Orlando nightclub jihad-murderer’s wife Noor Salman found NOT GUILTY

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Incredible. Like Katherine Tsarnaev, the Boston marathon bomber’s wife, she was there every step of the way. The defense alleges the attack wasn’t preplanned, so the wife couldn’t have known about it. He had been planning a mass jihad for months. He cased Disneyland. She never went to authorities. The Boston bomber constructed the bombs in his wife’s kitchen in their small apartment. She should be rotting in prison, too.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Noor Salman, the widow of the man who gunned down dozens of people at the Pulse nightclub two years ago, was found not guilty by a federal jury on Friday of helping her husband carry out a terrorist attack in the name of the Islamic State.

Jurors acquitted Ms. Salman on charges of aiding and abetting the commission of a terrorist act in the 2016 mass shooting and also found her not guilty of obstructing justice. She had been accused of giving misleading statements to law enforcement officers who interviewed her after the massacre, the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, it was also the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history.(NY Times)

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Background on Noor Salman

At one point, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Two years after 49 people were massacred inside a crowded nightclub in Orlando, the wife of the gunman responsible was put on trial — with families of the victims looking for justice.

Omar Mateen opened fire with a Sig Saur semi-automatic rifle on June 12, 2016, killing dozens of people before he was fatally shot hours later by police. The trial of his widow, Noor Salman, was the only criminal prosecution for the incident.

Testimony began on March 14. After deliberating for three days, the jury announced on March 30 that Salman was found not guilty of obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization.

In light of the verdict, here’s what you need to know.

What was she being accused of?

Salman pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting Mateen’s allegiance to the Islamic State. She was also charged with obstruction of justice, as FBI agents say she lied to them during questioning hours after the attack.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Mandolfo said Salman gave conflicting statements to FBI agents. In one conversation with authorities, before they informed her of any details of the attack, she said, “My husband is safe with guns.”

“No one ever told her about guns,” Mandolfo said.

FBI agents interviewed Salman three times after the attack. They said she was aware Mateen was planning to do something and that texts to her husband prove it.

“She knew he was going to conduct the attack,” federal prosecutor Roger Handberg told a judge during a hearing in Oakland on Jan. 17, 2017.

One text recovered from Salman’s phone reads, “If ur mom calls say nimo invited you out and noor wants to stay home.” Another reads, “She asked where you were xoxo. Love you.”

“Nimo,” or Nemo, is the name of one of Mateen’s friends, whom defense attorneys said Mateen often used to cover his tracks when he went out to cheat on his wife.

She shopped with her husband at Walmart the night before the attack when he bought five containers of ammunition, a source close to the investigation previously told Fox News.

A law enforcement source also told Fox she had driven her husband to Pulse nightclub at least once before the deadly shooting.

What was her defense?

The family and Salman’s lawyers denied she had anything to do with Mateen’s plot.

In a November 2016 interview with The New York Times, Salman apologized for her husband’s act and claimed she was unaware of his plan.

“I don’t condone what he has done,” she told the newspaper. “I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people.”

Defense attorneys described Salman as a simple woman with a low IQ, who was abused by her husband and was in constant fear for her life. Her attorneys also claimed she wasn’t given proper Miranda warnings, which tell suspects they have a right to remain silent and have an attorney present, before she made statements.

“I knew when he left the house he was going to Orlando to attack the Pulse Night Club,” Salman confirmed in a signed statement written by an FBI agent, according to documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

Defense attorney Linda Moreno argued that this confession was coerced and, therefore, should not be admissible in court.

“Noor Salman denied any knowledge of Omar Mateen’s plans for hours,” Moreno said, claiming agents told Salman that she could go to jail and not see her child.

What about her family?

FBI agents arrested Salman in January 2017 inside her California home, where she had been living with her young son, whom she shared with Mateen.

The now 5-year-old boy, who lives with his maternal grandmother in California, has since learned about his father’s act and hasn’t had any contact with Mateen’s side of the family, Susan Clary, spokeswoman for Salman’s family, told the Orlando Sentinel.

