Federal agents coerced a woman whose husband killed dozens at a Florida nightclub in 2016 into saying she helped him scout potential targets before his gun rampage, her defense attorney said on Wednesday during final arguments in her trial.
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Federal agents coerced a woman whose husband killed dozens at a Florida nightclub in 2016 into saying she helped him scout potential targets before his gun rampage, her defense attorney said on Wednesday during final arguments in her trial.
Gunman Omar Mateen’s widow, Noor Salman, could not have known he would attack the Pulse gay nightspot in Orlando and kill 49 people, attorney Charles Swift told the court.
“Even Omar didn’t know he was going to attack the Pulse nightclub,” Swift said. “If he doesn’t know, she can’t know.”
Prosecutors had contended during the trial that Mateen wanted to attack Pulse because he was homophobic.
However, in her closing statement to jurors Assistant U. S. Attorney Sara Sweeney contended that Salman, 31, had helped her husband check out potential sites and later sought to mislead investigators about what she knew.
Swift said FBI agents interrogated Salman for more than 11 hours and that the session produced a statement written by hand by one of the agents. He said the statement was filled with phrases Salman would never have used, such as “green light” and “long gun.”
“All they have is speculation,” Swift said in U. S. District Court in Orlando before jurors began deliberations.
In their questioning of Salman, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents did not use audio and video equipment to record her.
Salman could face life in prison if convicted of helping Mateen case possible targets and then failing to do anything to stop one of the worst mass shootings in modern U. S. history.
She faces charges of obstruction of justice and aiding Mateen in providing support to the Islamic State militant group. Mateen had claimed allegiance to a leader of the group. Police killed him in an exchange of gunfire at the nightclub.
In her wrap-up, Sweeney said Salman first told investigators that Mateen had acted without her knowledge but later admitted knowing he had left home with a gun and had watched jihadist videos online.
The prosecutor also said Salman had aided Mateen by making up a cover story to his mother on the night of the shooting that he was going to dinner with a friend.
On Monday, Judge Paul Byron rejected a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Salman or declare a mistrial because the prosecution had failed to disclose Mateen’s father had been an FBI informant before the attack.
