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Downtown Residents: Move Terror Trial To White Plains
By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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Lower Manhattan residents who are fearful of the plan to host the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 plotters in a Foley Square federal courthouse have urged the city to relocate the legal proceedings to Governor's Island. And if that doesn't work, they've drafted a shortlist of other locations including White Plains, West Point, Stewart Airport, and Orange County.
Community Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin—who has spoken out about the Manhattan trial's estimated $200 million annual budget, as well as the case's impact on security and local businesses—told the Post she's "asking Attorney General [Eric] Holder to look at these alternatives and determine if they are feasible or not feasible."
According to Times columnist Clyde Haberman, there's nothing more rational than trying the bunch on Governor's island, which was long used as a military prison and once served as the backdrop for a meeting between two high-profile security risks: President Ronald Reagan and Russian Presient Mikhail Gorbachev. The writer notes that the suspects could be held in the circular fortifications called Castle Williams, though that structure would need a serious overhaul.
That said, there "would arguably be poetic justice as well as real justice in putting these suspects on trial where they would have to look every day at our enduring symbol of freedom: the Statue of Liberty." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly initially sounded enthusiastic about the push to move the terror trials to Governor's Island, but he has since backed away from the proposal.
Tagged
9/11 plotter
governors island
khalid shaikh mohammed
september 11th
suspect
terror
terror trial
terrorist
White Plains
Ben Muessig
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