes.
4 Q. And since that time you have come to know that this jury
5 will have to decide whether or not he should be executed.
6 Could you tell me what effect his execution would
7 have on you and your family?
8 MR. GARCIA: Objection.
9 THE COURT: I'll allow it.
10 A. That would be terrible, because Nassor is not that kind of
11 person. He deserves a chance. He's been a good guy. He's
12 really proven himself. We've seen that. He's been with us
13 for a year, and in that time there was no traces of anything
14 at all, anything bad about him at all. We went as far as
15 saying that Nassor is the kind of guy that we would marry to
16 our daughters. That's how much we think of Nassor.
17 MR. STERN: Your Honor, I would like to introduce
18 K.K.M. CD1 into evidence without objection.
19 MR. GARCIA: No objection.
20 MR. STERN: And have it played for the jury now.
21 THE COURT: Yes.
22 (Defendant's Exhibit K.K.M. CD-1 received in
23 evidence)
24 THE COURT: The exhibit number?
25 MR. STERN: K.K.M. CD-1.
8413
1 (Videotape played)
2 BY MR. STERN:
3 Q. You heard a person referred to as Nassor by many people in
4 that videotape, correct?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And is this person here the person they were referring to?
7 A. Nassor, yes.
8 Q. When was the last time you saw him?
9 A. The Tuesday he went to Home Affairs was the last I seen
10 him, the day they nabbed him. They came back in the afternoon
11 to tell me that they have taken him under the Aliens Act.
12 Q. So it's been a few years now since you have seen him?
13 A. I think two years.
14 Q. And have your feelings about him changed?
15 A. Not at all. It will never change.
16 Q. Thank you.
17 A. Thank you.
18 MR. GARCIA: Nothing. Thank you.
19 THE COURT: Thank you, ma'am. You may step down.
20 (Witness excused)
21 MR. STERN: Judge, could we take a break now, please?
22 THE COURT: Yes, we'll take our midmorning recess.
23 (Jury not present)
24 THE COURT: We will take a recess and there is being
25 distributed a document titled "Proposed Penalty Phase Charge
8414
1 to the Jury" with today's date, which we'll mark as Court
2 Exhibit A, and a proposed special verdict form, which we'll
3 mark as Court Exhibit B. And we'll take a recess.
4 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, after the recess we're going
5 to ask the Swahili interpreter to come up and assist the next
6 witness.
7 THE COURT: All right.
8 MR. RUHNKE: We fully anticipate concluding by the
9 lunch break, if not before.
10 THE COURT: Okay.
11 (Recess)
12 (Jury not present)
13 THE COURT: I have a note from Juror No. 9 which
14 reads: "I need to go to (deleted) on Monday at 1:45. I have
15 to see my landlord for a pending petition. Will that be
16 possible?" I propose to send the following response: "Can
17 this matter be postponed? Please furnish details. If you
18 would like me to try to obtain a brief adjournment."
19 I have no idea what that is, but if that's some
20 matter in housing court, that could kill the afternoon.
21 MR. RUHNKE: That's fine, your Honor.
22 THE COURT: All right. Let's give that note to the
23 juror and let's have the jury come in.
24 MR. FITZGERALD: Judge, can we approach the sidebar?
25 (Page 8415 filed under seal)
8415
1 (Continued on next page)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8416
1 (In open court)
2 (Jury present)
3 THE COURT: Mr. Stern.
4 MR. STERN: We would like to call Rebeya Khamis
5 Mohamed.
6 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, the Swahili interpreter is
7 coming.
8 RUBEYA KHAMIS MOHAMED,
9 called as a witness by the defendant,
10 having been duly sworn, testified
11 through the interpreter as follows:
12 DIRECT EXAMINATION
13 BY MR. STERN:
14 Q. Rubeya, how old are you?
15 A. 29.
16 Q. Do you know who this is sitting over here?
17 A. Yes, I know him.
18 Q. Who is it?
19 A. My brother.
20 Q. Are you older or younger than your brother?
21 A. I am older.
22 Q. How much older are you than he?
23 A. About two.
24 Q. Do you have other brothers and sisters?
25 A. Yes.
8417
1 Q. Who are they?
2 A. I have brothers and sisters.
3 Q. Who are they? Tell me what their names are.
4 A. I have Mohamed and Nassor, they are my brothers, same
5 mother and the same father, Salma, Fatuma and Zuhura.
6 Q. Do Mohamed and Nassor live on Zanzibar with you now?
7 A. No.
8 Q. But is that where you live, on Zanzibar?
9 A. Yes, I live on Zanzibar.
10 Q. Before coming to New York to testify in your brother's
11 case, how many times had you been away from Zanzibar?
12 A. Between five to ten times I left.
13 (Continued on next page)
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8418
1 Q. And those times where had you gone?
2 A. Most of the times I went to Dar es Salaam, once I went to
3 Pemba.
4 Q. Pemba is part of Zanzibar, right?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. That is the island where your mother was born?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Dar es Salaam is about a two-hour ferry ride from where
9 you live on Zanzibar, right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Other than those trips, have you been anywhere else?
12 A. Only once I went to Tabora, which is part of Dar es
13 Salaam. Other than that, no.
14 Q. Do you have your own family, that is, a a wife and
15 children?
16 A. Yes, I have a wife and one child.
17 Q. Who is that in the picture?
18 A. One person is me, the other my son, and my wife.
19 Q. What is your son's name?
20 A. Eunice.
21 Q. And your wife?
22 A. Amina.
23 Q. When you were living in Zanzibar, did you have any
24 schooling?
25 A. I just went for a few days.
8419
1 Q. Why did you stop going?
2 A. I just felt bad. I never felt, I never had the desire to
3 learn.
4 Q. How about your brother Khalfan? Did he go to school?
5 A. Yes, he did.
6 Q. Do you know how he did in school?
7 A. I know he did well. I don't know exactly how well,
8 because myself I did not study.
9 Q. I want you to think back when you were growing up with
10 Khalfan, OK?
11 A. How long did you and he live together, growing up?
12 A. Many years.
13 Q. How old was he when you left home? Do you remember?
14 A. I am not really sure how old he was when he left, but when
15 he finished school he left.
16 Q. Did you two play soccer together?
17 A. Yes, we played together.
18 Q. What position did you play?
19 A. I was number 7.
20 Q. How about him? What position did he play?
21 A. Khalfan played number 6, the wing.
22 Q. Who was better, you or Khalfan?
23 A. Khalfan was better.
24 Q. Do you remember any particular thing about what it was
25 like to play soccer with him, what he would act like, what he
8420
1 would do?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. What is that?
4 A. If there was ever any fouls played against Khalfan, he
5 would always approach the person who had fouled him and
6 explain to him that that wasn't the fair way to play.
7 Q. Would he fight with other people during the games?
8 A. Never.
9 Q. How about if other people started fighting? What would he
10 do?
11 A. He would go and try to settle them down and encourage them
12 not to fight.
13 Q. While Khalfan was still staying on Zanzibar, was there a
14 time that you became sick?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. What happened? Tell me.
17 A. There was a time when I was very sick and I fell flat, and
18 Khalfan was there to help me, bringing me water for bathing,
19 until he took me to the hospital.
20 Q. How long was it that he took care of you?
21 A. About three or four days I was very sick, but I didn't
22 take very long to recover.
23 Q. You know that this jury is going to have to decide whether
24 Khalfan is executed or spends the rest of his life in jail,
25 right?
8421
1 A. Yes, I know.
2 Q. How will it affect you and your family if Khalfan is
3 executed?
4 A. We will feel very bad.
5 Q. Will you feel bad about him?
6 A. Very much.
7 MR. STERN: Thank you.
8 MR. FITZGERALD: No questions.
9 THE COURT: Thank you. You may step down.
10 (Witness excused)
11 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, we next call Msellem Shiney
12 Msellem.
13 MSELLEM SHINEY MSELLEM,
14 called as a witness by the defense,
15 having been duly sworn, testified through
16 an interpreter as follows:
17 DIRECT EXAMINATION
18 BY MR. RUHNKE:
19 Q. Msellem, you speak English to some degree, is that
20 correct?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Would you prefer to be questioned in Swahili, your native
23 language?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. You are the brother-in-law of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed?
8422
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you see Khalfan in court today?
3 A. Yes, I see him.
4 Q. Over there between the attorney and the woman?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Indicating Mr. Mohamed.
