At risk: my right to be a KSM juror

Images: U.S. Courthouse, Foley Square, below left; Governor's Island, right

I want to be a juror in the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.  Like all New Yorkers I think I am  tough on terror.  I watched the twin towers burn with fright that my son might have gone to work early that day.  


But now the professional toughs on terror want to take that opportunity away from me.  South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has announced he will introduce legislation to bar civilian trials for the accused 9/11 planners.  Disparagement of our civilian justice system - which people like Rudy Giuliani used to celebrate when the 1993 WTC bombers were convicted - has now become de rigeur among those like him who pose as toughs on terror for Rupert Murdoch's outlets.

The Constitution says that people like me should judge those who violated the peace of our City:

Amendment VI, Constitution of the United States of America

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

"Obama blinked" the New York Daily News said today of the Administration's decision to abandon the plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused 9/11 planners in downtown Manhattan.  After the police Commissioner Raymond Kelly described security plans that would have disrupted life in lower Manhattan for months, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his stance and opposed the Foley Square venue.  

Don't do me any favors.  I don't mind giving up lunch at my favorite places in Chinatown.  I'll go to Governor's Island or even out of district to Fort Hamilton.  But I will very much mind if I, a citizen of the "state and district wherein the crime (was) committed",  am deprived (by statute or  failure of political nerve) of the chance to judge those who are accused of sending suicide commandos to destroy the towers and the thousands who were there that dreadful morning.  I want to make sure they have got the right guys.  And if the defendants are guilty I want the privilege of passing judgment on them.