The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspect appeared deadlocked Monday when a juror asked to be dismissed because she felt "attacked" for being a lone holdout in reaching a verdict.
The potential for a hung jury and mistrial in the case of alleged Al Qaeda accomplice Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani threatened to further undermine the Obama administration's objective of trying "high-value" terror suspects in U.S. federal courts, including Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan declined to dismiss Juror No. 12 from his courtroom in Lower Manhattan and ordered the panel to resume deliberations despite the reported 11-1 impasse.
The juror did not indicate in her note to the judge whether the majority was in favor of conviction or acquittal of the Tanzanian charged with murder and conspiracy in the 1998 Al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The coordinated attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands.