Good stuff pathfinder!
As I said in my other post on the subject, I believe the reason the government tried to convict him in the press, effectively biasing all potential jurors, was that they knew they did not have the evidence to support a murder conspiracy charge against him. They accepted the plea bargain because they didn't want to risk losing the case in front of a Jury as a result of the lack of evidence.
This case is a worse travesty of Justice, but just as good a textbook example of primitive herd mentality, than Marjorie Knoller's 2nd degree murder conviction in the SF dog mauling case. Being personally unlikable, or an adherent of wacko fundamentalist beliefs, does not make you guilty of murder.
Funny how the hysterical flag waving patriots are always first in line to trample the judicial principles the USA stands for when they think it will serve their ends, isn't it?