Jurors deadlock in 6 of 7 defendants in Sears Tower plot; 7th acquitted

MIAMI -- One of seven Miami men accused of plotting to join forces with al-Qaida to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower was acquitted Thursday, and a mistrial was declared for the six others after the federal jury deadlocked.

The mistrial means prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry the six men.

The outcome was a setback for the Bush administration, which had seized on the case to illustrate the dangers of homegrown terrorism and trumpet the government's post-Sept. 11 success in infiltrating and smashing terror plots in their very earliest stages.

Lyglenson Lemorin, who was not the alleged ringleader, was acquitted.