BREAKING NEWS SOURCES: Verdict Reached in Padilla Terror Case = GUILTY

[L. Coyote]

Verdict Reached in Padilla Terror Case
By CURT ANDERSON
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 16, 2007; 1:11 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR2007081601009.html

MIAMI -- Jurors reached a verdict Thursday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with supporting al-Qaida and other violent Islamic extremist groups overseas.

The verdict was to be read at 2 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about a day and a half following a three-month trial.

Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible sentences of life in prison if convicted of all three charges in the case.

The three are accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

Padilla was first detained in 2002 because of much more sensational accusations. The Bush administration portrayed Padilla, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert, as a committed terrorist who was part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S. .....

======================
http://www.cnn.com/
"Jose Padilla is found guilty on charges he conspired to kill people in an overseas jihad and to fund and support overseas terrorism."

[L. Coyote]

1. Beyond Padilla Terror Case, Huge Legal Issues

Courthouse News & Cases
Beyond Padilla Terror Case, Huge Legal Issues
by Brooklyn Eagle ([e-mail]), published online 08-16-2007

Detention and Interrogation Raises Basic Constitutional Questions.
By Warren Richey
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=14893


NEW YORK — Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla is known worldwide as the man who plotted with Al Qaeda to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb” in a major U.S. city. He allegedly presented his plan to top Al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

But according to U.S. intelligence reports, both men doubted Mr. Padilla could pull off the attack. For his part, Padilla told military interrogators that he never intended to carry it out.

The former Taco Bell employee made the proposal in early 2002 as a way to justify fleeing Pakistan to avoid being sent to combat US forces in Afghanistan, says a government account.

So is Padilla a committed Al Qaeda operative, or merely a big-talking mujahideen wannabe who ultimately wanted to go home?

The answer to that question is important. Padilla isn’t a run-of-the-mill enemy combatant apprehended on a foreign battlefield. He is a United States citizen, arrested on U.S. soil, who was held in a military prison for 43 months and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques until he confessed.

Padilla was given due process to file a lawsuit challenging his treatment by the government. But as an enemy combatant, he was stripped of every other constitutional protection and right, including the right to know that a constitutional challenge had been filed on his behalf.

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[L. Coyote]

2. UPI Breaking Story: Padilla guilty in terror trial

Padilla guilty in terror trial
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/08/16/padilla_guilty_in_terror_trial/4235/


MIAMI, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A federal jury in Miami found former “enemy combatant” Jose Padilla guilty Thursday in a major terror trial after a day and a half of deliberations.

Padilla and two co-defendants, convicted on all counts, could face up to life in prison.

Padilla was arrested by the FBI at a Chicago airport in May 2002. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft said U.S. intelligence had discovered he was returning from meeting with al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan, and that he was scouting sites in the United States as targets for a “dirty bomb,” a conventional explosive device wrapped in radioactive material.

For years, he was a principal challenger of the Bush administration’s use of “enemy combatant” status -- keeping detainees, in military custody indefinitely without trial in civilian courts.

However, the Miami trial in a civilian federal court dealt with none of those issues. Instead, the Justice Department tried to prove that Padilla and two other defendants, Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi, conspired to provide material support to terrorists overseas.

The government’s case against Padilla rested largely on .....

[L. Coyote]

3. AP Breaking: Jose Padilla convicted of federal terrorism support charges

Jose Padilla convicted of federal terrorism support charges
By Associated Press
Thursday, August 16, 2007 - Updated: 02:46 PM EST
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=1017556


MIAMI - Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3½ years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration’s zeal to stop homegrown terror.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was once accused of being part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S., but those allegations were not part of his trial.

Padilla, 36, and his foreign-born co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, which carries a penalty of life in prison. All three were also convicted of two terrorism material support counts, which carry potential 15-year sentences each.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke set a Dec. 5 sentencing date for all three defendants.

In a three-month trial, the three men were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

.................

