NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Lawyers for the men charged with plotting to bomb New York synagogues asked the presiding judge for a mistrial, citing evidence given to the jury in error.
In asking for the mistrial, the defendants' attorneys told the judge Monday the jury was allowed to see evidence not admitted during the trial, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The evidence -- transcripts of calls made by two defendants from prison after their arrest -- was improperly included in the jurors' evidence binders, the attorneys said.
The defendants are four Newburgh, N.Y., men arrested outside a synagogue in May 2009 with fake bombs provided to them by a government informant. The men also are accused of plotting to shoot down aircraft with fake missiles provided by the same informant.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, lawyers Mark B. Gombiner and Susanne Brody, speaking about their client, wrote, "A juror would have to be a mental Olympic gymnast to put out of his or her mind the extra-record information when deciding Onta Williams' fate."
The possibility of a mistrial came to light Friday after jurors told McMahon about the transcripts in their binders. The judge asked the jurors to stop deliberating to determine how much they read.
Prosecutors apologized for the "inadvertent error" but said a mistrial was unnecessary. Prosecutors said the jurors who reported having read portions of the call transcripts had not seen a page containing "the most prejudicial information."