7 Are you married to Mr. Mohamed's twin sister Fatuma?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. How long have you and Fatuma been married?
10 A. About 11 years.
11 Q. Could we have PH12, I believe it is, photograph displayed.
12 Can you see that picture?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Who is in that picture?
15 A. Myself, my three children, and my wife.
16 Q. Starting on the left, who is the young boy on the left?
17 What is his name?
18 A. The one on the left here is Saad Msellem Shiney.
19 Q. And the small boy that you are holding in your arms, what
20 is his name?
21 A. That one is called Shiney Msellem Shiney.
22 Q. Next to your wife Fatuma, the young girl, what is her
23 name?
24 A. That one is Maia Msellem Shiney.
25 Q. Is this photograph taken outside your home near Zanzibar
8423
1 town?
2 A. Yes, behind my house.
3 Q. Of all the people who are in Mr. Khalfan Mohamed's family
4 who live on Zanzibar, are you the only one who has a
5 telephone?
6 A. There are others, but they use mine.
7 Q. What do you do for a living? How do you support yourself?
8 A. Right now I am a businessman.
9 Q. Do you actually travel out of Tanzania and all around the
10 world frequently?
11 A. Yes, I travel all the time to other countries.
12 Q. Do you have a store in Zanzibar that sells clothing?
13 A. Yes, I have one.
14 Q. Do you travel abroad to buy clothing to bring back to your
15 store for sale in Zanzibar?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Is your wife Fatuma here with you in the United States?
18 A. Yes, she is here.
19 Q. Is this the first time she has left Tanzania?
20 A. Yes, the first time.
21 Q. Is this the first time she has ever been on an airplane?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. You know that the jury here will have to decide soon
24 whether Mr. Mohamed is to be executed or to spend the rest of
25 his life in prison. First, how do you think that would affect
8424
1 your wife Fatuma if her twin brother were executed here in the
2 United States?
3 A. Truthfully, it will affect her very badly because even now
4 she is very badly affected.
5 Q. When was the last time that you had seen your
6 brother-in-law Khalfan before the last week or so?
7 A. He came to Zanzibar to celebrate the holidays of the third
8 month.
9 Q. Is that holiday Ramadan?
10 A. It's the Hidra holiday.
11 Q. In the third month of 1998?
12 A. March or April, the third or the fourth month.
13 Q. Of 1998?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. How would it affect you if your brother-in-law were to be
16 executed?
17 A. It would affect me very badly also.
18 MR. RUHNKE: Thank you for coming. I have no more
19 questions.
20 MR. FITZGERALD: No more questions.
21 THE COURT: Thank you. You may step down.
22 (Witness excused)
23 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, we next call Fatuma Khamis
24 Mohamed.
25 (Continued on next page)
8425
1 FATUMA KHAMIS MOHAMED,
2 called as a witness by the defense,
3 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
4 DIRECT EXAMINATION
5 BY MR. RUHNKE:
6 Q. Fatuma, good morning. You are Khalfan's twin sister, is
7 that right?
8 A. Yes, I am his twin.
9 Q. You two grew up together in Kidimni, right?
10 A. Pemba.
11 Q. As you grew up together, did you play together?
12 A. Yes, we played together.
13 Q. Did you attend school together?
14 A. Yes, we went to school together.
15 Q. Were you a very good student at school or not a very good
16 student?
17 A. I was not a good student.
18 Q. Was your brother Khalfan a good student?
19 A. He was a very good student.
20 Q. Did he try to help you in school?
21 A. Yes, he did help me.
22 Q. Did you leave school before graduating?
23 A. Yes, I left school.
24 Q. How many years of school did you go to?
25 A. I am not even sure how many years.
8426
1 Q. Can I have photo 14, please.
2 Do you see the picture of your husband Msellem and
3 your children in that photograph?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Was that taken on Zanzibar?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Fatuma, how many times in your life have you left the
8 island of Zanzibar?
9 A. Two times.
10 Q. Had you ever been on an airplane or in America before a
11 few days ago?
12 A. No, never.
13 Q. Do you like it here in America? Are you enjoying your
14 visit in America?
15 A. Yes, I like it.
16 Q. Fatuma, you know the jury must decide soon whether Khalfan
17 is to be executed or whether he will spend his life in prison
18 here in the United States. If this jury were to vote --
19 sorry -- if your brother were to be executed, how would that
20 affect you and your family?
21 A. It will affect me badly.
22 MR. RUHNKE: Fatuma, thank you for coming. I have no
23 more questions for you.
24 THE WITNESS: OK, thank you.
25 THE COURT: You may step down.
8427
1 (Witness excused)
2 MR. STERN: We call Zuhura Khamis Mohamed.
3 ZUHURA KHAMIS MOHAMED,
4 called as a witness by the defense,
5 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
6 DIRECT EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. STERN:
8 Q. Zuhura, how old are you?
9 A. Twenty-four.
10 Q. Are you the youngest child in your family?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Do you know who this is?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Who is it?
15 A. My brother.
16 Q. Did you grow up with your brother?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Zuhura, do you now have your own family?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Who is this person in the picture?
21 A. Me, my husband and my child.
22 Q. As you were growing up, did you go to school of any kind?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Did you go to both a regular school and a religious
25 school?
8428
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did Khalfan go with you?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Would you and he go to school together?
5 A. Sometimes.
6 Q. And sometimes come home together?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. How did you do in school?
9 A. I did well.
10 Q. How about Khalfan? How did he do?
11 A. Also well.
12 Q. Were the two of you the best students in your family?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Growing up did you play together, you and Khalfan?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. What kind of things would you play?
17 A. We used to play things like ball.
18 Q. Khalfan has met your children, hasn't he?
19 A. Yes, he knows some of them.
20 Q. What was he like as an uncle?
21 A. He was a very good uncle to my children.
22 Q. What would he do?
23 A. He used to play with them and he also helped to teach them
24 religion very well.
25 Q. I suppose you know that in the near future this jury is
8429
1 going to have to decide whether Khalfan should be in prison
2 for the rest of his life or should be executed. Tell me what
3 effect his execution would have on you and your family.
4 A. We will have -- we will be -- we will have a lot of
5 problems and it will affect us all very badly.
6 MR. STERN: Thank you, Zuhura.
7 MR. FITZGERALD: No questions.
8 THE COURT: You may step down.
9 (Witness excused)
10 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, we call as our final witness
11 Hidaya Rubeya Juma.
12 HIDAYA RUBEYA JUMA,
13 called as a witness by the defense,
14 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
15 THE WITNESS: Yes, I pledge to tell the truth to the
16 jury and the judge, so help me God.
17 DIRECT EXAMINATION
18 BY MR. RUHNKE:
19 Q. Ma'am, are you the mother of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Do you know approximately how old you are?
22 A. No, I don't know my age.
23 Q. What was the name of Khalfan's father?
24 A. Khamis Mohamed Khalfan.
25 Q. When Khalfan, your son, was maybe 6 or 7 years old, did
8430
1 your husband, his father, pass away?
2 A. Yes, that's when he died.
3 Q. As Khalfan grew up, did he help with the family, help
4 bring money to the family, help with things around the house,
5 help with farm chores?
6 A. Yes, things in the house, things outside the house, he
7 helped when he returned from school.
8 Q. Was Khalfan a good son?
9 A. Yes, he was a good child, with his friends and going to
10 school.
11 Q. Other than recently, when was the last time you saw your
12 son?
13 A. The last time I saw him was at the holiday in the third
14 month.
15 Q. In 1998, if you know?
16 A. I don't know.
17 Q. Did you have occasion to be able to visit your son in the
18 federal jail here in New York last week?
19 A. Yes, I did.
20 Q. How did it make you feel to see your son again?
21 A. Yes. We sat in a room where there was something between
22 us, and we touched each other like that, but I couldn't touch
23 him.
24 Q. Are you saying there was a screen or a piece of metal
25 between you and your son, you were not able to touch his hands
8431
1 or touch him?
2 A. Yes, there was something between us and he sat like this
3 and I sat like this.
4 Q. Was this in that place where you have seen the pictures in
5 the courtroom on 10 South, at what is called 10 South? Is
6 that where your visit took place?
7 A. Yes, it's like the place I was shown.
8 Q. It is true that the people there, the people in the prison
9 treated you with respect and courtesy, didn't they?
