Five of 'Liberty City Seven' lose appeal

MIAMI, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Five Miami men convicted of conspiring to support the terrorist network al-Qaida lost their appeal for a new trial.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard erred when she removed a juror and replaced her with an alternate juror during deliberations that led to the men's convictions, The Miami Herald reported.

The panel said it had to find a "clear error" by Lenard to overrule her decision to eject the juror. The judge removed the unidentified woman known as "Juror No. 4" because the other 11 jurors said she refused to deliberate about the five remaining defendants of a group known as the "Liberty City Seven."

"In light of the consistent answers given by 11 of the jurors, and the vague and evasive answers given by Juror No. 4, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred in finding that Juror No. 4 was not willing to follow the court's instructions," the unanimous panel said.

The five defendants were convicted on material-support conspiracy charges. A sixth defendant was acquitted and the seventh defendant was found innocent in an earlier trial.

The men were accused of conspiring to help al-Qaida to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, and FBI offices in Miami and other cities.