Manhattan Federal Judge dismisses charges against bin Laden

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Kaplan has dismissed all criminal charges against slain al-Qaeda chieftan Osama bin Laden.

Kaplan, who was assigned to the bin Laden case issued an order known as a nolle prosecqui, which means the U.S. is unwilling to prosecute the case, which is standard once a defendant is no longer living.

The indictment charged the terror mastermind for planning the 1998 suicide bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and with al Qaeda's worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans, which climaxed with the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

George Z. Toscas, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the National Security Division at the Justice Department included an affidavit describing how bin Laden was killed during a U.S. Special Forces raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May. Toscas said the likelihood of mistaken identity was approximately one in 11.8 quadrillion.