10 A. Yes, they respected me very well.
11 Q. How long did your visit with your son last, do you know?
12 A. About an hour.
13 Q. Had you ever been off the island of Pemba or Zanzibar
14 before coming here to the United States?
15 A. No, I never did.
16 Q. Had you ever been on an airplane before you flew from
17 Africa to New York?
18 A. First time now.
19 Q. After you leave and return to Africa next week, do you
20 know whether you will ever see your son again?
21 A. I don't even know.
22 Q. Do you know what this is about, and that the people here
23 have to decide whether your son is to be executed or put in
24 prison for life? And I want to ask you a very difficult
25 question, which is, if your son were executed, what would that
8432
1 do to you?
2 A. It will hurt me. He is my son.
3 (Continued on next page)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8433
1 MR. RUHNKE: Thank you for coming. I have no more
2 questions.
3 THE COURT: Thank you, ma'am. You may step down.
4 (Witness excused)
5 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, subject to some open issues,
6 stipulations, documents and matters of that nature, we rest
7 our defense in the case for Khalfan Khamis Mohamed.
8 THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you
9 where we are. First of all, again you have the option to
10 remain for your lunch or not, in which case, as I have
11 indicated before, the food will not be wasted.
12 The likelihood is that closing statements will take
13 place on Monday and that on Tuesday the court will give you
14 its charge and you will begin your deliberations on Tuesday.
15 Wednesday we do not sit, and we will sit Thursday and Friday.
16 It's been a while since I reminded you, although I am sure you
17 remember, please don't read, listen to, discuss with anybody
18 any aspect of this case, and we are adjourned until Monday
19 morning. I would like to take up the matter of a juror who
20 has a problem with timing next week, and we will take that up.
21 Otherwise we are adjourned until Monday morning.
22 (Jury excused)
23 THE COURT: Any objection if I take up the matter
24 with the juror?
25 MR. RUHNKE: We did want to see you after that.
8434
1 THE COURT: Yes.
2 (Pause)
3 THE COURT: The juror is going to phone the details
4 in to the marshal and I will attempt to get the matter
5 adjourned.
6 You have some matters you want to take up now?
7 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, your Honor, in the robing room.
8 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, although there is a charge
9 conference this afternoon, there is no reason for Mr. Mohamed
10 to be here for that.
11 THE COURT: Mr. Mohamed waives his presence at the
12 charging conference?
13 MR. RUHNKE: Yes.
14 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, may I have one moment
15 with Mr. Ruhnke?
16 THE COURT: Sure. The record should indicate the
17 defendant nodded his head in the affirmative.
18 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, if the marshals could
19 just hold Mr. Mohamed for one moment until we raise one issue
20 in the robing room.
21 (Continued on next page)
22
23
24
25
8436
1 (In open court)
2 THE COURT: Mr. Mohamed, your attorney is telling me
3 that it is your present intention not to testify in this
4 proceeding. Is that correct?
5 THE DEFENDANT: Correct.
6 THE COURT: Mr. Kenneally, would you place
7 Mr. Mohamed under oath.
8 (Defendant sworn)
9 THE COURT: Mr. Mohamed, do you understand that you
10 have the right, if you wish, to take the stand and testify
11 before this jury?
12 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, I do.
13 THE COURT: Do you understand that right, and have
14 you considered and discussed that matter with your counsel?
15 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, I have.
16 THE COURT: Is it your desire to testify or not to
17 testify in this matter?
18 THE DEFENDANT: Not to testify.
19 THE COURT: But you understand that you have the
20 right to do so?
21 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, I do.
22 THE COURT: Am I correct that your decision not to
23 testify is made by you voluntarily and without any duress or
24 pressure?
25 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, your Honor.
8437
1 THE COURT: Anything further?
2 MR. FITZGERALD: No, Judge.
3 THE COURT: We are adjourned until Monday morning,
4 and I will see counsel again in the robing room.
5 (Pages 8438-8466 sealed)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
8467
1 (In open court; defendant and jury not present)
2 THE COURT: All right now, the charging conference.
3 I have distributed earlier today a proposed penalty phase
4 charge to the jury which we have marked as a court exhibit,
5 and the bold type, which of course will not appear in the copy
6 which the jury gets, is to call attention to matter which had
7 been added since the Al-'Owhali trial. I also have Mr.
8 Ruhnke's letter dated June 28, suggesting additional charges.
9 The government's requests to charge are reflected in Court
10 Exhibit A. Does the government have any objections to
11 either -- let's do the charge -- we have to do them together.
12 Does the government have any objections to the court's
13 proposed charge to the jury and the proposed penalty phase?
14 MR. FITZGERALD: Yes, Judge. The first point, which
15 is minor in this context, is on page 1 of the charge.
16 Following your Honor's view, if we turn to the special verdict
17 form, the last page, or page 17, is what tees it up. If I
18 could just explain the government's view, obviously the jury
19 can reach a verdict, a unanimous verdict that death is the
20 appropriate sentence. They can reach a unanimous verdict that
21 life imprisonment is the appropriate sentence. Or they cannot
22 reach a verdict, which is a deadlock. I think we ought to
23 recognize that. I think on page 17 of the verdict that the
24 last option should say we the jury are unable to reach a
25 unanimous verdict in favor of a life sentence or a death
8468
1 sentence. Then, we understand that the consequence of this is
2 that Khalfan Mohamed will be sentenced to life imprisonment
3 without the possibility of release.
4 THE COURT: I think there is some value to that. It
5 makes clear that if there is a unanimous verdict either way,
6 then there should have been an answer to previous questions.
7 It makes clear this is the gap that existed. May I have that
8 again.
9 MR. FITZGERALD: We the jury are unable to reach a
10 unanimous verdict either in favor of a life sentence or in
11 favor of the death penalty, or death sentence. Then the
12 second sentence is the same.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Ruhnke?
14 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, Judge. We see no reason why you
15 should change the wording that the prior jury was asked to
16 consider, and I point out that to say we do not unanimously
17 find for a life sentence or a death sentence and we understand
18 the consequence of this is that he will serve a life sentence
19 without possibility of release, that is the same consequence
20 of unanimously finding a life sentence. It doesn't seem to
21 make --
22 THE COURT: But if they did that, then they should
23 have answered an earlier question. I think in terms of
24 symmetry and completeness the government is saying here is
25 what we have not previously addressed. We have not previously
8469
1 addressed a lack of unanimity either way, and I think that is
2 a good suggestion. We the jury are unable to reach a
3 unanimous verdict either as to a death sentence or a life
4 sentence, for any of the capital counts. That would drop
5 beyond a reasonable doubt, but I think that is clear. We the
6 jury are unable to reach a unanimous verdict either as to a
7 death sentence or a life sentence for any of the capital
8 counts. We understand the consequence of this is that K.K.
9 Mohamed will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the
10 possibility of parole. I will adopt that change.
11 MR. FITZGERALD: I have no other changes to the
12 special verdict form. Going to the charge, on page 1, I think
13 the last sentence we should just say, the last line on the
14 page, duplicate those that followed in the prior sentencing
15 proceeding, for the reason that otherwise, one, I don't mean
16 to be technical, but there was a deadlock, not a decision, but
17 also we don't want to say the same principles that guided your
18 last decision --
19 THE COURT: You want prior instead of --
20 MR. FITZGERALD: No, just to say those you followed
21 in the prior sentencing proceeding.
22 THE COURT: I see.
23 MR. FITZGERALD: As to the defendant Al-'Owhali.
24 THE COURT: Any objection to that change?
25 MR. RUHNKE: No.
8470
1 MR. FITZGERALD: The next thing I have is page 4.
2 THE COURT: I have a question. The jury, I believe,
3 has in the jury room the instructions on the guilt phase, the
4 instructions on Al-'Owhali, and probably the verdict forms as
5 to Al-'Owhali. My question is to alone, where it says during
6 your deliberations you should thus rely on these instructions
7 alone. There is an awful lot that we don't have in here, such
8 as how you judge credibility, bias of a witness, things of
9 that sort. I am afraid that that may be too broad a
10 statement, that is, the bold face there.
11 MR. FITZGERALD: But you could say, your Honor,
12 should rely on these instructions, periods.
