USS Cole Trial Seats First 3 Jurors for 20-Member Death Penalty Panel
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 7
USS Cole Trial Seats First 3 Jurors for 20-Member Death Penalty Panel
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 7
Summary
Three U.S. military officers were selected Friday after a week of questioning in the USS Cole bombing case, the first death-penalty trial before a military commission.
Judge Matthew Fitzgerald aims to seat 20 panel members—12 jurors, six alternates and two extras—but also excused three officers, forcing the military to send 18 more officers to Guantánamo for the week of Nov. 16.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 61, is accused of helping orchestrate the Oct. 12, 2000 bombing in Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured dozens more.
The slow jury selection underscores a case delayed for years: Nashiri was captured in 2002, charged in 2011, and key confessions were later excluded as products of torture, including waterboarding.