Race prompts judge to halt jury selection

MIAMI, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The issue of race prompted a judge to halt jury selection in a retrial of six men who U.S. prosecutors charge with conspiring with al-Qaida, lawyers said.

Prosecutors tried to challenge defense lawyers' selection of black jurors, while the defense sought to strike the prosecution's selection of Hispanics, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard stopped the selection process Wednesday, ordering both sides to file briefs stating their positions and to return to court Tuesday, when opening statements originally were to start.

An original pool of 56 prospective jurors has been whittled to a panel of 11, but the judge needs 16 -- 12 jurors and four alternates -- to conduct the trial, the Herald said.

Before the judge halted the process, the jury consisted of three blacks, with the remaining eight divided between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, the Herald said.

The six defendants, facing their third trial after two earlier juries became deadlocked, tried to start a Liberty City religious organization through a struggling group of construction laborers, the Herald said.

They were arrested in June 2006 and charged with conspiring to support al-Qaida in destroying U.S. buildings, including a Miami FBI office.

The government's case, built on wiretaps and phone recordings, stems from an FBI undercover operation.