KINGSTON – The upcoming criminal trial of Kingston activist Ismail Shabazz is slowly beginning to take shape, as pre-trial motions and maneuvering slowly work their way through court bureaucracy.
At a conference held Tuesday morning, State Supreme Court Justice Richard
McNally Jr. presided over negotiations between prosecutors and defense
lawyers regarding evidence, which will be partially redacted, to protect
the identity of a paid confidential informant.
McNally took the case over from Ulster County Court Judge Donald Williams,
after recusal. This was the first court appearance before the new magistrate,
following a postponement in October.
Shabazz was arrested by FBI agents last summer, following a year-long investigation into illegal weapons sales. The high-profile civil rights crusader is notable for his adversarial stance towards police brutality and corruption, with a focus on racial issues.
Less than a dozen supporters came on Tuesday; significantly fewer attendees than at previous hearings.
The past several months have witnessed a drastic anti-Muslim sentiment sweep across the nation, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and California. Shabazz is a devout follower of Islam.
“My fate is in Allah’s hands,” Shabazz wrote on his Facebook wall before visiting court. “As a black man and soldier of Allah I must stand tall and fight against them sending me to prison for life. Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar is my cry to the world. Trusting in him (Allah) is my weapon against the devil and his agents.”
At the same time, gun control has become a front-burner issue in the national dialogue. Shabazz, for his part, strongly supports the Second Amendment, and has been a member of various Black Panther factions, widely considered militant.
This shifting political climate tends to slant public opinion generally towards the prosecution, whose case attempts to characterize Shabazz as a threat to society.
Terms hammered out in chambers include provision of the agreement between federal agencies and its paid informant; a verbal synopsis of the informant’s criminal history; and access to redacted reports generated during investigation prior to the first weapons sale; also video and audio recordings. These documents may be viewed by defense team only inside the DA’s office; hard copies will not be provided.
“This case is moving towards an entrapment defense, that is the defense that we’re preparing to mount,” said Joshua Povill, an attorney from the law office of Michael Sussman, which is representing Shabazz. “And so, everything that went on between the informant and Ish [Shabazz] is relevant to knowing whether there was entrapment, whether what the informant did crossed the line. The government behaved in such a way, that we have concern that the defendant would not have committed these crimes, but for the actions of the government.” .
The informant, who operated under the alias “Bilal Mohammad,” infiltrated Shabazz’s organization, Black Panthers for Justice (BPFJ), rising to the minister of defense position. He was later identified on Facebook as Devon White of Trenton NJ, a bounty hunter seeking to capture escaped prisoner Assata Shakur for a $2 million reward. Shabazz claims Mohammad’s true identity was provided to him by members of the hacker group Anonymous.
“They [prosecutors] won’t say what his real name is. We’re
quite certain, we think that is who the individual is, but they won’t
confirm or deny it, and the judge is not requiring them to. We learned
today he is a paid informant, but the terms of the agreement will be disclosed,”
Povill indicated.
A compliance hearing will be held in February to ensure that defense receives all trial discovery from prosecutors in a timely manner. After that, motions will be settled and trial will proceed.
