Noor Salman, widow of Pulse nightclub gunman, acquitted of charges in 2016 attack
A Florida jury has acquitted the widow of the gunman in the Pulse nightclub massacre of charges that she helped her husband plan the bloody attack in Orlando that killed 49 people.
The 12-person jury returned the verdict Friday in the case of Noor Salman, 31, after two days of deliberations.
Salman cried after the verdict was read, looking back at her family as she left the courtroom. Her cousin and two uncles sobbed and hugged each other as the verdict was read, the Associated Press reports.
On the other side of the courtroom, the families of the victims of the Pulse shooting sat stone-faced and silent.
Salman was charged with providing material support to the Islamic State and with obstructing justice. She could have faced life in prison if convicted.
Defense attorneys had described Salman as a simple woman with a low IQ who was abused by her husband, and who didn’t know of his plans because he concealed much of his life from her.
Outside the courthouse, Salman’s family said they were eager for her to be able to see her young son again. She has been in jail for the past two years awaiting trial.
Salman’s uncle, Al Salman, said, Happy Firday It's Good Friday."
“Now, we’re looking forward to taking my niece and hiring a therapist for her,” he said. “I don’t know how she’s going to make up for the last two years... I said, day one, that she’s innocent and I would stand here in front of you when the jury comes with the verdict to tell you, ‘I told you so.’”
“Now,” he said, “I came here to tell you: ‘I told you so.’”
Prosecutor Sara Sweeney spoke only briefly to reporters outside the courtroom, saying, said. “While we’re disappointed in the jury’s verdict, we respect their verdict and we appreciate all of their hard work and thank them for their service in this case.”
Barbara Poma, founder of the onePULSE Foundation, which is building a memorial to the victims, said the verdict "cannot and should not divide us."
"The survivors, families, and first responders as well as the community of Orlando and everyone around the world must now focus on the work ahead of us," Poma said in a statement."We will always carry the pain of what happened at Pulse, and we will never forget those who were taken. We will wrap our arms around all affected today and in the days to come."
Jurors asked Judge Paul Byron on Thursday for some definitions and descriptions related to the charges, some of which he provided.
On Wednesday, jurors asked for and were given a copy of Salman's statement to the FBI following husband Omar Mateen's 2016 attack on the gay nightclub that ended in Mateen's fatal shooting by police.
The statement has been a crucial piece of evidence in the case and a major point of contention with questions on whether the 12-page statement Salman signed was fact or fiction.
In the early morning hours after the attack, she was questioned by federal authorities and her story changed multiple times, prosecutors said. She finally signed a 12-page statement that outlined her knowledge of Mateen's planning and his idolization of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
"I knew when he left the house he was going to Orlando to attack the Pulse nightclub," the statement said. It added that Mateen has been discussing jihad with her for two years.
Salman also advised Mateen to lie to his mother when she inquired about his whereabouts on the night of the shooting, prosecutors said.
Salman also said in the statement that she had accompanied Mateen while casing Pulse and other potential targets. But during the course of the trial, it was revealed that GPS and cellphone data showed that neither Mateen nor Salman had been near the nightclub before the attack.
In one of multiple failed attempts at a mistrial, Salman's attorneys argued the government never told them that part of the statement had been proved false. The defense lawyers argued that the disproved statement was a key piece of evidence that kept her behind bars since her arrest in January 2017.
While that piece of the statement has been disproved, prosecutors stressed they used electronic evidence to prove other points were correct, including Mateen's obsession with ISIS.
Contributing: Associated Press