13 THE COURT: Strike the alone.
14 MR. FITZGERALD: Yes, and say to the extent any prior
15 instructions are inconsistent -- I don't think we have to
16 worry about that, but any other legal instruction -- or you
17 can just take out alone.
18 THE COURT: Any objection to taking out alone?
19 MR. RUHNKE: No, your Honor.
20 THE COURT: I am on page 4. Anything before page 4?
21 MR. FITZGERALD: No.
22 THE COURT: As to page 4, you may consider any
23 information presented during this penalty phase, the guilt
24 phase -- I have no problem with 1 or 2, but I do have a
25 question as to 3.
8471
1 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, your Honor. I can answer that, I
2 think.
3 THE COURT: Yes.
4 MR. RUHNKE: There will be, we are discussing now,
5 evidence that was offered at the Al-'Owhali penalty phase
6 which we would like to adopt by reference. One that comes to
7 mind is the tape that was played on the Koran and the
8 Kalashnikov, about the rise of the Mujahedeen and the
9 background of the Mujahedeen. Over Friday, Saturday and
10 Sunday, we are going to be meeting with the government and we
11 will be reviewing what was presented at Al-'Owhali and making
12 sure our exhibits are in order. By Monday morning we will
13 tell you exactly what we wish to adopt by reference to the
14 Al-'Owhali phase.
15 THE COURT: Will you have a stipulation that covers
16 those matters?
17 MR. RUHNKE: Pardon me.
18 THE COURT: It came up today when there was a
19 reference, I think, to Miss Miller, whether she had read the
20 FBI reports and statements and so on.
21 MR. FITZGERALD: But that's in the guilt phase.
22 THE COURT: In the guilt phase. So how should 3
23 read?
24 MR. RUHNKE: I think what you should say at that
25 point is, in this case the parties have expressly adopted the
8472
1 following evidence and exhibits from the Al-'Owhali penalty
2 phase.
3 THE COURT: Why don't you put that in a document and
4 give it a stipulation, and say here to the extent --
5 MR. FITZGERALD: Actually, your Honor, if we adopt
6 it, the stipulation says a certain video --
7 THE COURT: Just 1 and 2 and eliminate 3 because you
8 will deal with it otherwise. That is splendid.
9 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I can't imagine it would
10 make much difference, but I think we should say something,
11 that unless it is specifically adopted by stipulation or
12 otherwise, you can't consider it. I don't know if there are
13 aspects in the case where a juror might say, you know, they
14 had all this information about Iraq in that case and he
15 doesn't seem to have that kind of evidence here, and they
16 should not be able --
17 THE COURT: So then we should say the Al-'Owhali
18 penalty phase but only to the extent indicated in stipulation
19 X.
20 MR. RUHNKE: That is fine, your Honor.
21 MR. FITZGERALD: OK.
22 THE COURT: You see there are some minor language
23 changes. I am incapable of reading an instruction without
24 trying to tickle the language.
25 MR. FITZGERALD: I have nothing again till page 25.
8473
1 THE COURT: Anybody have anything prior to 25?
2 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, your Honor. At the section that
3 begins with the instruction on -- maybe I am going to 25 --
4 it's before 25. At the bottom of page 18, or in that last
5 paragraph of page 18, I would ask that we insert at that point
6 our supplemental request number 1, with the change that I
7 would strike the gateway factor component of that instruction,
8 since they are not really weighing gateway factors. Gateway
9 factors are not a concern.
10 THE COURT: You have lost me.
11 MR. RUHNKE: What I would ask is that at that point,
12 unless all 12 of you agree that an aggravating factor has been
13 proven beyond a reasonable doubt --
14 THE COURT: What page are you on?
15 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I am reading my page 18.
16 THE COURT: Page 18 of the charge?
17 MR. RUHNKE: Of the charge, which talks about the
18 finding of aggravating factors.
19 THE COURT: Yes.
20 MR. RUHNKE: As the final statement before the page
21 turns, I would ask that we insert my supplemental request
22 number 1, striking out of that supplemental request the
23 reference to gateway factors.
24 THE COURT: I see what you are saying.
25 MR. RUHNKE: So it would read unless all 12 of you
8474
1 agree that an aggravating factor has been proved beyond a
2 reasonable doubt, none of you may consider that factor in your
3 deliberations, even if the --
4 THE COURT: We don't really have to gild the lily as
5 to what unanimous means.
6 MR. RUHNKE: I am not sure we are gilding the lily.
7 It is emphasizing the fact that a juror -- it is
8 contradistinctive from mitigating factors, where a single
9 juror can consider a mitigating factor, that that single juror
10 has found that the situation is not the converse, in fact even
11 if it is 11 to 1 in favor of an aggravating factors, none of
12 the 11 jurors who find the factor to exist are permitted to
13 consider, and they are told explicitly by way of example.
14 THE COURT: We do say at the bottom of page 10, to
15 find existence of a statutory aggravating factor you must be
16 unanimous, and beyond a reasonable doubt. You want to add the
17 thought that unless you are unanimous as to a statutory
18 aggravating factor, it may not be considered for any other
19 purpose in this proceeding.
20 MR. RUHNKE: That's a different way of saying it. I
21 think my way of saying it, respectfully, is more clear,
22 because it tells the jury even if 11 of you think this is
23 true --
24 THE COURT: I don't want to do it in this instance
25 because -- I get confused by anonymous and unanimous. We have
8475
1 an anonymous jury that has to be unanimous.
2 MR. RUHNKE: The point is to emphasize to this jury
3 that this one time, no matter what 11 of you think, you are
4 not to consider it as a jury and you are not to consider it as
5 an individual.
6 MR. FITZGERALD: I think the first sentence, unless
7 you are unanimous you can't consider it. It is in the charge,
8 it is superfluous, we don't object, but I don't think we ought
9 to start singling out counts that the jury clearly understood
10 the last time.
11 THE COURT: I am considering adding the last sentence
12 on page 18, unless you are unanimous that a particular
13 statutory aggravating factor has been proven, you may not give
14 any consideration to that factor in any of your further
15 deliberations.
16 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, actually, for Mr.
17 Ruhnke's benefit, I think you should strike statutory. That
18 is true for all aggravating factors.
19 MR. RUHNKE: It should go really, I thought, at the
20 earlier point where you are introducing the discussion.
21 MR. FITZGERALD: I am sorry, right.
22 MR. RUHNKE: Mr. Fitzgerald is quite correct. We
23 then go on to discussion of nonstatutory.
24 THE COURT: So I should move this to page 21.
25 You know, it gets hard. The other alternative is to
8476
1 repeat it.
2 MR. FITZGERALD: I think, Judge, if we put it on page
3 2 and say as to both statutory and nonstatutory aggravating
4 factors, it will make the point without --
5 THE COURT: Is that all right, Mr. Ruhnke?
6 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, Judge.
7 THE COURT: So that we will now insert on page 21 as
8 a last sentence, unless you are unanimous that a particular
9 statutory or nonstatutory aggravating factor has been proven,
10 you may not give any consideration to that factor in any of
11 your further deliberations.
12 Next point?
13 MR. FITZGERALD: From the government, on page 25.
14 That has to do, your Honor, with the South African issue. Mr.
15 Ruhnke has drafted a stipulation to me which I was marking up
16 and we will try to work out. So your Honor hasn't seen the
17 stipulation but the stipulation will be in the record on
18 Monday. I think then that basically repeating the stipulation
19 in your charge -- your Honor may have assumed that your Honor
20 had to instruct the jury on the South African issue, but we
21 were to deal with that by stipulation. So I don't think we
22 need to --
23 THE COURT: You say we don't need this -- this is
24 taken from a conference in which I ruled --
25 MR. FITZGERALD: Exactly. I thought we were going to
8477
1 then take this language as modified by the parties and make a
2 stipulation. We are discussing that.
3 MR. RUHNKE: That is correct, your Honor. I think we
4 need, though, to revisit where we are, especially the end of
5 it. I have difficulty with your Honor telling the jury what
6 they may or may not consider the circumstance for. Jurors may
7 consider it in terms of just is it fair to apply the death
8 penalty, not as if random or arbitrary, but is it simply fair
9 to apply the death penalty under these circumstances.
10 THE COURT: I don't understand what the distinction
11 is that you are trying to make.
12 Would it be appropriate to vote against the death
13 penalty to punish America for its complicity in the procedures
14 leading to his arrival in the United States? No, that would
15 be inappropriate.
