Jury Selection to Begin in Arkansas Soldier Slaying

Abdulhakim Muhammad fantasized that the world would pay attention to a war he had declared on the United States when he allegedly opened fire on an Army recruiting station in Arkansas two years ago killing one soldier and wounding another. One solidier was killed and another was wounded. He claimed he had ties to al-Qaida and said the shooting was in retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East. However, prosecutors say the slaying was not an act of terrorism, but rather a drive-by shooting committed by a thug with a gun. When Muhammad goes on trial this week in Little Rock, he won’t face any federal or terrorism charges and he is complaining that he’s being treated like a common criminal, with a state trial on a capital murder charge. If he is convicted by the state rather than the federal government, he faces a much greater chance of execution. The information is from http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110/07-18-2011/20110718005001_11.html.