Mohamed Soliman could stand trial on hate crime charges in federal court as soon as September, but several things could derail that date, a judge said on Thursday.
Soliman, charged with more than 100 crimes in Boulder state court and federal court after authorities said he threw Molotov cocktails at peaceful marchers, made a brief appearance in Denver federal court Thursday to sort out procedural matters. One person was killed in the attack and several were wounded.
Dressed in jail khakis and smiling and chatting with his large legal team, Soliman told the court in Arabic through an interpreter that he understood the proceedings.
“Yes, for sure I understand,” he said, but asked the attorneys and the court to speak slowly and clearly.
Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane asked the federal prosecutor if the government planned to file additional charges in a superseding indictment, given that one of the victims died of her injuries after the initial round of charges. The prosecution said that decision had not been made yet.
The judge then questioned if the whole hearing was an “academic exercise,” because a new indictment could set back the trial dates he would set today. The prosecution still wished to proceed with scheduling.
The trial was set for the Tuesday after Labor Day, and Judge Kane said that the jury pool would likely include people from across Colorado. That is a hardship for many people, and he prefers to have lengthy trials limited to four days a week. He expects the trial to take most of September, if these dates hold.
Kane also brought up a potential conflict of interest involving him. He notified the court that the prosecutor, Laura Cramer-Babycz, had represented him once in a very limited, technical filing on a case many years ago when she worked for the large firm Perkins Coie.
“I’m notifying counsel in an excess of caution,” Kane said. He encouraged attorneys to determine if they believed that conflict required his recusal.
