NO STAGE FOR THIS ACCUSED KILLER – AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  A shrewd move by Arkansas has deflated the pretensions of a guy who seems to want bin Laden status. 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — When Abdulhakim Muhammad killed a soldier outside a recruiting station in Arkansas, he hoped the world would pay attention to the war he had declared on the United States. He took responsibility for the shooting, called it retaliation for U.S. military action the Middle East and claimed ties to al-Qaida.

But when Muhammad goes on trial this week in Little Rock, he won't face any federal or terrorism charges. He complained he's being treated like a common criminal, with a state trial on a capital murder charge. There will be no grand stage for his political beliefs, and if convicted by the state rather than the federal government, he faces a much greater chance of execution.

The U.S. has put three people to death since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Arkansas executed 27 people in that time.

"This case should be in federal or military court..." Muhammad, 26, objected in a letter to Circuit Judge Herbert Wright in May. "In my eyes it's a sham trial set up only to make sure I'm handed down a death sentence."

Federal officials have mostly kept quiet about Muhammad's case. The U.S. attorney in Little Rock declined to comment. But one person in federal law enforcement, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak before the trial, said the Justice Department and FBI were interested in pursuing charges but allowed the state to proceed after extensive negotiations with Arkansas prosecutors.

Death penalty issues aside, some say prosecuting Muhammad on a capital murder charge has the benefit of deflating his grandiose self-perceptions.

COMMENT:  Memo to Eric Holder:  This may be a smart way to proceed in the future.  Federal civilian trials of accused terrorists will turn into show trials.  A regular capital murder state charge deflates the defendant, especially if it's held far off the beaten media path. 

We know that our earnest attorney general devoutly wishes for civilian terror trials in big cities like New York.   But when he sees 500 reporters outside the courthouse, many from European papers seeking to "understand" the accused terrorist, maybe he'll finally realize why that's a very bad idea.

July 18, 2011