[Ppnews] Padilla ruled fit for terror trial

[Political Prisoner News]

The judge pointed to the October 2006 defense 
motion detailing the alleged abuses in military 
custody as evidence that the defendant 
comprehends the legal proceedings and can provide 
his lawyers meaningful information when he wants to.

So proof of competence is signing on to a motion detailing torture...hmmm.

Padilla ruled fit for terror trial

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-padilla1mar01,1,7474910.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&track=crosspromo

In a victory for the government, his judge says 
the defendant has proven himself mentally competent.
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2007

MIAMI ­ Suspected Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla 
is competent to stand trial on terrorism charges 
because he understands the case against him and 
has already shown himself capable of assisting in 
his own defense, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke 
was a victory for the government, which has 
alleged in a three-count indictment that Padilla 
was part of a North American terrorist cell that 
recruited, trained and supported Islamic 
militants seeking to carry out acts of violence.

Anthony Natale, lead attorney on Padilla's 
four-man public defender team, had argued a few 
hours earlier at the conclusion of a four-day 
hearing that Cooke should find his client unfit 
to proceed. Natale urged Cooke to send Padilla to 
a mental hospital where he could be treated for 
what the defense called debilitating anxiety and 
post-traumatic stress disorder.

The defense had contended that Padilla, a 
36-year-old former Chicago gang member, was 
mentally damaged by the 3 1/2 years he was held 
without charges at the Navy brig in Charleston, 
S.C. The lawyers say Padilla was deprived of 
human contact and subjected to dehumanizing stresses that amounted to torture.

Cooke prefaced her ruling by saying she might 
conduct another hearing on the torture 
allegations before Padilla's trial, set to begin 
April 16. The defense has moved for dismissal of 
the case on the grounds of "outrageous government 
conduct" during Padilla's time in the brig.

"That discussion is for another day," she said of 
the allegations of mistreatment. She also said 
her ruling Wednesday did not prejudice her 
potential consideration of Padilla's brig experiences.

The judge pointed to the October 2006 defense 
motion detailing the alleged abuses in military 
custody as evidence that the defendant 
comprehends the legal proceedings and can provide 
his lawyers meaningful information when he wants to.

"This defendant clearly has the capacity to 
assist his attorneys," she said. "He had to 
communicate something to his lawyers in order for counsel to file that motion."

She also appeared to fault Padilla for failing to 
cooperate fully with three mental health 
professionals who attempted to conduct mental 
fitness tests. Two experts hired by the defense 
diagnosed Padilla with post-traumatic stress 
disorder, but the court-ordered psychological 
evaluator said the defendant was fit for trial 
and that any failure to collaborate with his lawyers was "volitional."

Padilla, in tan cotton prison garb, sandals and 
shackles, stood impassively as Cooke read her 
decision. He shook hands with Natale and gave him a rueful smile.

Neither the defense nor the prosecution would 
comment on the ruling or predict the next step in 
the complicated case. But one assistant U.S. 
attorney was overheard saying to another as they 
boarded an elevator: "One down, about 52 to go."

Padilla, a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican ancestry 
who converted to Islam during a previous prison 
sentence, was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare 
International Airport in May 2002, when he 
returned from at least six years abroad, 
including time in Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft accused Padilla of 
being part of a plot to detonate a radioactive 
"dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. President Bush 
declared Padilla an "enemy combatant," and 
Padilla was sent to the brig where he reportedly 
endured months of sensory deprivation followed by 
alternating extremes of light and darkness, silence and noise.

As the U.S. Supreme Court was pondering a ruling 
on the extent of the president's powers to hold a 
U.S. citizen indefinitely without charges, the 
government indicted Padilla on charges of 
conspiracy and material support to terrorism in 
November 2005. He was transferred two months 
later from the brig to the federal court system.

There has been no mention of the dirty bomb 
accusation in the civilian court procedures.

*


----------
carol.williams at latimes.com


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20070301/33652eee/attachment.html