A Verdict for Padilla
Charles Johnson
Thu Aug 16, 2007 at 10:00 am PDT • Views: 428
Coming up at 11 am Pacific time, the verdict in the trial of Jose Padilla: Verdict reached in Padilla terror case.
MIAMI - A verdict was reached Thursday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with supporting al-Qaida and other violent Islamic extremist groups overseas.
The jury verdict was scheduled to be read at 2 p.m. EDT before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami’s downtown federal courthouse, according to an announcement from her chambers. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about a day and a half following a three-month trial.Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible life in prison if convicted of all three charges in the case.
The Bush administration portrayed Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen and Muslim convert, as a committed al-Qaida terrorist and cast his 2002 arrest at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as an important victory in the war against terrorism less than a year after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The charges brought in civilian court, however, were a pale shadow of the initial “dirty bomb” claims in part because Padilla was interrogated about the plot in military custody with no lawyer present and was not read his Miranda rights.
UPDATE at 8/16/07 11:31:33 am:
Padilla and co-defendants are guilty. Maximum sentence is life in prison.
Frank says: