SACRAMENTO – Federal prosecutors will retry an ice cream vendor on charges that he lied to the FBI about his son's presence at a terrorist training camp, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said Friday.
Scott said the retrial of Umer Hayat, 48, was important "in the post 9-11 environment."
"Lying to the FBI in the course of a terrorism investigation is serious misconduct," Scott said in a statement.
Hayat's first trial ended in a mistrial last month after the jury said it was deadlocked. Later that day, a separate jury convicted his son, Hamid Hayat, of supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan and lying to the FBI.
"False information may result in agents losing valuable time to foil a deadly plot, or perhaps bringing the wrong person or persons under suspicion. Seven citizens serving as jurors in the Umer Hayat trial found beyond a reasonable doubt that he had lied to the FBI about his son's attendance at a terrorist training camp," Scott said.
U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. set June 5 for the selection of a new jury.
Umer Hayat, of Lodi, was released from federal custody Monday after Burrell lowered his bail from $1.2 million to $390,000. Hayat, a naturalized U.S. citizen, will remain under house arrest in the Central Valley town.
His 23-year-old son, also a U.S. citizen, was working at a cherry-packing shed when he was arrested and faces up to 39 years in prison when he is sentenced July 14.
The FBI began focusing on the 2,500-member Pakistani community in Lodi shortly after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Agents initially were interested in pursuing a tip that Lodi businesses were sending money to terror groups abroad.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox