D.C. Counterterrorism Think Tank Tracks Down Unidentified Holy Land Foundation Jurors, Reveals Juror's Perception of Intimidation and Harassment by Pro-Defense Juror

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After a mistrial was declared in the terrorism-financing trial against the Hamas-linked Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) launched an investigation into the bizarre circumstances which led to the even stranger result.

While prosecutors have vowed to retry the case, the IPT sent investigators to Dallas to track down the previously unidentified jurors and uncover the as of yet untold story behind the HLF mistrial, and what they found is startling. The IPT's exclusive investigation reveals a story of verbal abuse and intimidation by a juror on a mission to dominate the jury room to shape the verdict to his liking.

As told by several of the HLF jurors themselves, who have up until now avoided the media spotlight since the end of the trial, the jurors shared with IPT what they viewed as a pattern of bullying and humiliation by William Neal, the one juror who has sought out the media since the conclusion of the trial, pushing his views that that the government never presented any evidence demonstrating the guilt of the defendants.

Contrary to the impressions of mainstream media, who uncritically reported Neal's comments and failed to seek out and report the views of other jurors, some on the panel wanted to convict the defendants. But they felt intimidated. They were even talked into abandoning a request to see some video evidence, and harassed for their beliefs that the defendants were guilty.

In a detailed expose?, accompanied by an exclusive and emotional on-camera interview with one of the jurors, HLF jurors Kristina Williams, Sylvester Holmes and a third juror (who wishes to remain anonymous), detail a jury room beset by conflict and strife, led by Neal's intimidation campaign against the group of jurors holding out for convictions.

Asked what he thought Hamas was, in an interview with IPT, juror Neal explained that he views it as a "political struggle": "They haven't always been a bombing kind of group... It is marked as a terrorist organization. My personal viewpoint, I didn't know too much before. I see it as a political struggle. Our country was founded on a terrorist act. The Boston Tea Party wasn't a tea party, dude. It was a rebellion against the king's wrath. They fought back against an oppressive government."

The IPT investigation further reveals:

-- Arguments for conviction met with immediate scorn and ridicule by Neal. Neal repeatedly raised his voice, cursed or otherwise belittled other jurors for what they said. A handful of jurors called for an immediate break after Neal hollered "f*** your opinion" to a female juror.

-- In the exclusive interview, juror Williams says that, to Neal, none of the evidence would suffice: "If you're going by the evidence in this room then you need to go home," he argued.

-- An emotional Williams on her experience in the jury room: "When I'd get off the jury I'd come home every night and basically cry because I felt like every time I spoke I would get knocked down, criticized, one way or the other for something pertaining to the way I voted."

-- Juror Sylvester Holmes on Neal: "He took control of that jury room. You just look at the case. The jury room was a mess." Holmes, who believed in the full guilt of all the defendants, eventually walked out of deliberations and asked to be relieved from his duties out of frustration over Neal's behavior.

-- Despite Neal's public pronouncements that no evidence was presented against the defendants during the trial, he refused to look at, and discouraged discussion of, most exhibits during the deliberations, including important and incriminating videos.

-- One juror on Neal: "He talks a lot about people not changing their minds. I changed my mind throughout the deliberations on several defendants. I guarantee you he never changed his mind throughout. He was at not guilty from the time he sat in there."

-- Williams on money changing hands between HLF and Hamas: "[The defendants] were smarter than that to just come out and write the word Hamas on a check. I think they knew what they were doing. They were just smarter than that to be that obvious that they were supporting Hamas. Some of the jurors, they wanted to see the word Hamas on a check. Sure, I would have loved to see Hamas on a check. It's just realistic. I think these people were just that smart."