Presiding over one of the most important terrorism trials in the nation, U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. was characteristically understated when he introduced himself to jurors in the trial of Sami Al- Arian. Al-Arian and three co- defendants are accused of helping organize and finance the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israel and its occupied territories.

Moody has conducted the trial - expected to last at least six months and about to enter its third week - in his usual plain-spoken manner, appearing relaxed and in control.

``Jim has never been accused of contracting black robe disease,'' said Moody's friend, Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge William P. Levens. ``His default way of being is to be reflective and introspective and respectful.''

When he meets with attorneys in court to discuss the status of their cases, Moody will doff his robe, come down from his bench and kick back at the counsel table for a more relaxed conversation.

``That's very unusual,'' said another friend, U.S. Magistrate Mary Scriven. ``Most judges insist on that sort of clear demarcation between the judge in the big black robe on the big high bench'' and everyone else.

``It's a warm approach, but he's still very strong,'' lawyer Ben Hill III said. The judge typically will challenge attorneys with positions he doesn't necessarily believe to provoke a response that will help him make a decision, Hill said.

Humor From The Bench

Moody also is droll; Scriven compared his sense of humor to comedian Bob Newhart.

For example, Al-Arian attorney Linda Moreno objected to the inclusion of a jury candidate who described himself as a ``good ol' boy,'' and ``Protestant, single, straight.''

Moody granted the motion to exclude the man but added devilishly, ``When the trial's over, you can call me for his phone number.''

When the prosecution presented as its first witness an immigration official whose dry testimony put some in the courtroom to sleep, the judge urged an assistant U.S. attorney to either pick up the pace or bring everyone some NoDoz.

When the same prosecutor signaled the end of long testimony from another witness by beginning a question with, ``And finally ... ,'' the judge interjected, ``You're teasing us, right?''

His first words to jurors the following Monday morning: ``Thank you for showing up.''

``It is difficult sometimes to know whether he is joking,'' Hill said. ``Because he wears a black robe, sometimes it's a little unsettling'' when he cracks a joke. But ``that's part of what makes him as effective as he is.''

Patty Coone, Moody's former judicial assistant, said the judge has a great sense of humor. She said Moody loves spicy foods, and a friend of his wife once made him a jar of homemade salsa. ``The next week, he spent several minutes every day for several days, worked on this letter for her as if he were in the hospital recovering from severe burns from the hot salsa.''

Country Boy, City Bred

Appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton in 2000, Moody is a former Hillsborough circuit court judge whose father also was a judge and a state legislator.

Hill described Moody as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. Although he comes from a conservative area, ``He clearly didn't advance conservative issues'' when he worked as a lawyer, Hill said.

``His family, of course, is one of the pioneer families of Plant City,'' Hill said. ``His law firm was what I would call the old line law firm in Plant City.'' Even though his family name is ``extremely well-known in eastern Hillsborough County,'' he didn't rest on that and campaigned door-to-door when he decided he wanted to be a circuit court judge.

Moody, 58, earned his law degree at the University of Florida and is an avid golfer and wine connoisseur. ``He may be a country boy, but he's city bred,'' Scriven said.

He has helped Scriven and other colleagues get past the isolation of being federal judges in a building where there are only two judges on each floor by inviting them to lunch and social get-togethers.

Coone said Moody has gone water-skiing with her family on Lake Ariana in Auburndale. One time, he even skied barefoot, she said. ``He amazed all of us.''

Moody ``was always an extremely well-prepared lawyer, and he was always very tenacious representing his clients,'' Hill said.

Hill said, as a lawyer, Moody's advocacy was on behalf of individuals, including large land owners, against corporations and the government.

``I think he believed very strongly in advancing the interest and trying to protect the interest of individuals,'' Hill said.

Sticking To The Law

But individual rights don't necessarily prevail in the judicial actions of Moody, who doesn't seem inclined to make waves with rulings.

Last year, for example, he upheld the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Attorneys said it was the first ruling by a federal judge on the constitutionality of the part of the law that says states don't have to recognize marriages of gay couples performed elsewhere.

His decision was not cast in ideological terms, but instead expressed a respect for the constraints he felt were imposed by higher court rulings and the law.

The judge wrote, ``although the court recognizes the importance of a heterosexual or homosexual individual's choice of a partner, not all important decisions are protected fundamental rights.''

Moody rejected arguments that the federal law discriminates on the basis of sex ``because it treats men and women equally.''

Moody said Florida did not have to recognize the weddings of lesbian couples in Massachusetts and Canada. Fearful of losing again and establishing precedents, the plaintiffs elected not to appeal.

Moody also has been given the responsibility for managing pretrial matters for the hundreds of federal lawsuits filed nationwide against the makers of the acne drug Accutane.

In 2001, he sentenced the president of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, Harry ``Taco'' Bowman, to life in prison after his conviction on conspiracy, racketeering and drug charges.

That same year, he upheld most of the convictions against former Tampa Housing Chief Audley Evans for taking bribes, even though Moody expressed concern that the law was vague and the evidence slim.

A Balanced Approach

In the Al-Arian case, Moody has issued a number of rulings in favor of the prosecution, but also handed the defense what lawyers saw as a major victory when he held that prosecutors must prove that the defendants knew the money they raised would pay for terrorism.

He denied defense motions to move the trial out of Tampa, but he postponed his decision until after he satisfied himself that a fair jury could be selected here.

Coone, who worked with Moody in Hillsborough court, said, ``I remember him telling me when we first came on the bench together that we worked for the people, the people paid our salaries. ... We always needed to accommodate them if we could.''

Coone said this meant that Moody would be more patient than other judges if attorneys were unavoidably late to court. ``Some judges, if you're late for a hearing, you're not having a hearing,'' Coone said. ``He felt that the best way to get a case moving was to hear the motions whatever way you can.''

Moody has three adult children: two lawyers and a medical student. One of his daughters is an assistant U.S. attorney. He also has a stepson and is a mentor to Julian Jackson, the 15-year-old son of a single mother Moody met at a Democratic political function 10 years ago.

Julia Jackson said the judge encourages her son to read and write, and she described Moody as ``a friend, a mentor, a big brother, actually like a godfather'' to her son. ``Their spirits connect,'' she said.

To her, Moody is ``just plain old Jim. You forget sometimes that he's a judge when you're around him.''

She said she remembers Moody teaching her son how to ride his bicycle when he was 8 years old. It was a hot day, and she saw Moody chasing her son down the street, still wearing his coat and tie.

Another time, the judge got out of his car and started pulling weeds in the front lawn, telling Julian, ``Look, you've got to do this kind of stuff.''

Moody's daughter Patricia, 25, is a medical student. She said her father always required his children to work three or four hours in the yard with him every weekend. ``He called it quality time,'' she said. ``He wanted to make sure we had a solid upbringing. ... He wanted to know we knew values and morals.''

She said she learned as a kid that if she wanted something from her father, it was best to appeal to his sense of reason. ``He doesn't fall for the charm,'' she said. ``You have to go for the logic and make him think it's a good deal.''

Julian said Moody wants to help him become a lawye. When he heard Moody would be presiding over a terrorism case, Julian said he was initially ``a little bit scared, but I know he'll handle it the way he should handle it.''

Reporter Michael Fechter contributed to this report. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.