Closing Statements in the Noor Salman Trial

There is some sensitive content and disturbing details included
within. If you feel you may be affected, please do not read this post.

 The court day began with Judge Paul G. Byron wanting to get a confirmation from Noor Salman that she did not want to testify in court. She spoke for the first time with a quiet “No.” Sarah Sweeney presented the prosecution’s closing statements. She would go through the several hundred items of evidence and use that to prove what Salman knew and what she did leading up to the attack. She said that everything Salman did was a green light for her husband to attack. Exhibits 1-99 covered Noor Salman’s written statements and evidence from her apartment. Exhibits 100-199 revolved around Pulse and the exhibits from 200 and up involved banking and spending.

The first part of the prosecution’s case involved proving obstruction of justice. She pointed out that Noor gave misleading information to Lieutenant William Hall, Agent Christopher Mayo, Agent T.J.Sypniewski, and Agent Ricardo Enriquez. She gave false statements and partial statements tat were intended to obscure the full truth. She claimed that Omar Mateen disconnected Facebook in 2013 and yet she communicated with him via Facebook in 2014. She claimed that her husband didn’t use the Internet in their apartment. She claimed that her husband was moderate, but an ISIS flag was found in the apartment and he had videos of be-headings on his computer. Mateen left their apartment on June 11, 2016 with a firearm but she claimed he only had one gun. Yet she knew there was a riffle case in their car since she wanted it removed before she took her drivers test. She lied twice saying he was at dinner with Nemo on June11, 2016. The broadest lie was that she didn’t know he was going to plan a terrorist attack.

Sweeney changed tack from everything said during the course of the trial saying that the target of the attack that night was NOT the Pulse Nightclub but rather Disney Springs. She also claimed that Noor knew the target was Disney. That would explain Noor’s odd comment when Lieutenant William Hall asked her to leave her apartment for questioning. She said, “Are they going to bring me to Disney?” Sweeney also claimed that Noor was confused during questioning and thought that Pulse was at Disney. When Noor could not reach her husband on the night of June11, 2016, she knew that he had committed the attack.

The couples finances consisted of an average monthly credit card bill of $1500. But From June 5 to 15, 2016 the couple spent $26,000. There were gaps in Mateen’s Internet browsing activity between 2:09a.m. and 9a.m. in which he might have shown his wife his intended target although it might not have been Pulse. Google history ended on his computer on June 10, 2016 and started again on June 12, 2016 with his search for Eve. 

Proving aiding and abetting was the prosecution’s biggest challenge. They needed to show that Noor provided material support to ISIS.  Showing Omar’s material support was easy. Sweeney showed a still from the Pulse surveillance camera that showed Omar shooting people at point blank range. But did Noor provide the same support as she slept at home?

The defense closing arguments by Charles Swift brought up some new points in Noor’s defense. A baby carriage and doll were found by Omar Mateen’s rental van parked near Pulse. But his son is too old for such a carriage. The new theory was that Omar intended to use the baby carriage to transport his rifle into Disney Springs without raising suspicion. If that were the case and Noor was an accomplice, wouldn’t it make more sense to have her push the baby carriage? Was she a victim or accomplice? Swift argued Mateen had no reason to involve his wife in his plan
to carry out mass murder June 12, 2016. “Why would he tell her?” he said. “I cannot think of an earthly reason for
it. I cannot think of one. What could she help him with?”

The defense acknowledged the heartbreaking grief of the community but reminded the jury to look at all the facts. Defense attorney Lisa Morino reminded the jury that Noor simply struggled educationally. She painted a picture of her as a simple housewife who loved her
child and was more concerned with reading romance novels that in world
politics.
That she could not accept money for baby sitting a friends child. Pulse she stressed was a random target. “Where are all the girls at?” Omar asked the Pulse security, meaning he didn’t know where he was. Omar didn’t respect his wife. Why would he confide in her? She was dependent on him not the other way around. If he didn’t know what his target was that night, how could she know? The dead have been given the truth in this trial. The tragedy shouldn’t be pinned on Noor. The true terrorist was already killed by police on the evening of the attack. “Don’t makeNoor Salman the last victim of Omar Mateen.” Swift concluded.


After closing statements, Judge Byron read the 57 pages of jury instructions. Basically they had to decide on two counts. One was obstruction of justice and the other was aiding and abetting.

The jury instructions said convicting Salman “Requires proof that
(she was) intentionally associated with or participated in the crime,
not just proof that (she) was simply present at the scene of a crime or
knew about it.” The help can be just
about anything including, “financial services, lodging, safe houses,
false documentation or identification, communications equipment,
facilities and weapons.” If convicted, Noor could face life in prison.

