DETROIT ? The start of the second day of a Detroit trial for an alleged al-Qaida terrorist accused of trying to detonate a bomb on an international flight was significantly delayed Wednesday at the request of the defense.
Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds called a 45-minute recess just moments after settling into her seat and talking to a prosecutor and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attorney. No reason was publicly stated.
Abdulmutallab is charged with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound plane with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009. On Tuesday, the first day of trial was delayed by 70 minutes so he could talk to defense attorney Anthony Chambers.
The jury is expected Wednesday to hear more from a Wisconsin man who was on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Mike Zantow testified Tuesday about Abdulmutallab's long bathroom break in the plane, during which prosecutors says he was preparing for martyrdom.
Abdulmutallab took a small bag to the bathroom and was gone 10 to 15 minutes, Zantow testified Tuesday as the first witness in Abdulmutallab's terrorism trial.
"It's wasn't real quick. I thought he was freshening up for arrival in Detroit. ... We had less than an hour to go," Zantow said.
A prosecutor said Abdulmutallab was performing a cleansing ritual to prepare for death before returning to his seat to try to detonate a bomb in his underwear on behalf of al-Qaida, an act that badly burned him but didn't destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
Abdulmutallab, 24, is charged with eight crimes, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. In his opening remarks to jurors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel said the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker believed his calling that day was martyrdom.
"He was preparing to die and enter heaven," Tukel said. "He purified himself. He washed. He brushed his teeth. He put on perfume."
Zantow said he helped move Abdulmutallab out of his burning seat and heard another passenger say: "Hey, dude, your pants are on fire."
Tukel on Tuesday offered some new details from inside Flight 253, which had 290 people aboard from 26 countries. He described Abdulmutallab's long bathroom break and how the young man threw a blanket over himself and allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb shortly before the plane landed.
Abdulmutallab pushed a syringe plunger into the chemical bomb, an action that produced a loud "pop" sound, then flames and smoke, the prosecutor said.
"Then all hell broke loose. While the fireball was on him, the defendant sat there. He didn't move. He was expressionless. He was completely blank," Tukel said.
Abdulmutallab was silent at first but then opened up to virtually anyone: a flight attendant, customs officers who removed him from the plane, emergency medical personnel and, finally, FBI agents at a hospital where he was treated for serious burns to his groin, Tukel said.
When a customs officer asked him his affiliation, Abdulmutallab didn't flinch: al-Qaida, he replied, according to the prosecutor.
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Associated Press writer Jeff Karoub contributed to this report.
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