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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">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.<br>
</font><h1><b>So proof of competence is signing on to a motion detailing
torture...hmmm.<br><br>
Padilla ruled fit for terror
trial</b></h1><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-padilla1mar01,1,7474910.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&track=crosspromo" eudora="autourl">
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-padilla1mar01,1,7474910.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&track=crosspromo<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=3>In a victory for the government, his judge says
the defendant has proven himself mentally competent.<br>
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer<br>
March 1, 2007 <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
There has been no mention of the dirty bomb accusation in the civilian
court procedures.<br><br>
*<br><br>
<hr>
<i>carol.williams@latimes.com<br><br>
</i></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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