Salman reportedly calls the boy daily.

“They talk about what he learned in his kindergarten class that day and what his favorite toys are,” according to the Florida newspaper.

What were the highlights of her trial?

U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron, federal prosecutors and defense attorneys picked 12 jury members and six alternates on March 12.

Opening statements started in federal court on March 14 in downtown Orlando.

On the first day of the trial, jurors listened to a witness who hid under a dead body for three hours as shots were fired and an Orlando police detective who choked up on the stand. They also watched a video taken during the shooting by a survivor inside the club.

Jurors watched graphic videos of the massacre the next day. Salman shielded her face as the videos and images were displayed on screen, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

One video showed Mateen opening fire — shooting people already lying motionless on the dance floor. He then walked toward the restroom where he began targeting people hiding in the bathroom stalls.

On March 18, Salman’s defense team filed a motion, asking the judge to ban the prosecution from using any damning statements the widow may have made to an FBI agent about Mateen’s plan, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The next day, FBI Special Agent Ricardo Enriquez took the stand to reveal the statement Salman had given him the night he questioned her about the mass shooting.

“I am sorry for what happened,” Enriquez read Salman’s note, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “I wish I’d go back and tell his family and the police what he was going to do.”

Salman’s defense attorneys argued those statements weren’t accurate.

On March 20, the mother of Mateen’s friend, known only by the nickname “Nemo,” testified in court. She discussed the pair’s relationship, and told the court her son was working that night in Washington, D.C., and had not been with Mateen.

Jurors got a deeper look into Mateen’s past on March 21 as they searched through his browser history, which included ISIS propaganda and beheading videos. They also flipped through photos taken inside his Florida home.

Final text messages between the couple were then read aloud in court.

Salman texted Mateen twice during his hours-long standoff with police, asking, “Where are you?”

Mateen responded, “You heard what happened.”

“????” Salman replied. “What happened?!” Salman texted.

“I love you babe,” Mateen wrote in his last text message at 4:29 a.m.

“Habibi what happened?!” Salman wrote, using an Arabic term of endearment. “Your mom said that she said to come over and you never did.”

On March 22, jurors watched security footage of Salman standing by her husband’s side — with their young son close by — as Mateen bought ammunition at Walmart.

“I knew Omar was preparing for Jihad when he bought the rifle, was going to the range to shoot, was spending a lot of money and bought the ammunition,” Salman said, according to a transcribed statement jurors were given earlier, the Orlando Sentinel reported. “I saw these things as a green light for Omar to do an act of violence.”

On March 24, lawyers revealed that Mateen’s dad was a secret FBI informant for more than a decade — a revelation that led to immediate calls by the defense for a mistrial.

“Seddique Mateen was a FBI confidential human source at various points in time between January 2005 and June 2016,” the defense lawyers, in a court document, quoted United States Attorney Sara Sweeney as saying in a letter.

Salman’s lawyers, who denied she had anything to do with the attack, added: “Moreover, the defense’s questioning of the Government’s witnesses has also been hindered by the Government’s actions. During the cross-examination of Shahla Mateen…she denied any knowledge of a relationship between Seddique Mateen and the FBI. This was either false and the Government knew it since Seddique Mateen had been working with the FBI for eleven years or Seddique Mateen had kept this information from his wife – a situation ripe for cross-examination.”

U.S. District Judge Paul Byron rejected the defense’s motion for a mistrial on March 26, saying it had little bearing on the trial.

“This trial is not about Seddique Mateen. It’s about Noor Salman,” Byron said.

Sweeney told the 12 jurors on March 28 that Mateen’s initial target was not Pulse, but Disney Springs.

“The target of that terrorist attack was not the Pulse nightclub. … The target of his attack was Disney,” Sweeney argued during closing arguments, showing the jury photos of a baby stroller and doll she believed Mateen planned to use to hide his weapons and get into Disney, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Salman’s defense lawyers said Sweeney’s information didn’t make the incident “any less tragic” and argued that it had nothing to do with his wife’s knowledge of an attack.

