Assassination of Meir Kahane
In 1990, Nosair assassinated Meir Kahane, the controversial leader of the Jewish Defense League and Kach, in Manhattan. The Kahane assassination occurred on November 5, 1990, shortly after 9 p.m., following a speech to an audience of mostly orthodox Jews from Brooklyn. A crowd of well-wishers gathered around Kahane following the speech in the second-floor lecture hall in midtown Manhattan's Marriott East Side Hotel. El Sayyid Nosair, who was among the crowd wearing a red leisure suit and white patent leather shoes, drew a gun and opened fire, shooting Kahane in the neck.
Nosair then made a getaway, intending to get into a cab driven by an accomplice. Instead, Nosair got into another cab, driven by a Hispanic from the Bronx. When the cab got stuck in traffic, Nosair got out of the cab and attempted to flee on foot. Carlos Acosta, a police officer for the U.S. Postal Service Police, took chase after Nosair, and they exchanged gunfire before Nosair was apprehended.
Both Nosair and Acosta were injured and taken to Bellevue Hospital. Acosta, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, suffered a gunshot wound in the arm, while Nosair had a gunshot wound to his chin. Also injured was Irving Franklin, a 73-year-old bystander, who was shot in the leg when he tried to stop Nosair from leaving the lecture hall.
Trial
In a split verdict described by Abramson as "bizarre",
a jury in December 1991 acquitted Nosair of the murder but convicted him of assault and possession of an illegal firearm. He was also convicted of related charges, including shooting a U. S. Postal Service Police Officer. He was defended by William Kunstler (along with two co-counsels), who at first advised him to plead insanity. When Nosair refused, the defense argued that there had been a conspiracy against Nosair and Kahane might have been killed by one of his followers. Kunstler saw the composition of the jury (which he described as being made up of "third-world people" and "people who were not yuppies or establishment types") as crucial to the verdict.
The judge in the trial, Justice Alvin Schlesinger, said that the jury's acquittal of Nosair on the murder charge "was against the overwhelming weight of evidence and was devoid of common sense and logic". The judge added that "I believe the defendant conducted a rape of this country, of our Constitution and of our laws, and of people seeking to exist peacefully together." He sentenced Nosair to 7 1/3 to 22 years in prison, the maximally allowed term.
Kunstler also saw the split verdict as irrational, promising to appeal Nosair's convictions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sayyid_Nosair