Defense lawyer charges 'scare tactics'

Mohammed Zazi is a victim of "scare tactics" and a "guilt-by-association" prosecution because his son Najibullah plotted to bomb New York City's subways, a defense lawyer charged as the father's cover-up trial ended Wednesday.

"It has broken his family apart and it has broken him, too," lawyer Deborah Colson told a Brooklyn federal jury in her summation. "But just because a family member committed a crime doesn't mean he did, too."

Zazi, 55, of Colorado, a former taxi driver, is charged with orchestrating a plan to destroy his son's bomb-making material, lying to the FBI and urging other family members to lie when a massive investigation of the plot crested in 2009.

Najibullah Zazi, who grew up in Queens, pleaded guilty last year to planning an al-Qaida-inspired suicide attack on the subways with two friends. He is cooperating with the government. His father is not accused of knowing about the plot.

Prosecutors built their case on two family members -- a brother-in-law and a nephew, who testified under plea deals that the father orchestrated a cover-up. Also, an FBI agent said Zazi lied about getting tipped off to the probe by an imam in New York, and other matters.

The three-day trial focused on the credibility of the family members, who admitted they had lied frequently during the probe and felt Najibullah and his father had messed up their lives.

But prosecutor Berit Berger told jurors the case didn't hinge on their credibility and urged jurors to reject the guilt-by-association claim. "The defendant is not a victim," she said. "He made a calculated decision to lie and to deceive."

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Thursday.