Now we know why defense attorneys quit the USS Cole case. They found a microphone.

[DonViejo]

Source: Miami Herald




BY CAROL ROSENBERG
[e-mail]

March 07, 2018 01:05 PM

Updated 34 minutes ago

Lawyers for the alleged USS Cole bombing mastermind quit the capital case after discovering a microphone in their special client meeting room and were denied the opportunity to either talk about or investigate it, the Miami Herald has learned.

The narrative, contained in a 15-page prosecution filing obtained by the Herald, is the first authoritative description of the episode that caused three civilian defense attorneys to resign from the death-penalty case of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri on ethical grounds: Rick Kammen, a seasoned death-penalty defender, and Rosa Eliades and Mary Spears. In fact, the prosecution says the listening device that lawyers discovered in an early August inspection of their special meeting room was a legacy of past interrogations — and, across 50 days of ostensibly confidential attorney-client meetings, was never turned on.

The description, an eight-paragraph, declassified version of something the public was not allowed to know until this week, was contained in a prosecution filing at the U.S. Court of Military Commissions Review signed by the chief prosecutor for military commissions, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, and three appellate lawyers on his staff.

It says that, after the three lawyers quit the case in October, prison workers “removed flooring, walls, and fixtures” in an attorney-client meeting site exclusively used by Nashiri and his lawyers and “confirmed that legacy microphones, which were not connected to any audio listening/recording device nor in an operable condition, were removed.”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article203916094.html

[malthaussen]

1. "Yes, there was a microphone in the room, but it wasn't turned on."

Well, that's that, then.

Serious question to which I don't know the answer: given the adjustments to the legal rights accorded suspected terrorists, is violating lawyer-client privilege even a problem? Presumably so, since the defense lawyers quit over it.

-- Mal

[doxyluv13]

4. Legal rights of Military Commission defendants aren't fully settled in law

The simple way of saying it is that the courts have said some constitutional rights (like the 5th Amendment) apply but haven't ruled on others or provided a general framework. The Military Commissions have taken the hardest line possible so any convictions will likely be appealed on several grounds.

[moosewhisperer]

2. Not the first time mics have been discovered

2013

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article1948120.html

[dembotoz]

3. wonder if they post a miranda warning outside the door