[L. Coyote]

4. JURIST: Padilla convicted in federal terror support trial

Padilla convicted in federal terror support trial
Jeannie Shawl at 2:27 PM ET
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/padilla-convicted-in-federal-terror.php


A federal jury found Jose Padilla (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/padilla.php) and his two co-defendants guilty Thursday on all charges against them. Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun (http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/adham_amin_hassoun.htm), and Kifah Wael Jayyousi (http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/kifah_wael_jayyousi.htm) were convicted of conspiracy to commit illegal violent acts outside the US, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. They face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

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"enemy combatant" http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/enemycombatants.php

RELATED NEWS ON JURIST

Jury begins deliberations in Padilla terror trial August 15, 2007 = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/jury-begins-deliberations-in-padilla.php
Padilla defense says prosecutors have no case in terror trial closing arguments August 14, 2007 = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/padilla-defense-says-prosecutors-have.php
Closing arguments begin in Padilla terror trial August 13, 2007 = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/closing-arguments-begin-in-padilla.php
Padilla terror trial judge bars 'defensive jihad' defense August 10, 2007 = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/padilla-terror-trial-judge-bars.php
Defense rests in Padilla terror support trial August 7, 2007 = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/defense-rests-in-padilla-terror-support.php

click for more... = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/padilla.php

............... http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/padilla-convicted-in-federal-terror.php .........

[gatorboy]

5. You're gonna have to give me 10 more sources before I believe it.

[L. Coyote]

7. iF ONLY WE HAD 10 news sources! n/t

[L. Coyote]

6. OPINION: Padilla verdict may cast a long shadow

Padilla verdict may cast a long shadow
Whatever they rule, jurors could in effect decide if 'enemy combatants' who are U.S. citizens can be kept in military lockups.
By Madeline Bar Diaz, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
August 15, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-padilla15aug15,1,6468811.story?coll=la-headlines-nation


MIAMI -- When jurors announce their verdict in the trial of Jose Padilla, they could be seen as either endorsing the government's long detention of Padilla or questioning the controversial policy of keeping so-called "enemy combatants" in military jails.

"If the verdict comes back guilty, the government is going to say, 'We were right all along,' " said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at American University in Washington, D.C. "I think a not-guilty verdict would be a very interesting prospect."

............

Padilla was charged just as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering whether to hear for a second time his claim that his military detention without access to lawyers was unconstitutional. The claim was narrowly dismissed the first time on technical grounds. The government's move led the Supreme Court to decide 6-3 against hearing his case a few months after the indictment.

The fact that Padilla was tried in the civilian court is a victory, said Vladeck, who worked on briefs opposing Padilla's military detention.

"From the point of the American criminal justice system, the most important thing is not the result, but that it happened," he said. "This is how the system is supposed to work."

No evidence about or from Padilla's detention in military custody was presented to the jury.

His attorneys had argued that Padilla's time in the brig amounted to torture and left him with severe mental problems. But U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke, who presided over the trial, declared Padilla competent and declined to throw out the case despite a defense motion saying his detention and interrogations violated his due process rights.

She said he could receive a fair trial as long as the government did not introduce evidence obtained in the interrogations.

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[L. Coyote]

8. Bloomberg: Jose Padilla Convicted by U.S. Jury in Terror Case (Update1)

Jose Padilla Convicted by U.S. Jury in Terror Case (Update1)
By Mort Lucoff and Jeff St.Onge
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.1FXXVe7l5U&refer=home


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.

........

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. ...........

[L. Coyote]

9. NY OBSERVER: Padilla Verdict: Guilty

Padilla Verdict: Guilty
by Jason Horowitz Published: August 16, 2007
http://www.observer.com/2007/padilla-verdict


Jurors have found Jose Padilla guilty of supporting al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups. He potentially faces life in prison.

The jury read the verdict to U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami's downtown federal courthouse after a day and a half of deliberation following a three-month trial.

The Bush administration arrested Padilla, 36, in 2002 and accused him of being an important al-Qaeda terrorist who intended to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" on U.S. soil. His detainment as an enemy combatant was at first hailed by the government as a major victory in the effort to combat terrorism, but it eventually became a lightning rod for criticism that the Bush administration was using its executive powers to abuse civil liberties. ...........

[L. Coyote]

10. REUTERS: Jury convicts Padilla in terrorism trial MOM: "this is a Republican city"

Jury convicts Padilla in terrorism trial
Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:02 PM EDT147
By Jane Sutton
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-08-16T190207Z_01_N16305269_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-USA-PADILLA-COL.XML

MIAMI (Reuters) - Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held by the military for 3 1/2 years as an "enemy combatant," was convicted on Thursday in a trial seen as a centerpiece of the Bush administration's efforts to battle terrorism.

