Bergen County firebomber guilty of terrorism

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NOVEMBER 1, 2016, 3:25 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2016, 3:37 PM
Bergen County firebomber guilty of terrorism


Aakash Dalal in court on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016.
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD


A 24-year-old Lodi man faces a possible life sentence after being convicted Tuesday of terrorism and 16 other counts for vandalizing and firebombing North Jersey synagogues five years ago.

The jury in Bergen County returned the verdict shortly after 3 p.m. Jurors had been deliberating since Friday afternoon.

Related: Juror's request interrupts deliberations in North Jersey firebombing trial

Aakash Dalal, 24, kept his head forward and his face void of expression as the jury foreman announced the verdict on 20 counts. His parents sat in the second row of the gallery, sullen but unexpressive, as they have throughout the five week trial.

Dalal’s usual contingent of supporters were not present, but dozens of members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office filled rows on the state’s side of the courtroom.

Because the former Rutgers student is facing considerable prison time when he is sentenced Dec. 21, Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Kearney asked Judge Joseph V. Isabella to revoke Dalal’s $3 million bail. Isabella agreed.

Dalal has been in the Bergen County Jail since his March 2012 arrest. Authorities say he was the brains and his former Lodi schoolmate Anthony Graziano was the brawn in a series of anti-Semitic attacks that spanned December 2011 and January 2012.

Graziano was also found guilty of terrorism and 19 other counts in May. He is awaiting sentencing.

The jurors Tuesday said that Dalal was guilty of two counts of criminal mischief with bias intimidation at Temple Beth Israel in Maywood and Temple Beth El in Hackensack for spray-painting swastikas, “Jews Did 9/11” and other anti-Semitic graffiti.

He was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit arson at K’Hal Adath Jeshurun temple, where worshipers on Jan. 3, 2012, found singed siding after investigating an odor that turned out to be from the fuel in smashed Molotov cocktails that failed to do significant damage to the building. Yet Dalal was found guilty of arson, bias intimidation, possession of a weapon and possession of a destructive device for the incident at the same synagogue on Arnot Place in Paramus.

Dalal was also convicted of conspiracy to commit arson, attempted arson, bias intimidation, possession of a weapon and possession of a destructive device for a failed arson attempt at the Jewish Community Center in Paramus on Jan. 7, 2012. At the time, Dalal was campaigning for presidential candidate Ron Paul in New England and Graziano went alone to the scene, but was scared off by a police officer who made a routine patrol through the JCC’s parking lot.

Jurors also found Dalal guilty of conspiracy to commit arson, arson, bias intimidation, possession of a weapon and possession of a destructive device in the Rutherford firebombing of Temple Beth El on Montross Avenue. Rabbi Neil Schuman testified that he awoke to find his bed, carpet and window on fire about 4 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2012. His wife at the time, five children, his father and mother-in-law were also asleep in the residence, which is adjacent to the synagogue.

On Tuesday, Pessy Schuman, the ex-wife of the rabbi, sat perched forward on a bench in the second row listening and quietly celebrating as each guilty finding was announced. She declined to comment until after Dalal’s sentencing.

Dalal was acquitted of two charges of hindering his apprehension by destroying computer data or messages.

The terrorism charge of which Dalal was convicted, relating to the Rutherford incident, is the most serious charge and carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.

‘Evidence was there’

Many jurors on their way out of the courthouse declined to comment. But Gerassimos Mourelatos of Ridgefield said briefly that the jurors found Dalal guilty on most of the counts “because the evidence was there, according to the chats.”

Prosecutors presented AOL instant message chats between Dalal and Graziano that were recovered from a laptop found in Graziano’s bedroom. In them, Dalal egged on Graziano, the two planned their escapades, discussed how to build and better use Molotov cocktails, spoke of their hatred of Jews and celebrated their acts, even sharing links to media coverage of them.

A forensic digital investigator, Andre DiMino, who formerly worked for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, read dozens of messages he extracted from Graziano’s laptop to jurors, who followed along reading from binders holding printouts of the chats. In one of the most damning, Dalal tells Graziano, “I don’t trust you until you kill a Jew.”

Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Kearney declined to comment on the verdict, because of the pending sentencing.

Defense attorney Brian Neary said Tuesday night that “the family is very disappointed with the jury’s verdict.”

They plan to appeal based on whether the terrorism statute that was passed after 9/11 was properly used in this case.

“The statute itself might be unconstitutional,” Neary said. These crimes “don’t put an entire population at the same level of fear as the World Trade Center” attacks of 9/11.

Neary said the statute might be unconstitutional because “it can be used too broadly.”

Neary told the judge he plans to file motions before the sentencing: one for a judgment of acquittal against the weight of the evidence and another for a new trial.

Dalal still has another pending indictment charging him with conspiracy to murder an assistant prosecutor, conspiracy to possess a firearm and making terroristic threats. Authorities say, using information from a jail informant, that while in prison Dalal allegedly tried to get a gun and allegedly said Assistant Prosecutor Martin Delaney, the initial prosecutor in the terrorism case, would be the first person he would kill.

Those charges inflated Dalal’s bail from $1 million to $3 million. No timeline has been established for Dalal’s other indictment, Neary said.

Email: priesa@northjersey.com

Also see: Aakash Dalal Trial: ‘I Don’t Trust You Until You Kill a Jew,’ Accused Firebomber Allegedly Tells Co-Conspirator