A judge yesterday tossed out a defense attorney’s proposal to ban Jewish people from serving as jurors at the trial of a Staten Island man who allegedly wanted to join the Taliban.
Brooklyn federal Judge Eric Vitaliano ruled that using only a person’s religion to exclude them from a jury would be unconstitutional.
As The Post exclusively reported yesterday, lawyer Frederick Cohn, who is Jewish, said he wanted a fair trial for his client, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, whose Web site contains “inflammatory” views about Israel.
But the judge insisted that only those unwilling to set aside their personal convictions can be weeded out.
“If any juror — regardless of race, creed, national origin, sex — can’t accept the instruction of the court . . . that juror doesn’t belong on the jury,” Vitaliano said.
Shehadeh is charged with making false statements about seeking to join jihadists.