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Wednesday, April 7, 2010 as of 11:14 AM ET

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Gitmo Detainee Jury Deliberating

November 16, 2010 - 9:13 PM | by: David Lee Miller

One day after a juror told the judge in the trial of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani that the jury was deadlocked, and that she was being “attacked” for her dissenting opinion, the panel of six men and six women resumed deliberations.

Jurors Tuesday afternoon sent another note to the judge, this one asking him to provide a clarification of the complex legal instructions they must follow to find the defendant guilty of conspiracy.

Ghailani faces 285 criminal charges in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  Ghailani is accused of one count of murder for each victim who died at the dual bombings. He is also charged with five counts of conspiracy.

Defense attorneys claim Ghailani is an innocent “dupe,” who had no idea he was assisting Al Qaeda operatives in their deadly plot.

The jury is asking the judge to explain how much knowledge Ghailani had to have about the conspiracy to find him guilty. The jury is specifically asking about the legal concept of Conscious Avoidance, in other words, the idea that Ghailani may have deliberately closed his eyes to illegal activity.

In the 73 pages of initial jury instructions issued by Judge Lewis Kaplan, a page and half deal with Conscious Avoidance. The defense and prosecution have submitted proposed changes and on Wednesday Judge Kaplan is expected to provide new instructions to the jury.

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