Jury Selection Resumes In 'Underwear Bomber' Trial
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A second day of jury selection is underway in Detroit with no outbursts from a man charged in a failed Christmas 2009 terrorist attack on a plane.
Selection resumed Tuesday with 20 people in the jury pool and more were being added first thing. A federal judge wants three dozen or more for final selection Thursday.
WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas said security remains extremely tight at the federal court house in Detroit, with U.S. Marshals and bomb-sniffing dogs inside and outside of the building.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, is accused of trying to destroy an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with a bomb in his underwear.
Abdulmutallab told a federal court Tuesday that a radical Islamic cleric killed by the U.S. military is alive and called the United States a cancer. "Anwar is alive," Abdulmutallab told the court before questioning of potential jurors got under way. "The mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. - the cancer U.S."
He is acting as his own lawyer but only questioned one potential juror Tuesday. He has left the task to his court-appointed standby attorney, Anthony Chambers, who spoke with Thomas Wednesday morning.
"I don't know if I would classify anything he's done as an outburst. He has opinions and he speaks his mind," said Chambers. "I advise all clients not to make comments," he added.
Stay with WWJ and CBSDetroit.com for continuing coverage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