Agent Ricardo Enriquez testified about early interviews with Noor Salman

There is some sensitive content and disturbing details included
within. If you feel you may be affected, please do not read this post.

 Ricardo Enriquez is a polygraph expert for the FBI. He never actually did a polygraph on Noor Salman although she had agreed to have one done. The defense argued that since the polygraph wasn’t done, the testimony would be irrelevant. They felt that just the prejudicial effect would be enormous on the jury but Judge Byron allowed the testimony.

Special Agent Mayo said that Noor wanted to go home at one point, but her home was being searched. At 11 AM on June 12, 2016 Noor was found sleeping on the floor of the FBI interrogation room. She didn’t say that she wanted to go anywhere else. Her uncle came to pick up her son Zack. When the uncle asked if she could come home, he was told that there were additional questions that the FBI wanted to ask her. She agreed to stay. She asked agent Enriquez, “What will happen to my son?” He said, “It isn’t up to me.” Enriquez asked Noor questions and then memorialized her responses by writing what she said and then having her read what he write an then initial the start end end of each sentence. By doing this each sentence would be confirmed as being true and it would not be possible to add anything to the statements since they were initialed. She would dictate and he would write. She said that she was too nervous to write the statements herself.

Omar asked Noor, “Where would the next terrorist attack make a big splash?” What I find odd is that no one asked Noor what her response was to her husbands outlandish statements. “Omar bought a gun 4 days ago and put it in the trunk of the car. He said it was for work.” She made quite a few statements about Omar’s spending, to summarize, in the last days he spent a lot of money for instance buying her a $7000 wedding ring although she already had a ring. He spent $300 on clothing and brought a lot of toys for their son. He also spent money on take out and restaurant food in the final weeks. He sent $80 on ammo in Vero Beach. He withdrew $1000 from his PNC Bank account and gave it to her. Omar also made her a beneficiary on his checking and savings account. Because of this she thought he was considering a violent act. “I often worry he was going to commit an act of violence or terrorism.” she said.

Driving around City Place, he said, “How bad would it be if City Place got attacked?” Later testimony from a digital forensic expert however indicated that there was no time for this “Staking” of City Place. Omar Mateen asked her, “What would make people more upset, an attack on Disney, or an attack on a club?” “I knew.” she said. For the last 2 years Omar had talked about doing Jihad. He said if he did jihad, everybody would know who he is. “How upset are people going to be when it gets attacked?” She mentioned driving around Pulse for 20 minutes with the windows down, but again digital forensics proved that this staking of Pulse was not possible in the time allotted. Agents interviewing Noor claimed that she had not been told about Pulse or prompted in any way. But this shifting story indicated she might have been fed statements by agents.

Noor said that on June 10, 2016 late at night, Omar was looking at a website for the Pulse Nightclub and when she saw what he was looking at he said, “This is my target.” She knew that the time of the

attack on the cub was close. Digital forensic disproved that this exchange about viewing the Pulse website actually happened. On Saturday June 11, 2016 before Omar left their apartment he asked her if he looked Spanish. He was pumped up. He had his ammunition backpack and gun. She asked the agent an odd question at the end of their interview. She said, “When do I get my money?”

The defense pointed out that on June 12, 2016 at about 1:30PM the Sentinel reported that Omar Mateen was a terrorist. It is possible that the FBI agents saw this report on they morning they interviewed Noor. The defense asked what time Agent Ricardo got up that morning. He could not remember the exact time but they narrowed it down to between 8 AM and 9 AM. That morning he looked at the news on his computer perhaps Fox News or ABC. Then her drove to the FBI headquarters to interview Noor. No one asked if she approved of the purchase of a rifle. She dis complain that she didn’t want it in the back of the family car when she took her driving test.

She said in a written statement that Omar Mateen was driving to City Place and got there around 1 AM. She was a passenger. They drove around with the windows down for about 45 minutes. He was driving around slowly looking at the clubs at City Place. While driving, he said, “How bad would it be if a club got attacked?” Defense attorney Charles Swift asked the impotent question, “What was her response?” Why didn’t agents ask if she agreed or disagreed with the statement by her husband? So many of her written comments were confessions of knowledge of her husbands long standing extremist views but they were not confessions of participation. Did she encourage her husbands actions that resulted in 49 lives lost in Orlando? This is what the jury will ultimately have to decide.

Noor decided to hand write a statement on her own at the end of the long night of questioning. She wrote, “I’m sorry for not truthful in the start about what Omar was planning.” The grammar and diction of this written statement is very different that what agents wrote for her. It is standard FBI practice that interviews are not recorded unless the person has been charged with a crime. So the agents were not authorized to record Noor’s statements