From The Miami Herald
By Jay Weaver and Luisa Yanez

A homegrown terrorism case that allegedly sprouted in one of Miami’s poorest neighborhoods wilted on Thursday when a judge declared a mistrial in the prosecution of six of seven defendants.

Federal jurors acquitted one defendant in the so-called Liberty City 7 trial, but they could not agree on any of the terrorism conspiracy counts against the others.

”We believe that no further progress can be made,” the 12-member jury told U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard, ending deliberations after nine days following a two-month trial in Miami. Each, if convicted, would have faced up to 70 years in prison.

The judge ordered a retrial to begin Jan. 7 and issued a gag order.

The jurors found defendant Lyglenson Lemorin not guilty of four terrorism-related conspiracy charges. Lemorin, 32, a Haitian immigrant, cried with his attorney, Joel Defabio, after the verdict, saying they were ”ecstatic.” But Lemorin won’t be immediately released because of immigration issues.

The judge’s decision was seen as a significant defeat for the Justice Department and a temporary victory for most of the defendants, who are still in custody. The U.S. attorney’s office in Miami declined to comment.

The group was arrested in June 2006 amid much fanfare by the Bush administration, which described the defendants as being as ”dangerous” as al Qaeda — despite evidence showing they had no terrorism blueprints or weapons of mass destruction.

The FBI had declared the original indictment “yet another important victory in the war on terrorism.”

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