“It’s a horrible, random, senseless killing by a monster. But it wasn’t pre-planned,” defense attorney Charles Swift said. “And if he didn’t know, she couldn’t know.”

Deliberations began following the closing arguments around 2 p.m. on March 28.

On March 30, after deliberating for three days and 12 hours, the jury in Salman’s case reached a not guilty verdict on all counts. The widow was found not guilty of obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization.

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Tom Validakis
Tom Validakis
5 years ago

Any information connecting Omar Mateens father to the FBI was scrubbed off the internet and freedom of speech was shut down like we see in every single terror attack. It only became official when it was used as a defence for Noor Salmon.
There are so many discrepancies with the Pulse nightclub shooting just like Parklands it raises questions, are these terror events pushed on us the public to push agendas?
“They want more disaster to happen. That’s where they’re money-making is.”Omar Mateen
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/os-one-orlando-fund-pay-out-20160926-story.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/omar-mateen-appeared-documentary-bp-oil-spill-article-1.2674702

Boocat Butterbee
Boocat Butterbee
5 years ago
Reply to  Tom Validakis

Like the Las Vegas shooting never happened…

Midniterider
Midniterider
5 years ago

What Las Vegas shooting ?

Attilashrugs
Attilashrugs
5 years ago

Islam has no inheritance in America. We have never colonized Muslim people. Islam played no role in the Lockean enlightenment philosophy upon which this nation was formed. The only role Islam played was in the history of the USMC! “To the shores of Tripoli”. Our first foe was Islamic pirates, And so it remains.

Achmed Mohammedan
Achmed Mohammedan
5 years ago
Reply to  Attilashrugs

It only took one platoon …. the moslems surrendered to ONE platoon of USMC.

Janet
Janet
5 years ago

Really? Good to know! You gotta love our Marines!

gfmucci
gfmucci
5 years ago
Reply to  Attilashrugs

And our out of touch leaders and judges are assuring us that we will be playing ignorant defense to the end.

Mark Steiner
Mark Steiner
5 years ago
Reply to  gfmucci

Another cover-up act intended to protect Islam in America.

Again, money talks …

Thomas Faddis
Thomas Faddis
5 years ago

Let me guess, a jury of her peers? 12 women whose faces could Not be seen the entire sham of a ‘trial’??!!

Janet
Janet
5 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Faddis

Lol!

Rocinante44
Rocinante44
5 years ago

sounds like the Fed Bureau of Islam threw the case to protect the muslim babe

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
5 years ago

Sue her for wrongful death

Janet
Janet
5 years ago

To say I was disappointed with this jury and their verdict is an understatement. She knew! Maybe not the exact place he would do it but she absolutely knew he was going to do something big. That’s all she needed to do was to let police know of his intentions and she did nothing! To find her not guilty of anything at all is a miscarriage of justice but we all know this isn’t a first and won’t be the last.

tatka150
tatka150
5 years ago
Reply to  Janet

She definitely knew the exact place. She dropped him off here. Unless she has dementia.

InfidelCrusader
InfidelCrusader
5 years ago

“My husband is safe with guns.”

No, your husband was not safe with guns. He murdered 49 people.

tatka150
tatka150
5 years ago

She knew everything. Should go to jail for life.It’s beyond ridiculous.

carpe diem 36
carpe diem 36
5 years ago

Now that she is not going to face prison maybe the people will push for sending her to wherever hole she came from. She does not belong in this country. There is no way she did not know what he was planning to do. That jury should be prevented from ever serving on another jury. They should face the families who lost loves ones in some other way, they could make her life miserable in such a way that she will leave on her own.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
5 years ago

I was wondering in what fashion they would use “mental illness” as some form of chicken sh t defense and now we see it when they have trotted out that “low IQ” line of crap. It never fails to come up where these ragheads are concerned.

