[wvns] Jose Padilla Found Guilty by Jury
Jose Padilla Convicted by U.S. Jury in Terror Case (Update4)
By Mort Lucoff and Jeff St.Onge
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=au3eOSwCLeU8
Jose Padilla Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Jose Padilla was convicted of
terrorism-conspiracy charges in a victory for the Bush administration,
which held him in a military prison as an enemy combatant for more
than three years.
Padilla, 36, a U.S. citizen, and two co-defendants were found guilty
today by a federal jury in Miami of conspiring to commit murder in a
foreign country, conspiring to provide support to terrorist groups and
providing such support. They could be sentenced to as much as life in
prison. An earlier accusation that Padilla plotted to explode a
radioactive ``dirty bomb'' wasn't included in the charges.
``We can appeal,'' Padilla's mother, Estela Lebron, told reporters.
``I don't know how they could find him guilty. There were 300,000
calls and there's no evidence he spoke in code'' in the phone calls
recorded by investigators. ``George Bush won today,'' she said.
Padilla's conviction after a three-month trial gives a boost to
President George W. Bush's war on terrorism following a series of
setbacks in U.S. courts. In three cases since the Sept. 11 attacks,
the Supreme Court has put limits on presidential power to determine
the fate of suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The
high court will hear another case later this year.
Padilla's two co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael
Jayyousi, were convicted of the same charges. The seven-man,
five-woman jury deliberated for a day and a half. U.S. District Judge
Marcia Cooke scheduled sentencing for Dec. 5.
Osama bin Laden
Padilla's conviction ``is a significant victory in our efforts to
fight the threat posed by terrorists and their supporters,'' Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement. ``As this trial
demonstrated, we will use our authority as prosecutors to dismantle
terrorist networks and those who support them in the United States and
abroad.''
Jayyousi's lawyer, William Swor, said he will appeal Cooke's decision
to let prosecutors show the jury a videotape of al-Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden.
``With Osama bin Laden in the case, why would I be surprised'' that
Jayyousi was convicted, Swor said.
``This was all a reaction to 9/11,'' said Jeanne Baker, a lawyer for
Hassoun. ``The government was determined to send a message to the
nation that we are safer. We definitely are not safer.''
Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford plans to make a statement
at the Justice Department in Washington later today.
Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, was the ``star recruit of a
terrorism support cell,'' prosecutor Brian Frazier told the jury in
closing arguments Aug. 13. ``Padilla was a mujahedeen recruit and an
al-Qaeda terrorist trainee.''
No `Intent to Murder'
His defense lawyer, Michael Caruso, said the government failed to
prove its case. When Padilla went overseas, he had ``an intent to
study, not an intent to murder,'' the lawyer told the jury in his
closing argument.
Padilla was arrested May 8, 2002, at Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport after arriving from Pakistan. Then-Attorney General John
Ashcroft touted the arrest as a key success in the war on terrorism.
Citing the dirty-bomb accusation, Bush ordered Padilla held as an
enemy combatant in military custody, where he remained for the next 3
1/2 years.
Padilla was charged in criminal court in November 2005 and transferred
to civilian custody as the government sought to avoid a Supreme Court
hearing on his challenge to his detention.
``There's a lot of lawyering still to be done'' in the case, which
eventually could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Eugene Fidell, a
national security law expert at Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell in
Washington.
`Troubling'
``The backdrop of this case -- holding a U.S. citizen arrested in the
U.S. in military custody for more than three years -- is a troubling
proposition,'' Fidell said. ``It's the type of thing that can put
judges or justices in a very grumpy mood.''
Former U.S. Navy lawyer Charles Swift suggested the government wasn't
being candid when it said in 2004 that it needed to hold Padilla as an
enemy combatant.
``When the Justice Department said they couldn't prosecute him, they
were wrong,'' said Swift, who helped win a 2006 Supreme Court ruling
that Bush lacked authority to try Guantanamo Bay inmates in military
tribunals. The verdict shows that ``not only could they try him, they
could convict.''
Prosecutors said Padilla, Hassoun and Jayyousi supported the al-Qaeda
network and terrorist activities from 1993 to 2001. They weren't
accused of committing violent acts or being involved in the Sept. 11
attacks.
Training Camp
Padilla attended an al-Qaeda terrorism-training camp in Afghanistan in
2000, prosecutors said. The central piece of evidence against him was
what prosecutors described as a ``mujahedeen data form'' bearing his
fingerprints that they said he filled out to attend the training
facility.
Other prosecution evidence included court-approved wiretaps of
telephone conversations among the men, as well as bank checks and
faxes. Padilla's defense lawyer said his voice appeared on only seven
of 200,000 calls recorded, and those calls showed that his only goal
in going overseas was to study Islam and the Arabic language.
The trial opened on May 14. Padilla's lawyers rested their case
without presenting any witnesses or evidence.
The case is U.S. v. Hassoun et al., 04cr60001, U.S. District Court in
Miami.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mort Lucoff in U.S. District
Court in Miami; Jeff St.Onge in Washington jstonge @ bloomberg.net
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