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It was complicated and agonizingly slow, because Esseghaier refused any legal assistance or to even participate in his own trial because it wasn’t being conducted under the Holy Qur’an as he wished, and because that decision in turn meant that the judge, Ontario Superior Court Judge Michael Code, had the extraordinary burden of protecting Esseghaier from himself.

That’s the practical effect of a self-represented and delusional accused — it’s the judge who must then take great care to protect the rights of someone who doesn’t even recognize that he has rights and who refuses to lift a finger to help himself.

The trial was ghastly, but in the end, it was I thought remarkably fair

There was the added joy that the jury had to listen to excruciating wiretapped chats between the two men and the central witness against them, an FBI agent.

With the agent posing as a rich American Muslim who was supportive of jihad and thus of their manic plans, Jaser in particular filled his conversation with a litany of unctuous religious exhortations such as “God bless you my brother” and “Peace be upon you” and “Talk to you soon, God willing.”

Getting a simple breakfast order out of that man would have taken a full 15 minutes, I swear. “Eggs, scrambled, peace be upon you. Toast, brown, God willing. And coffee yes, thank you sister, God’s mercy.”

So the trial was ghastly, but in the end, it was I thought remarkably fair.

For instance, Code every day would remind the jurors that Esseghaier considered himself not an accused person, but rather a visitor who occasionally offered “sincere advice” to the court. Sometimes the judge would carefully read or have read (by the lawyer, an amicus curiae, Latin for “friend of the court,” the judge had appointed for him) Esseghaier’s advice. The judge was always circumspect and civil to a degree few could manage.