16 MR. RUHNKE: That is not anyone's contention. The
17 fact is that a stipulation has been drafted. I include
18 language that says explicitly the South African decision was
19 not critical of the actions of American officials.
20 THE COURT: If this is going to be sufficiently
21 covered by a stipulation to which you both agree so that what
22 appears on page 25 and in the bold face on top of 26, I would
23 be delighted to strike 25 and 26.
24 MR. RUHNKE: I believe we will work it out by
25 stipulation, your Honor.
8478
1 MR. FITZGERALD: The next comment I had was just at
2 the bottom of 26 --
3 THE COURT: Give me a moment, please. Yes.
4 MR. FITZGERALD: The last paragraph, after the
5 underlined word weight, I would suggest the phrase if any.
6 THE COURT: I have no problem with if any.
7 MR. FITZGERALD: Then nothing again till page 31.
8 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I have a problem with if
9 any.
10 THE COURT: You have a problem with if any?
11 MR. RUHNKE: I do.
12 THE COURT: What is your problem with if any, if any?
13 MR. RUHNKE: The problem with it is that it sort of
14 telegraphs the position to the jury that even though you may
15 find something mitigating, of course you may not give it any
16 weight at all.
17 THE COURT: That's exactly the purpose of if any, to
18 tell them that they have the option, which in fact in
19 Al-'Owhali they exercised.
20 MR. RUHNKE: It is a stylistic objection which
21 prejudices the defendant, and I object to it.
22 THE COURT: Overruled.
23 MR. RUHNKE: Can we go back and add that to the
24 findings on the aggravating factors, if any?
25 MR. FITZGERALD: There is language in the aggravating
8479
1 factors section that the jury has to find that the factor is
2 in fact aggravating. So if we wish to be parallel, we can
3 strike if any and tell the jurors before they consider a
4 mitigating factor, they should consider whether that factor is
5 in fact mitigating.
6 THE COURT: We want to do exactly the opposite,
7 right?
8 MR. FITZGERALD: Right.
9 THE COURT: We want to tell them there are two
10 separate steps. One, as a factual matter, is this something
11 which is out there, apart from how much weight you give it.
12 MR. FITZGERALD: Then we can make a long sentence to
13 parallel the aggravating factors to say consider whether it is
14 mitigating. We thought it would be easier to put if any.
15 THE COURT: I agree.
16 MR. RUHNKE: A lot of words over if any, I agree,
17 your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Yes.
19 MR. FITZGERALD: Then to page 31, and this lines up
20 with the last page of the verdict sheet. I would suggest
21 after the sentence that says the court has no other sentencing
22 option, that we make it a new paragraph and then say before
23 you reach a conclusion that a unanimous verdict in favor of
24 the death sentence or in favor of life imprisonment cannot be
25 reached, comma, then continue the sentence, you should
8480
1 continue your discussions until you are fully satisfied that
2 no further discussion will lead to a unanimous decision.
3 THE COURT: I think you just changed the sequence
4 around, I don't think you have changed the meaning.
5 MR. FITZGERALD: What I was trying to say is that --
6 OK. Give me a moment.
7 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I object to the mildly Allen
8 nature of this instruction, that they should continue their
9 discussions until fully satisfied that no further discussion
10 will lead to --
11 THE COURT: Didn't we do this the last time? I think
12 we did.
13 MR. FITZGERALD: Not this, your Honor. We did not
14 have this language in the last charge.
15 THE COURT: No, no, no, but when the jury raised the
16 question, we sent the response.
17 MR. FITZGERALD: We did, right.
18 THE COURT: We sent an instruction back to the jury.
19 MR. FITZGERALD: Let me tell you what I am trying to
20 get at. As I read and in the prior instruction, it seems if
21 they are unanimously in favor of death a death sentence is
22 returned, if not, it is life, almost as if there are two
23 options. What the jury should be working to is that the jury
24 is working unanimously to find death, unanimously to find
25 life, or they can't go either way. The result of the
8481
1 deadlocked may be life, but wink we should --
2 THE COURT: I think I understand what you mean. What
3 I did say, before you reach any conclusion based on a lack of
4 unanimity in favor of death on any count, you should continue
5 your discussions until you are fully satisfied that no further
6 discussion will lead to a unanimous verdict in favor of death.
7 Mr. Cohn did object that it was in the nature of an Allen
8 charge.
9 MR. RUHNKE: And, your Honor, I would reiterate that
10 objection here, telling the jury before they have given any
11 indication that they are not able to come to a unanimous
12 result. The reality is that jurors across the country are
13 told if they fail to agree that is the decision. Then we have
14 the 5 to 4 Jones decision.
15 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, what I would say is,
16 3593(e) says the jury shall recommend whether the defendant
17 shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. If they
18 cannot recommend, we know what the result is but that is not a
19 recommendation. I think we should make clear, if they should
20 come to the decision that there are 6-6 for death or life and
21 there is no way they would ever vote for death, they should
22 still work, because if they come to life unanimously that is a
23 different result and it is an important difference. They
24 should understand that they should try to come to a unanimous
25 decision either way, and if they give up, they give up, and we
8482
1 know what the result is.
2 THE COURT: I think we should consider what
3 experience this jury has already had.
4 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, when I cited 3593(e), I
5 should have cited the language that says the jury by unanimous
6 vote shall recommend, and then it continues, life or death.
7 The only point, I think my language suggested may not have
8 been the best language. I just think we ought to change the
9 phrase to say before you decide that you could not be
10 unanimous either way, you should continue your discussions
11 until you are fully satisfied.
12 THE COURT: I am looking at the change we made to the
13 special verdict form and whether we shouldn't use some of this
14 language here.
15 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, could I make a comment?
16 THE COURT: Yes.
17 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor before made reference to
18 balancing and completeness. I make a plea for consistency.
19 THE COURT: Yes.
20 MR. RUHNKE: What you said earlier was, this jury has
21 the instructions from the prior penalty phase with them.
22 Presumably that includes the instruction that you just read
23 that had been given to the Al-'Owhali jury during the penalty
24 phase. Why should you change that?
25 THE COURT: Do you want that language?
8483
1 MR. RUHNKE: Why should you tell them something is
2 different now?
3 THE COURT: Do you want that language?
4 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, your Honor.
5 THE COURT: That language was, before you reach any
6 conclusion based on lack of unanimity in favor of death on any
7 count, you should continue discussions until you are fully
8 satisfied that no further discussion will lead to a unanimous
9 verdict in favor of death. You prefer that language?
10 MR. RUHNKE: I prefer that language because it does
11 not carry the second prong of Mr. Fitzgerald's argument, which
12 is that they should strive until they reach a unanimous
13 verdict. To require them to try to get to 12 on the issue is
14 absurd and is without distinction.
15 THE COURT: One thing that I think we ought to do in
16 any event is to make the change that we made in the last
17 paragraph of the special verdict form, page 17. In other
18 words, it should read, before you reach any conclusion based
19 on a lack of unanimity, either in favor of a death sentence or
20 in favor of a life sentence, on any count -- are you with me?
21 And the second sentence of that paragraph should read,
22 balancing process leads you to a conclusion of a sentence of
23 death or life. So that it applies equally. It applies to a
24 lack of unanimity in favor of life.
25 MR. RUHNKE: Which is now inconsistent with what they
8484
1 were told earlier.
2 THE COURT: I don't know why you are enamored of the
3 language that I gave, which I thought was stronger.
4 MR. RUHNKE: I am not enamored of it. I would rather
5 not have an instruction that they should strive to reach one
6 result or another. However, what your earlier instruction did
7 was to tell the jury basically, if you can't get to a
8 unanimous verdict of death after trying for a while and trying
9 sincerely, let us know that, and the result will be that I
10 will sentence Mr. Al-'Owhali to life without possibility of
11 release, and I am seeking a parallel, consistent instruction
12 in this case. Every time we change something -- this is a
13 smart jury. They notice things. Your Honor has remarked on
14 that repeatedly. To send a message that there are some
15 different rules in this case than there were in
16 Mr. Al-'Owhali's case, now I am going to ask you to try to be
17 unanimous for life or death before you tell me that you are
18 unable to do so, I am asking for an instruction consistent
19 with the earlier instruction.
20 THE COURT: Tell me again what you want.
21 MR. RUHNKE: What your Honor instructed them
22 previously. I don't have the language in front of me.
