Aug 24, 2006 3:15 pm US/Pacific
Video Discloses Alleged Plot To Target Sears Tower
Federal Judge Denies Request To Ban Surveillance Video
MIAMI (CBS) ―
A federal judge has denied a request for a temporary injunction which would have prevented CBS affiliate WFOR-TV in Miami and their Web site,
CBS4.com, from showing undercover surveillance video of seven men implicated in a terrorism scheme that involved a plot to blow up the Sears Tower.
Attorney Ana Jhones had filed the request with Federal Court judge Joan Lenard at the U.S. Courthouse in Miami, asking that CBS, and any other media outlet, be prevented from showing the undercover video showing her client, Narseal Batiste, the alleged ringleader of what prosecutors claim was a terrorist cell based in Liberty City, Fla.
The request was denied following a teleconference between Jhones, the judge, and attorneys for CBS.
The "Liberty City 7," as they have been dubbed, face terrorism charges after government agents uncovered an alleged plot to blow up buildings including the Sears Tower, the Miami Federal Courthouse, and the Miami FBI offices, as well as other structures.
The undercover video shows Batiste and others taking what prosecutors claims is an oath to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, as well as conversations in which Batiste tells an FBI undercover agent his plans for blowing up buildings.
The video has been the subject of reports by WFOR-TV reporter Brian Andrews, and its broadcast has apparently upset some of the attorneys involved in the case.
The material shown on television and online was provided by prosecutors as part of the discovery process, and is part of the public record of the case. It includes hundreds of hours of CDs and DVDs.
Jhones argued in her motion that the audio and videotapes have not yet been published in the court file and are not available to the general public. She asked that the media be prevented from showing the material "in all media" until it could be determined if a "local rule" was violated in the sharing of the material with WFOR.
WFOR-TV has reported that the material was legally obtained from a source involved with the case, but has not disclosed the source.
WFOR-TV News has attempted to contact Jhones regarding the court action, but she has not returned repeated telephone calls.
The six, who have pleaded not guilty, were arrested June 22 in Miami as part of an undercover FBI sting. They are accused of seeking to support what they thought was an al-Qaida operative's effort to bomb FBI buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington.
A seventh man arrested in the case and charged in Atlanta was also being held without bond.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Bandstra ruled Wednesday that the men in Miami posed too great a risk to the community to be released.
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