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Over two dozen members of the community sat at Bergen county courthouse in Hackensack, New Jersey, as the much-awaited trial of former Rutgers University student Akash Dalal, charged, among others, with terrorism and bias intimidation relating to arson at five Jewish facilities in North Jersey four years ago, began late last month.
The community members, many of whom have been waiting agog for the trial to begin, which was delayed twice in the past, did not betray any emotion in the courtroom as the prosecution informed the 16-member jury of the government charges in details and defense attorney Joseph Corozzo challenged many of them, including accusation of terrorism, and advised the jurors to keep an open mind while hearing those charges
Dalal, now 23, was charged with 20 counts, including terrorism, bias intimidation, aggravated arson, conspiracy to commit arson for alleged anti-Semitic graffiti and arson acts at the Jewish temples in Bergen county in December 2011 and January 2012.
He was also charged with instructing co-defendant Anthony M. Graziano, who was convicted earlier this year of terrorism and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Some members of the community, who had been monitoring Dalal’s case later, told this correspondent that Dalal, who had been forced to spend 21 hours a day in solitary confinement since his incarceration, has no criminal history.
“Keep this young man cloaked in the presumption of innocence until the end of the trial,” Corozzo told the jurors.
Many in the community hope and pray that the terrorism charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, may be ultimately dropped against Dalal who was described by his attorney as a local boy who was in New England campaigning for Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential bid when three of the incidents, in which he was alleged to have been involved, took place in New Jersey.
The jury of 11 women and five men will hear the arguments next week when the trial resumes.
“While terrorism charges may likely be dropped given the strong argument of the defense, he may end up having bias intimidation charges sticking on to him,” a member of the community who attended the trial last week but did not wish to be identified by his name, said. Both he and other community members said that irrespective of the outcome of the trial, which is premature to guess, the community members need to come forward in support of Dalal, who they claimed has been unfairly treated by authorities in a Jewish-dominated county where the attacks on Jewish temples took place.
Assistant prosecutor Brian Sinclair said at the trial that Dalal knew about the attacks and helped plan them.
The post Hope And Anxiety In Community As Akash Dalal Trial Begins In N.J. appeared first on News India Times.