23 THE COURT: Let me read it again. Let me read it in
24 its entirety.
25 MR. RUHNKE: That's the language, your Honor.
8485
1 THE COURT: Before you reach any conclusion based on
2 a lack of unanimity in favor of death on any count, you should
3 continue your discussions until you are fully satisfied that
4 no further discussion will lead to a unanimous verdict in
5 favor of death. This language would now be, before you reach
6 any conclusion based on lack of unanimity either in favor of
7 the death sentence or in favor of a life sentence on any
8 count, you should continue your discussions until you are
9 fully satisfied that no further discussion will lead to a
10 unanimous decision. If you are satisfied that you cannot
11 reach a unanimous decision in favor of a life or death
12 sentence on any count, please so indicate.
13 MR. RUHNKE: The difference is, and I don't know why
14 I am not making myself clear, and I apologize if I am not
15 making myself clear, is that it is different to say -- first
16 of all, it is obviously different, period. Just as a matter
17 of words and grammar, it is different. And operatively, what
18 you told the jury was, if you can't be unanimous for death,
19 please report that fact to us and I will impose a life
20 verdict.
21 My first point is, we should not be telling them
22 anything differently than we did the last time around. They
23 are a smart jury, they notice differences, and they may decide
24 that there are different rules in this case from the last
25 case. They will have in the jury room likely the notes that
8486
1 your Honor wrote back from the first stage of the proceedings.
2 THE COURT: In fact I don't think they do.
3 MR. RUHNKE: If not, I think we can certainly
4 conclude that they were the first note from your Honor. This
5 is a sharp jury.
6 THE COURT: You don't want saying life or death?
7 MR. RUHNKE: That is correct, I do not want that.
8 THE COURT: Does the government object to the
9 language, before you reach any conclusion based on a lack of
10 unanimity in favor of death on any count, you should continue
11 your discussions until you are fully satisfied that no further
12 discussion will lead to a unanimous verdict in favor of death?
13 If you are satisfied you cannot achieve unanimity in favor of
14 death on any count, you should write on the bottom.
15 MR. FITZGERALD: I actually think we shouldn't do it,
16 for the reasons I cited in the statute and in Jones. There is
17 a public interest. The jury isn't going in to vote just for a
18 death sentence or not a death sentence. They vote for death
19 or for life, and if they fail to choose between the two, they
20 have life. I think we should say vote for death or for life.
21 We know what happens if it fails but the jury should go in
22 there saying we know, and if we can't, we know the
23 consequence.
24 MR. RUHNKE: If we did not follow the law in the last
25 penalty phase, I do not think it was a serious deviation from
8487
1 law or a deviation from the law at all.
2 All I am asking for is consistency that this jury not
3 be told different things about how they go about deciding
4 whether they are unanimous or unable to reach a unanimous
5 decision, because we are not talking academically here. We
6 knew it was a divided jury --
7 THE COURT: But I am just comparing the words. If we
8 had the Elmo, we could put them together.
9 Before you reach any conclusion based on a lack of
10 unanimity in favor of death on any count -- that's Al-'Owhali.
11 My proposal: Before you reach any conclusion based on a lack
12 of unanimity in favor of the death sentence on any count,
13 exactly the same, right? Al-'Owhali: You should continue
14 your discussions until you are fully satisfied that no
15 continued discussion will lead to a unanimous verdict in favor
16 of death. Proposed: You should continue your discussions
17 until you are fully satisfied that no further discussion will
18 lead to a unanimous decision. Al-'Owhali: If you are
19 satisfied that you cannot achieve unanimity in favor of death
20 on any count, you should write so at the bottom. Proposed:
21 If you are satisfied that you cannot reach a unanimous
22 sentence in favor of the death sentence on any count, please
23 so indicate.
24 There couldn't be anything more parallel.
25 MR. RUHNKE: Somewhere in there there was a life or
8488
1 death --
2 THE COURT: All right. But do you have the
3 transcript? Let me lend you 7316, and you will see, it is
4 exactly parallel. The change that I am suggesting is that the
5 desirability for unanimity is present regardless whether the
6 lack of unanimity is with respect to a life sentence or with
7 respect to a death sentence. You do not want that?
8 MR. RUHNKE: Do not want that, your Honor, and maybe
9 it is a good idea for the next time we have one of these cases
10 but not where a jury has been instructed one way another in a
11 penalty phase.
12 THE COURT: I will strike the life sentence so that
13 it will now read, in the event that you do not, underlined,
14 unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the balancing
15 process leads you to the conclusion that a sentence of death
16 is called for as to any of the capital counts, the court will
17 then sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without
18 possibility of relief. The court has no other sentencing
19 option.
20 Before you reach any conclusion based on a lack of
21 unanimity in favor of the death sentence on any count, you
22 should continue your discussions until you are fully satisfied
23 that no further discussion will lead to a unanimous decision.
24 If you are satisfied you cannot reach a unanimous decision in
25 favor of the death sentence on any count, please indicate so
8489
1 in the appropriate space.
2 Q. And a correcting change would have to be made on the
3 verdict sheet, page 17, to conform what your Honor is telling
4 the jury essentially back to where the language of page 17
5 should remain the same as it appears in the typed version.
6 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, we disagree strenuously.
7 The public has an interest in having a unanimous verdict and I
8 don't think we should walk away from the law on that. We
9 should tell the jury, you should try to get a unanimous
10 verdict. If you decide that you are not unanimous either way,
11 they should report that to the court. There is nothing wrong
12 with doing it, but society prefers a unanimous verdict either
13 way.
14 THE COURT: I think that is right. I am going to
15 leave the change we made on page 17, and I am going to leave
16 the language indicating that they should seek to achieve
17 unanimity regardless whether it is unanimity for life or for
18 death, and you have your exceptions.
19 Anything else?
20 MR. FITZGERALD: Not from the government.
21 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, would you consider the
22 proposed instructions from the defense?
23 THE COURT: With respect to --
24 MR. RUHNKE: Number 1 we have already dealt with.
25 THE COURT: And the second one relates to whether or
8490
1 not future dangerousness constitutes physical proximity and
2 future danger for those in physical proximity.
3 What are the government's views on that change?
4 MR. FITZGERALD: I am not sure --
5 THE COURT: We are not page --
6 MR. FITZGERALD: Yes, I am sorry, I see it. I didn't
7 realize that was language -- forget it. We object. That goes
8 to argument. The factor is what the factor has always been,
9 and I don't think we need to argue to the jury, have the court
10 argue to the jury what danger is.
11 THE COURT: I don't think you can necessarily equate
12 future dangerousness to physical proximity. The government
13 cited instances of a defendant in one institution causing the
14 killing of inmates in another institution. There is the case
15 of the gang leader who was sentenced to life in solitary
16 because there was evidence that he was masterminding murders
17 from a cell of others with whom he was not physically
18 proximate.
19 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, the point takes off from the
20 language of the aggravating factor, the nonstatutory factor
21 selected by the government, alleged by the government, which
22 in operative language reads, poses a continuing and serious
23 threat to the lives and safety of those with whom he will come
24 into contact.
25 THE COURT: Yes.
8491
1 MR. RUHNKE: I read those with whom he will come into
2 contact to mean people he is dealing with on a direct and
3 day-by-day basis.
4 MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, we pared down the
5 description of the factors of before not to be duplicative and
6 generally describe things. If we had written in multiple
7 factors, we could say people he would come into contact with
8 by phone, the guards, medical staff. We would have been
9 punished for being verbose. He will come into contact with
10 people. It is what the factor is, and I don't think we should
11 now go back and start instructing the jury on what aspect of
12 dangerousness they can consider or not.
13 THE COURT: Didn't we have language at one point
14 which said in considering future dangerousness you had to deal
15 with it in the context -- yes. It is first paragraph on page
16 12. The nonstatutory aggravating factor of future
17 dangerousness may only be considered by you in the context of
18 the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of release
19 that must be imposed by the court if Mr. Mohamed is not
20 sentenced to death.
21 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I am sorry. I do not see
22 this on page 12.
23 THE COURT: 20.
24 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor had not misspoken, I think we
25 just misheard. If your Honor is not inclined to charge what I
8492
1 have requested in my request number 2, I would add a request
2 that you include at that point the second paragraph sentence
3 in request number 2, which reads, moreover, in considering
4 this issue he must consider the context of any potential for,
5 I say physical violence, if you want to substitute future
6 danger, including conditions of confinement that may be
7 imposed by the United States Bureau of Prisons.