.....

"Of course we're going to appeal," said his mother, Estela Lebron, who was at the Miami courthouse for the judgment. "You need to understand, this is a Republican city. I'm not surprised of anything in this place any more."

..... faced with court challenges to the president's authority to hold him without charge, prosecutors added Padilla to an already existing terrorism support case in Miami that made no mention of any bomb plot.

He was turned over to civilian authorities in 2006........

[L. Coyote]

11. AUG. 17, REUTERS INDIA: FACTBOX - Facts about Jose Padilla

Fact: Padilla was never charged with the crime he was arrested for.

=============================
FACTBOX - Facts about Jose Padilla
Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:35AM IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29014320070816

REUTERS - A U.S. jury in Miami on Thursday convicted U.S. citizen Jose Padilla on all three charges in a case that has been a centerpiece of Bush administration efforts to battle terrorism. Here are some facts about him:

* Padilla, 36, was held without charge in a military prison for 3 1/2 years by order of President George W. Bush .....

* Padilla's lawyers argued that years of extreme isolation and interrogation by the U.S. military had left him too mentally impaired ....

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* Bush ordered Padilla held in a military prison .....

[L. Coyote]

12. PBS and NPR reportage

Listen HERE link:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rss/redir/http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2007/08/16/20070816_padilla28.mp3

THURSDAY, August 16, 2007
'Enemy Combatant' Padilla Convicted of Supporting Terrorists

A federal jury in Miami convicted Jose Padilla on all three counts of supporting overseas Islamic terrorist groups, including al-Qaida. A reporter who covered the trial provides an update.

TRANSCRIPT HERE: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec07/padilla_08-16.html

================

NPR: Padilla Guilty of Aiding Terrorists, Jury Finds

* Hear NPR's Dina Temple-Raston and Robert Siegel
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12840670

August 16, 2007 · Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration's zeal to stop homegrown terror.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was once accused of being part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S., but those allegations were not part of his trial.

.....

Padilla's conviction caps a saga that began with far more dramatic allegations at the time of his May 2002 arrest.

.....

The ethnically diverse panel of seven men and five women heard witness accounts and dozens of phone conversations — most of them in Arabic — that were intercepted by the FBI during an investigation that began in 1993 and ended in 2001.

The White House thanked the jury for a "just" verdict.

"We commend the jury for its work in this trial and thank it for upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House. "Jose Padilla received a fair trial and a just verdict."

Estela Lebron, Padilla's mother, said she felt "a little bit sad" at the verdict but expected her son's lawyers would appeal.

"I don't know how they found Jose guilty. There was no evidence he was speaking in code," she said, referring to FBI wiretap intercepts ...

....

The "dirty bomb" allegations disappeared and were not included in the trial, in part because Padilla was never provided a lawyer or read his Miranda rights when he was interrogated .......

[L. Coyote]

13. The Real Verdict on Jose Padilla = "the verdict on the Constitution" KEEP IT

The Real Verdict on Jose Padilla
By Jenny S. Martinez
Friday, August 17, 2007; Page A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR2007081601771.html?hpid=opinionsbox2

The conclusion of Jose Padilla's criminal trial in a federal court yesterday shows that waging the "war on terror" does not require giving up our constitutional values or substituting military rule for the rule of law. The jury's guilty verdict should be appealed, but the verdict on the Constitution is in: We should keep it.

Padilla is a U.S. citizen who was arrested in Chicago in May 2002, pursuant to a warrant to testify before a grand jury. He was held in civilian custody in New York for a month, but on the eve of a hearing in federal court, President Bush declared Padilla an "enemy combatant." At that point, Padilla was whisked out of the civilian justice system and imprisoned in a South Carolina military brig. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft held a news conference to announce that the government had thwarted a plot by Padilla to set off a radiological "dirty bomb" in an American city.

Anyone who has seen a cop show in recent decades knows what rights people in America usually have when arrested: the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. Not Padilla.

For nearly two years, Jose Padilla was denied all access to his lawyers, his family and the court system. The Bush administration claimed that he could be held without trial until the end of its "war on terror." Allowing Padilla to talk to a lawyer or know that a court was considering his case, the government argued, would threaten national security.........