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American Morning

Jury Considers Sentences for Embassy Bombers

Aired May 30, 2001 - 11:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: First to New York, where a jury is taking up the task of deciding the fate of two men convicted of carrying out the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. This phase of the trial is expected to take about a month. The jury's final decision could mean the death penalty for these men. Our national correspondent Bob Franken has been following the trial, and he joins us now from New York -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, just a little procedural thing. All 12 of the jurors will have to vote for the death penalty in each of the cases, or, as the judge pointed out, the mandatory sentence would be life in prison. One of the people who was making opening statements today said, "You are sitting," he said to the jury, "here to make the most serious moral judgment you will ever make." And that, of course, is whether to pass on life or death in each of these cases.

Now, the cases involve two, Mohamed al-'Owhali is the first one, who is in fact having his hearing. It's expected to last a couple of weeks. He was found guilty yesterday of direct participation in the bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, which took 213 lives. We'll get to that in a moment.

The opening statement began with the prosecutor in the case, Pat Fitzgerald, who said, "We're not asking you to make a decision on a motion. We're asking you to make a decision based on hard, hard facts." He went on to describe the horrible, indiscriminate pain that was suffered by many of the victims, by all the victims in the Nairobi, Kenya, matter. Many of them will be testifying in this trial, the ones, of course, who were not killed. He said that the only just punishment, the only punishment that does justice to the victims, is the death penalty.

His opening statement was followed by one, by David Baugh. He is in fact arguing now. It is expected to take about an hour-and-a-half. He turned to jury and said, "This young man will be either killed by you," speaking to the jurors, "or will spend the rest of his life in prison," trying to make the point to the jurors that they have tremendous, huge decision that they have to make.

Now, of course, this part of the trial was focusing on the actions of al-'Owhali, on the actions that took place on August 7, 1998 in Nairobi, Kenya, downtown Nairobi at 10:30 in the morning. The jurors have found al-'Owhali guilty of directly participating in the bombing that left 213 dead, 12 of them U.S. citizens. In addition, more than 4,000 people were injured in this bustling section of town.

The prosecutors say that intentionally al-'Owhali and his colleagues picked a building that was loaded with glass, tens of thousands of slivers of glass, said the prosecutor, that caused permanent injury to so many people, killed so many people, and left others, for instance, blind. Those are people who are expected to testify during this phase of trial, a phase of the trial that is going to last, as you pointed out, Daryn, about a month.

KAGAN: All right, Bob Franken in New York. Bob, thank you.

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