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Padilla case very light on facts Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15184807.htmhttp://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15184807.htm
Posted on Thu, Aug. 03, 2006
FEDERAL COURT
Padilla case said to lack evidenceA federal judge has expressed doubts about the strength of the government's terror conspiracy case against Jose Padilla and others, ordering prosecutors to provide more evidence of alleged violent activities overseas.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
With much fanfare, the U.S. government charged Jose Padilla last fall in a South Florida terror-conspiracy indictment. He was brought to Miami in January under heavy guard, shackled hand and foot, helicopters flying overhead.
But now a federal judge says the case against him appears ``very light on facts.''
In the last week, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ordered prosecutors -- for the second time -- to provide more details to make their case against Padilla and codefendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, accused of being part of a North American terrorist cell that supported Islamic jihad abroad.
Cooke said the Miami federal prosecutors' initial response was ``insufficient.''
Then on Wednesday, she reluctantly agreed to reschedule the trial for January after both sides argued the high-profile case is complex and demanding.
The three defendants are charged with conspiring to ''murder, kidnap and maim'' people overseas and providing ''material support'' for terrorist activity. The indictment was originally filed in 2004, but Padilla, a former Broward resident, wasn't added until last November because the U.S. military had been holding him as an ''enemy combatant'' for more than three years -- a case that was almost heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cooke ordered Miami federal prosecutors to supply evidence of transcripts of phone wiretaps that show the ''manner and means'' of the trio's terror conspiracy -- including ''descriptions of the time, place, circumstances, causes, etc.'' of their activities. She set a Monday deadline to turn over that information to defense attorneys, who maintain the indictment lacks incriminating evidence.
In a July 7 letter, assistant U.S. attorney Russell Killinger restated some of the evidence in the indictment and added a few more details -- but not enough to satisfy the judge.
''As it pertains to this case, these defendants supported violence, including murder, maiming and kidnappings, committed by Mujahadeen groups operating in various jihad theaters around the world,'' Killinger wrote.
``Specifically, the violent Islamist groups in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and Lebanon. . . . Therefore, they engaged in armed confrontations, including murders, maiming and kidnappings, against Serbian and Croat forces in Bosnia, Russian forces in Chechnya and Tajikistan, and opposing Muslim forces in Afghanistan during the civil strife that ensued after the Russian forces withdrew in 1989.''
There's a slight problem with that last point: The time frame of the Miami indictment -- built on tens of thousands of government wiretaps of the alleged terrorist cell's telephone conversations -- is from 1993 to 2001. Federal prosecutors say they since have narrowed down the scope of their case to about 230 transcripts of conversations.
Padilla's lawyers, in court papers, argue their client's
''voice is heard on only eight brief conversations'' and ''not heard on any of the intercepts'' regarding alleged violent activities abroad. They also note that the other defendants -- including Hassoun, the alleged ringleader from Sunrise -- only mentioned Padilla 20 other times.
''The real danger for Mr. Padilla is . . . guilt by association,'' his attorney, Michael Caruso, said at Wednesday's hearing, when he sought to have his client tried separately from the other two defendants.
Cooke is expected to keep the threesome intact for trial, which had been set for Sept. 5. She granted a continuance until Jan. 22.
The indictment claimed the suspected South Florida terrorist cell sent Padilla to the Middle East to train with other militant Islamic extremists. But the indictment only suggests he was training with al Qaeda in the year before that terrorist group led the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It provides no details of his involvement in any violent acts overseas.
According to the indictment, on July 24, 2000, Padilla 'filled out a `Mujahadeen Data Form' in preparation for violent jihad training in Afghanistan.''
It also claimed that on Sept. 3, 2000, Hassoun called another alleged co-conspirator in Egypt to provide financing for the travel and training of Padilla. He told Hassoun that Padilla ''entered into the area of Osama,'' a reference to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was being harbored by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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