8 THE COURT: That's just --
9 MR. RUHNKE: Not at all, your Honor, not by saying a
10 life sentence, not in the context of this case. And any
11 conditions of confinement that may be imposed by the United
12 States Bureau of Prisons. It is the conditions of
13 confinement, not the mandatory life sentence, that acts as a
14 hedge to future danger.
15 MR. FITZGERALD: And that is argument, Judge. Shall
16 we say consider the failures of conditions of confinement,
17 should we say consider the fact that someone who tried to kill
18 President Truman was later pardoned?
19 THE COURT: I think in the context of a life
20 sentence.
21 MR. RUHNKE: I couldn't disagree more. A life
22 sentence is nothing more than not being allowed in society in
23 the future. It is the conditions of confinement that serve as
24 a hedge against future danger. The government is free to
25 argue that no matter what the Bureau of Prisons does there are
8493
1 people who are able to present a danger to those around him.
2 That is argument, I agree. But we spent a good deal of time,
3 I wouldn't have spent a good deal of time being beat up by the
4 government over the fact of the conditions --
5 THE COURT: You want to add including the likely
6 conditions of confinement?
7 MR. RUHNKE: Including conditions of confinement that
8 may be imposed by the United States Bureau of Prisons.
9 THE COURT: That is more words than including the
10 likely condition of confinement, but isn't that the same
11 thing?
12 MR. FITZGERALD: Why should your Honor charge them on
13 the defense argument and leave out the government argument?
14 The point, I think, was made before. This language was
15 included to make the jury aware that the defendant should
16 never see the light of day, so viewed in the context of a
17 prison. It is not to trot out the defendant's argument as to
18 what it is that rebuts dangerousness and not have the
19 government's argument in there. I think if they view it in
20 the context of life imprisonment, that is enough. The rest is
21 for Mr. Ruhnke to argue and Mr. Stern to argue and the
22 government as well.
23 (Continued on next page)
24
25
8494
1 THE COURT: I'll add "including the likely conditions
2 of confinement." I'm won't guild the lily beyond that point.
3 MR. RUHNKE: Likely conditions of confinement imposed
4 by the Bureau of Prisons.
5 THE COURT: Who else imposes conditions of
6 confinement?
7 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, I would like you to say that
8 so that the jury knows exactly what we're talking about.
9 THE COURT: You will have three hours, Mr. Ruhnke.
10 MR. RUHNKE: I won't have three hours to instruct the
11 jury, your Honor. And hearing it from you is different than
12 hearing it from us.
13 THE COURT: All right. 3 argues -- I'm looking at
14 page 2 of Mr. Ruhnke's request -- that the jury has to be
15 unanimous as to each factor which leads it to conclude future
16 dangerousness.
17 I have a lot of problems with that, because if it
18 would include motivation, training, propensity --
19 MR. RUHNKE: I don't think there is a propensity
20 argument.
21 THE COURT: Having done it before maybe creates some
22 suggestion that -- I don't think that that is appropriate and
23 I --
24 MR. RUHNKE: I don't think we should blow by that
25 argument. This is a Constitutional argument. It is an
8495
1 argument based on a requirement of unanimity as if these were
2 elements of an offense. It's an argument as if, for example,
3 a jury in a continuing criminal enterprise case is required to
4 agree on a series of narcotic transactions individually. It
5 is an Apprendi-type argument on unanimity on elements of the
6 offense.
7 THE COURT: It's not an Apprendi argument.
8 MR. RUHNKE: I know your Honor disagrees.
9 THE COURT: I don't understand Apprendi to require
10 that there has to be a separate special unanimous verdict with
11 respect to each consideration which leads to a conclusion.
12 Does the government have any views on this?
13 MR. FITZGERALD: Yes, your Honor. I think there is
14 no basis whatsoever to put that requirement there and I think
15 the fact that we didn't multiply factors, which would have
16 been an objection for being duplicative and trying to tip the
17 scale by saying he's dangerous because he participated in the
18 attack on Officer Pepe, he's dangerous because he struck
19 officer number 1, he's dangerous because he struck officer
20 number 2, he's dangerous because he went to the camp for nine
21 months, he's dangerous because he went to Somalia for nine
22 months, they would be screaming about being duplicative. The
23 jury has to decide his character, based upon all the
24 information, whether he is a future danger or not. That's all
25 they have to decide.
8496
1 THE COURT: I agree with that.
2 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, let me just conclude the
3 argument.
4 THE COURT: Yes.
5 MR. RUHNKE: We have done very little screaming in
6 this case.
7 THE COURT: Very little what?
8 MR. RUHNKE: I'm sorry. I wasn't speaking loud
9 enough. Very little screaming in this case.
10 THE COURT: Screaming, okay.
11 MR. RUHNKE: The government is excellent at setting
12 up straw arguments, saying we could have done this, we could
13 done this, we could have done this, we didn't do it because
14 they would have been yelling at us. It actually would have
15 been bringing legal motions, your Honor would have ruled on
16 them, and one way or another the issue would have been
17 resolved.
18 In this case, for example, suppose you had a
19 situation where ten jurors, not 12, believed that Mr. Mohamed
20 played no role in the attack on Mr. Pepe, but 2 jurors do.
21 Can those two jurors consider that in their overall view of
22 whether Mr. Mohamed is a future danger?
23 THE COURT: Can they consider that he did not?
24 MR. RUHNKE: Could those two jurors who find that he
25 did -- I'm positing --
8497
1 THE COURT: Two jurors find that he participated?
2 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, and ten do not.
3 THE COURT: Ten do not. Yes, then what?
4 MR. RUHNKE: It doesn't put an end to the
5 government's arguments on why Mr. Mohamed poses a future
6 danger. Are those jurors now permitted, the two jurors --
7 THE COURT: Wait a minute. Haven't we agreed we are
8 going to tell the jury, unless you are unanimous that a
9 particular statutory or non-statutory aggravating factor has
10 been proven, you may not give any consideration to that factor
11 in any of your further deliberations? So unless they are
12 unanimous --
13 MR. RUHNKE: Yes, your Honor.
14 THE COURT: -- in a finding that there is future
15 danger, then it is out of the case.
16 MR. RUHNKE: And in some instances, your Honor, it's
17 easy to have an up or down unanimous factual finding on an
18 aggravating factor. For example, did the conduct at issue put
19 others at grave risk.
20 THE COURT: I don't think that -- don't start from
21 that premise, because it's a totally false premise. All of
22 these factors involve multiple considerations.
23 MR. RUHNKE: I respectfully disagree. They do not
24 all involve multiple considerations to the degree that this
25 particular argument has elements of multiple independent bases
8498
1 for getting to a final conclusion that Mr. Mohamed poses a
2 continuing and serious threat to the lives and safety of
3 others with whom he will come in contact.
4 THE COURT: I think what you are doing is saying that
5 where there are a number of factors, all of which lead to a
6 conclusion such as dangerousness, that there has to be a
7 unanimity as to each one. Now, do we list them all: Is
8 dangerous because he has received training; is dangerous
9 because of what he said to the FBI about how he would do it
10 again; is dangerous because he, et cetera, et cetera, et
11 cetera?
12 MR. RUHNKE: The answer is yes. The answer is yes.
13 I think you have to break these out into sub-elements to avoid
14 the possibility of jurors not all agreeing on a particularly
15 important distinct factual allegation and yet a minority of
16 jurors or a majority of jurors then applying that to the
17 overall balance, just as in the drug cases, just as in the
18 carjacking cases.
19 THE COURT: Yes. And do you suggest that in those
20 cases, that every single evidentiary fact which might lead to
21 the conclusion that the defendant was trafficking has to be
22 separately considered?
23 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor is reducing the argument to
24 an absurd extension. Those cases don't say that either,
25 although the government made those arguments in the United
8499
1 States Supreme Court.
2 THE COURT: I think instructing the jury that they
3 must be unanimous in finding a non-statutory aggravator, and
4 that unless they do so it is not to enter into their further
5 consideration is all that is appropriate here, and your
6 objection is overruled.
7 MR. RUHNKE: Just so my argument and the basis for
8 the argument is clear, I urge this argument as a matter of due
9 process Fifth Amendment, United States Constitution.
