The move by CAIR and several other prominent Muslim organizations to have themselves de-listed as un-indicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trials is an interesting, albeit unprecedented, legal maneuver that – if successful – would have a profound impact on the HLF trial and criminal justice in the United States.
First, full disclosure: I am not an attorney, but I did speak with several about the issues at stake.
Slate has a short article defining the unindicted co-conspirators:
A co-conspirator is someone prosecutors believe entered into an agreement with at least one other person to break the law. Being unindicted just means the person hasn't been charged with a criminal offense. Co-conspirators can be unindicted for several reasons: They may be cooperating witnesses for the prosecution, or the government may not have enough evidence to convict them. Or they may be charged in another case.
Osama bin Laden is an unindicted co-conspirator in both the Moussaoui trial and also the WTC 1 trial. The reason for naming a person or organization as an unindicted co-conspirator is because (again quoting Slate):
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