Jose Padilla Convicted by U.S. Jury in Terror CaseBy Mort Lucoff and Jeff St.Onge
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.
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.''
The convictions show that the civilian criminal justice system "can handle'' terrorism charges in some cases, Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford told reporters at the Justice Department in Washington. "These particular charges did work.''
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.''
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.
"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.''
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.
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
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaipUEUn.aUE&refer=home