10 THE COURT: Very well.
11 MR. RUHNKE: I'm sorry, your Honor. And the Eighth
12 Amendment basis of a heightened reliability fact-finding
13 process in capital cases.
14 THE COURT: Very well.
15 Now, we had some discussion about the victim
16 testimony when we were in the other courthouse and I told you
17 that I had been toying with some language, which is a
18 modification of paragraph 4 on page 2 of Mr. Ruhnke's letter,
19 so that it would read, "The parties called several witnesses
20 at this penalty phase who are either victims of the bombing in
21 Dar es Salaam or friends or relatives of K.K. Mohamed." And
22 then the last sentence would be, the last line of that
23 paragraph would be, "that that person either favors or is
24 opposed to a sentence of death for Mr. Mohamed."
25 MR. RUHNKE: Your Honor, your Honor proposes to
8500
1 instruct the jury that they should draw an inference or should
2 think about whether people who were called on behalf of K.K.
3 Mohamed secretly favored the death penalty, his mother, his
4 brother, his sisters? That, respectfully, is absurd, your
5 Honor. You have taken this --
6 THE COURT: You think it's more absurd --
7 MR. RUHNKE: You have taken this argument --
8 THE COURT: There are a lot of absurdities.
9 MR. RUHNKE: I see more every day.
10 THE COURT: Yes. The mother was brought from
11 Zanzibar to ask, "How would you feel if your son was
12 executed?" and she said, "Badly." I mean, you know.
13 MR. RUHNKE: And people were brought from Zanzibar
14 and Dar es Salaam to say, "How do you feel now that your loved
15 one has died?" and they said "terrible." You're right.
16 THE COURT: Okay.
17 MR. RUHNKE: It does not. This whole process
18 sometimes doesn't make any sense whatsoever to anyone,
19 including me.
20 And the argument takes off from the decision in the
21 New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Koskovich, and as we
22 argued the other day, in Koskovich, in the course of vacating
23 a death verdict, the New Jersey Supreme Court had occasion to
24 discuss the fact that the trial court, over the objection of
25 the state prosecutors, had allowed the defense to elicit from
8501
1 the mother of the victim, in essence, that she did not want
2 the death penalty for the person who killed her son.
3 On appeal, in the New Jersey procedures the Attorney
4 General's Office was able to raise that issue as a cross
5 appeal issue. The New Jersey Supreme Court said, adhering to
6 earlier decisions -- by way of background, New Jersey had once
7 outlawed victim impact evidence entirely; had pegged that
8 decision to the New Jersey State Constitution after Payne was
9 decided.
10 The New Jersey legislature then put a constitutional
11 amendment before the voters of the state to overrule that
12 decision, to amend the constitution to allow for victim impact
13 evidence, and that's how we have victim impact evidence in New
14 Jersey.
15 In any event, in Koskovich the Court said, adhering
16 now to our earlier decision saying, yes, victim impact can now
17 come in, it can no longer be unconstitutional under our
18 constitution, that it is wrong to elicit that kind of opinion
19 from anyone.
20 However, the Court said there is a natural inference
21 that a jury might improperly draw from the fact that a victim
22 takes the witness stand, that that person would not be here
23 testifying unless that person wanted a death sentence for the
24 person on trial, and that, therefore, in the future, in our
25 state in New Jersey, trial judges in capital cases should tell
8502
1 juries that the fact that somebody appears who is a victim of
2 the crime, as a victim impact witness, should not support any
3 inference that that person wants the death sentence. And in
4 fact, neither side is permitted to ask that opinion and a jury
5 should not draw that inference from the mere fact that that
6 person appears as a witness.
7 It's a broad summary of that holding.
8 THE COURT: Maybe the answer is simply to make it
9 much shorter and say: Because the law does not permit any
10 witness to state whether he or she favors the death penalty,
11 you should draw no inference either way from the fact that no
12 witnesses have stated their views on this subject.
13 MR. RUHNKE: At the beginning, your Honor, it should
14 be "either favors or opposes the death penalty."
15 THE COURT: Because the law does not permit any
16 witness to state whether he or she favors or opposes the death
17 penalty, you should draw no inference either way from the fact
18 that no witnesses have testified as to their views on this
19 subject.
20 Is that innocuous enough for everybody?
21 MR. RUHNKE: The issue is whether favors or opposes
22 the death penalty for the defendant on trial, not in an
23 abstract --
24 THE COURT: The death penalty in this case, okay.
25 Try it again: Because the law does not permanent any
8503
1 witness to state whether he or she favors or opposes the death
2 penalty in this case, you should draw no inference either way
3 from the fact that no witnesses have stated their views on the
4 subject.
5 MR. RUHNKE: I would ask that it be confined to
6 victims for the reason that the New Jersey Supreme Court
7 pointed out that when someone testifies as a victim impact
8 evidence -- they may be wrong, and your Honor may disagree
9 with their view of things, but the New Jersey court's view
10 was, and the court has been administering capital punishment
11 cases since the early 1980s and it has a great deal of
12 experience with the victim impact evidence -- that is an
13 inference that can be drawn; that victims would not be
14 appearing and testifying in a penalty phase unless they
15 favored the death sentence.
16 THE COURT: I think there is a limit to how --
17 Does the government have any objection to this
18 proposed language? Do you want me to read it again?
19 MR. FITZGERALD: The court's proposed language is
20 balanced. It's fine.
21 THE COURT: All right. Now where do we put it?
22 MR. FITZGERALD: We do have a witness section where
23 you talk about credibility.
24 We could put on it page 5 before defendant's right
25 not to testify.
8504
1 MR. RUHNKE: That's a logical place for it, your
2 Honor.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 MR. RUHNKE: My objection, though, stands. I press
5 the earlier language.
6 THE COURT: Yes.
7 MR. RUHNKE: At the risk of --
8 THE COURT: You notice what I have done with D and K
9 in the mitigating -- I have left the lettering in case jurors
10 were taking notes, and so I have left the lettering.
11 MR. RUHNKE: I want to say one more thing, your
12 Honor. At the risk of sounding like I'm asking for standing
13 objection number one and whatever, I am pressing my argument
14 for the language on the inference from victim testimony on the
15 due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and also the cruel
16 and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment and the
17 requirement for heightened reliability of fairness in capital
18 cases.
19 THE COURT: You know, it's been weeks and weeks since
20 you reminded me it was a capital case.
21 MR. RUHNKE: I'm not reminding you it's a capital
22 case. I'm stating my objection on Constitutional grounds,
23 which is --
24 THE COURT: I understand.
25 MR. RUHNKE: My failure to do so would not be good
8505
1 advocacy.
2 THE COURT: Anything else anyone has?
3 MR. FITZGERALD: No, Judge.
4 THE COURT: All right. I would like to have that
5 stipulation -- can I have that stipulation tomorrow, the
6 stipulation that obviates the language with respect to South
7 Africa?
8 MR. RUHNKE: We're working on it, your Honor. What
9 we plan to do is meet tomorrow. Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Garcia
10 apparently have not had the opportunity to review a lot of the
11 stipulations. They are going to review them. We're going to
12 meet tomorrow midmorning, late morning, and try to resolve all
13 the stipulation issues that are outstanding.
14 THE COURT: All right. I think we should get
15 together at 9:00 on Monday to take up the matter which we
16 discussed in my chambers earlier this afternoon and any
17 matters with respect to the stipulations. Otherwise, I think
18 we are adjourned until 9 a.m. on Monday.
19 MR. FITZGERALD: Thank you, Judge.
20 (Adjourned to July 2, 2001, at 9:00 a.m.)
21
22
23
24
25
8506
1
2 INDEX OF EXAMINATION
3 Witness D X RD RX
4 JILL MILLER.............8380
5 SHARHIMA DALVIE.........8407
6 RUBEYA KHAMIS MOHAMED...8416
7 MSELLEM SHINEY MSELLEM..8421
8 FATUMA KHAMIS MOHAMED...8425
9 ZUHURA KHAMIS MOHAMED...8427
10 HIDAYA RUBEYA JUMA......8429
11 DEFENDANT EXHIBITS
12 Exhibit No. Received
13 KKM31 ......................................8384
14 K.K.M. 28 ..................................8407
15 K.K.M. CD-1 ................................8412
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
HTML by Cryptome.