Judge will not acquit Padilla

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 17, 2007 09:20 PM

The latest on the Jose Padilla trial:

A federal judge refused Tuesday to acquit Jose Padilla and two co-defendants on terrorism support charges, clearing the way for defense lawyers to begin presenting their case this week.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, ruling after a daylong hearing, said the evidence and testimony offered by the prosecuton over the past nine weeks was enough proof to let a jury decide the men’s guilt or innocence.

“That is something the jurors will have to find,” Cooke said. The trial is expected to last well into August.

Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible life in prison if convicted of being part of a support cell that provided recruits, money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups around the world, including al-Qaida. Padilla, a U.S. citizen also held for 3 1/2 years without charge as an enemy combatant, is accused in the Miami case of completing a form to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan.

Padilla was originally suspected of plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S. after his May 2002 arrest, but those allegations are not part of the Miami trial.

The judge gets a quote of the day award:

Defense attorneys insisted the government evidence did not prove the existence of such a conspiracy. Padilla attorney Michael Caruso pointed out that Padilla’s voice is heard on only a handful of the intercepted phone calls and is never overheard discussing any type of violence.

“There’s not an agreement by Mr. Padilla to commit a murder. If there was a plan, he was not a willing participant,” Caruso said.

Hassoun lawyer Jeanne Baker contended that her client was interested “with passion” in assisting Muslims in conflict zones such as Chechnya, Bosnia and Somalia but mainly for humanitarian reasons. She said that Hassoun has no connection to al-Qaida and that FBI intercepts in which he urges others to travel to battle areas did not necessarily mean they had violent intent.

That brought a rejoinder from the judge.

“Well, he wasn’t telling people to go there to open lemonade stands,” Cooke said.

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Posted in: Jose Padilla

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Comments


  1. #1
    On July 17th, 2007 at 9:30 pm, feralcat said:

    Why can’t El Presidente call in some chits and get his good bro Bandor to fix things up for Abdullah al-Muhajir?

  2. #2
    On July 17th, 2007 at 10:01 pm, almeehan said:

    The judge is correct. They were more involved in kool aid type activity.

  3. #3
    On July 17th, 2007 at 10:04 pm, zorro said:

    “Well, he wasn’t telling people to go there to open lemonade stands,” Cooke said.

    Michelle, I can just hear you saying that to that broadcast legend Geraldooo.

    As for Padilla, stick a fork in him, he’s done…

  4. #4
    On July 17th, 2007 at 10:31 pm, shooter said:

    ..”client was interested “with passion” in assisting Muslims in conflict zones…”

    .Helping? lets count the ways.
    .Homicide bomb vests
    .Suicide bomb vests
    .4 door bomb car driven into infidels cafe
    .2 door bomb car ” ” ” ”
    .Ak 47′s
    .propane tanks tied to his leg.

    Yup, just wanted to help moslims( win the WOT).
    -
    Here’s to a fried padilla, w/out hurting innocents.

  5. #5
    On July 17th, 2007 at 10:44 pm, Jaded said:

    Ahh for the good old days when we hung traitors of America….

  6. #6
    On July 17th, 2007 at 10:50 pm, josetheguerilla said:

    Jeff Foxworthy might say

    If you change your name from Joseph (José) to Abdullah al-Muhajir you might be a terrorist.
    If you get arrested and detained as an enemy combatant, you might be a terrorist.
    If you find yourself kept in an undisclosed location, you might be a terrorist.
    If you go on vacation to Bosnia, Somalia, and Chechnya, you might be a terrorist.
    If Dems want to get you a lawyer and grant a terrorist bill of rights, you might be a terrorist.

  7. #7
    On July 17th, 2007 at 11:16 pm, johnv40 said:

    Everybody knows that Padilla and his co-defendants are GUILTY-GUILTY GUILTY–PERIOD!!!!! To ALL of the bleeding heart attorneys and liberals–we are NOT THAT STUPID!!!!

  8. #8
    On July 18th, 2007 at 12:00 pm, DesertLover said:

    Jaded said:
    Ahh for the good old days when we hung traitors of America

    Well said … I’ll gladly help you build the gallows and provide the rope …

    these people aren’t worth the cost of the ammunition for a firing squad …

    sounds like we at least have a good judge on the case up to this point …
    still early on though … so time will tell on that point …

  9. #9
    On July 18th, 2007 at 12:12 pm, uhangtight said:

    if we still prosecuted traitors, we would see the ‘leaks’ of confidential information stop. but, alas, those people feel very confident that even if we were to start to prosecute for treason, they would somehow get an ACLU attorney and get a liberal judge either at trial or at the appeal.

    sad, very sad..

    let’s hope the appeal process is as the trial has been, to keep the conviction.

  10. #10
    On July 18th, 2007 at 12:25 pm, lgm said:

    This is the kind of thing that makes Americans distrust Bush. When Padilla was detained (“arrested” would imply that it was done by the book as the law requires, which it was not), the Bushies made a big show that they had disrupted a huge terror plot about to happen. Now the case has shrunk so far that it is good news that the judge refused to dismiss it out of hand.

  11. #11
    On July 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm, Leatherneck said:

    Padella looks like that dude wanted in connection in the OKC bombing. Wait, that was done by a stupid white guy, and his buddy who went to southeast Asia to learn bomb making from Ramisy Youshef.

    You remember Ramisy right. He blew up the bomb under the WTC back in 1993. Nope. No terror connection here folks.

  12. #12
    On July 18th, 2007 at 9:30 pm, publiuswarmac9999 said:

    Meanwhile, the Dutch are beginning to wake up.
    ————————————-
    Christians in Iraq, including converts from Islam and people involved in mixed-faith marriages, are being crucified by Muslim terrorists, according to a Dutch member of Parliament studying the war-torn country.

    Several Iraqi Christians “are nailed to a cross and their arms are tied up with ropes. The ropes are put on fire,” Joel Voordewind told BosNewsLife, an online news agency focusing on Christians and Jews in difficult circumstances.

    According to the site, Voordewind described how a person, who “survived” a crucifixion, “even showed holes in his hands,” apparently from nails.

    Voordewind said victims of the crucifixions are “in most cases Christian converts who abandoned Islam or people who, religiously speaking, are involved in mixed marriages.”

    He did not specify how many Christians have been crucified in recent weeks and months, as an official report is expected soon. Voordewind is slated to present his findings to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen within the next few days.

    The report comes as thousands of Christians are said to be fleeing Iraq due to ongoing threats and violence against them. Just yesterday, over 80 people were killed in bomb blasts in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Most of the casualties resulted from a suicide truck bomb which detonated near the offices of the Kurdish political party led by Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani.

    BosNewsLife says Voordewind was part of a Dutch delegation visiting several countries in the Mideast, including Syria, where several lawmakers held talks with the terrorist group Hamas.

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