And BTW, where was the armed citizen in that crowd of customers who could have drastically changed or even stopped this massacre. And don’t tell me about obeying “No guns allowed” signs or policies. The killers ignore them, too. Or had you not noticed that?

Be safe, be trained, be alert.

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago

Guns and booze don’t mix. The patrons couldn’t be legally armed.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
5 years ago
Reply to  aemoreira1981

Have a “designated shooter” so one guy looks out for the others like a designated driver. Simple.

MZTYPLCK
MZTYPLCK
5 years ago

And the gay community response to this travesty is…….WHAT?
The incompetent, corrupt F.I.B. blows another one.

James Stamulis
James Stamulis
5 years ago

Was the jury made up of nothing but Muslims or liberal sheep? This is why we need military tribunals for real justice!

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago
Reply to  James Stamulis

The prosecutor screwed up and it could have ended far worse…with dismissal and punishment for the prosecutor for violating the rules of the court.

@mztyplck:disqus – since when does the FBI prosecute?

notme123
notme123
5 years ago

she knew he was going to do something, maybe not where or when, but she knew of his plans.

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago

The case was nearly thrown out before the acquittal…and it’s almost a sure bet that had the jury convicted Noor Salman, the 11th Circuit would have thrown out the verdict and sent the case back to the trial judge for dismissal…both because of prosecutorial misconduct in this case. The prosecutor actually dodged a bullet here in that the verdict was not guilty. Had it been guilty and then reversed by the 11th Circuit, that prosecutor’s career would be severely damaged. The lesson here is: one must follow the rules of the court. This also isn’t the only case where a terrorism investigation or trial ended in acquittal or dismissal because the prosecutor played fast and loose with the rules of the courts either…under Bush 43, at least 2 other cases were dismissed for similar reasons.

Berengaria
Berengaria
5 years ago

Another Muslim Female, who literally & figuratively Got AwayWith Murder. The Jurors seem to be incapable of believing the Female Muslim is as Devious & Deadly as the Male. I Never accepted the Lie that the Muslim Female is just an innocent Black Bag, the Female is an equal partner in Jihad!

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago
Reply to  Berengaria

The jury is not at fault. The prosecutor is, and ultimately Donald Trump for lack of supervisory control (with such little evidence). The entirety of the case rested on a confession signed under duress.

Frank
Frank
5 years ago
Reply to  aemoreira1981

Are you retarded ? Trump is at fault? When you are guilty making a confession, of course your under duress! How else would she make a confession? Have you ever sat in a jury? As a jurist you can nullify any rules the judge says. The jury is charge.

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago
Reply to  Frank

That’s not good enough. A POTUS could have told his AG that unless there is sufficient evidence, not to prosecute.

Frank
Frank
5 years ago
Reply to  aemoreira1981

If you haven’t noticed his AG has been in hiding for over a year.

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Excuses! Why do you defend the indefensible?

Frank
Frank
5 years ago
Reply to  aemoreira1981

Why do hate Trump so much?

aemoreira1981
aemoreira1981
5 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Define hate. I don’t see that as hate.

Frank
Frank
5 years ago
Reply to  aemoreira1981

Do you think Mrs. Mandela should be recognized during black history month for burning people alive . Or insisting on killing all white farmers in south Africa. That is your racist hate

WarEagle82
WarEagle82
5 years ago

So lying to the FBI seems to be a highly selectively enforced crime.

Kind of makes you wonder about that whole thing.

This is a travesty of justice and it is no wonder that Americans no longer trust the FBI, the DOJ or the judiciary.

Frank
Frank
5 years ago

I sat on a jury in Federal court. Let me tell you what probably went on. The Jury wanted to have a guilty vote but a couple libs. held out. As soon as it neared Easter day they all voted to end this trial so they could go home with their families for the holiday.Doesn’t matter the lazy bastards let another terrorist walk. Shame on all involved.

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